Residency Question

[DrHoneyBee]

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Okay, I am a little confused about the different between a DO and MD residency. I understand that a DO has an internship, so for family practice, peds, etc. would the DO residency be 4 years and the MD would be 3year? Thanks for the help!

 

[Boxer1]

Okay, I am a little confused about the different between a DO and MD residency. I understand that a DO has an internship, so for family practice, peds, etc. would the DO residency be 4 years and the MD would be 3year? Thanks for the help!

For the two specialties you mentioned, these are the routes you can take.
#1. Do an AOA (DO) residency, and your internship year will count as the first year of residency. So both Peds and FM will be 3 years.
#2 Do an ACGME (MD) accredited residency and it will also on be 3 years. The downfall here is that you can't practice in those 5 states without the DO internship.
#3 Do and ACGME residency, and petition to get the internship year approved by the AOA. I cannot comment on how easy this is, it happens, but you can't count on it. Also, some ACGME program has their first year of residency dually accredited by the AOA, so you don't have to petition. 3 years of residency.
#4 Or, do an AOA rotating internship, then start over with an ACGME residency and it will take 4 years.

 

[JohnnyOU]

Probably a stupid question, but what is the difference between an internship and a residency?

 

[OSUdoc08]

Probably a stupid question, but what is the difference between an internship and a residency?

Internship is the first year of residency (PGY-1).

Most AOA (DO) residencies start in the second year (PGY-2) and require a year of internship.

Most ACGME (MD) residencies start in the first year (PGY-1) and do not require the internship. However, the first year is still often called the internship year.