•••quote:•••Originally posted by wes c. adle:
•In looking at residency appointments of schools I am considering, I see several preliminary/transitional years. What does this mean?
Also, what is an "early match?"
Thanks.•••••Hi there,
Preliminary slots are generally in medicine or surgery. They are one year contracts that enable you to follow-up with anesthesia, radiology, opthamology,neurology etc after doing one year. Most anesthesia, radiology, opthamology or neurology residencies match into the Post Graduate 2 year (PGY-2) as opposed to PGY-1.
A transitional medicine year is the equivalent of the old rotating internship. You get to spend one-month rotations in peds, critical care, and other internal medicine rotations and electives for the PGY-1 year. These transitional programs are great preparation for specialties like radiology or anesthesia.
The Early Match Specialties are done through the San Francisco Match program. This match system works much the same as the NRMP (National Residency Match Program) but have deadlines that are about one month earlier. ENT, Ophthamology, Neurosurgery and Neurology are early match specialties. (There may be others so look them up on the San Francisco Match website).
The original question was: When is the right tme to pick a specialty? I would start to investigate your interests during the first year of medical school by joining several specialty interest groups. You get to interact with upperclassmen and residents who are doing various specialties and you get a better idea of lifestyle. The worst that can happen is that you decide early that a specialty is not for you.
Pay close attention to what you love to do during third year. I was interested in pathology and peds right up until I did my clerkship in surgery. After that clerkship, I knew that I was not going to be happy in a non-surgical specialty. If you are interested in anesthesia or radiology, I would suggest trying to get a summer elective right after you pass Step I and before your start third year so you can have a good idea of working conditions before you finish third year.
When picking a specialty, do not try to anticipate future income or job availability as your main reason for choosing that specialty. Income levels and job opening change from year to year. When I started medical school, primary care was had lots of openings in residency programs. As I finished medical school, general surgery had plenty of openings in residency programs with a projected shortage. Anesthesia currently has a shortage of practictioners but will be pretty saturated when this crop of residents finish in four years. Geriatrics is pretty hot now with loads of openings. There is a projected shortage as the population is aging.
In short, try to get as much information from as many sources as early as possible. Interview residents and attendings in specialties that you have an interest. Know yourself and your tolerance for certain types of patients or working conditions. If you don't like being in the hospital, you are not going to like anesthesia or surgery. If you love to interact with patients, you are going to hate pathology. Good luck!