Rotation vs. Residency

[luckymed]

Does anyone have any input about the relationship about the two? And what and where fellowship come to play? Thanx

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[Teufelhunden]

"Rotations" generally refer to your 3rd and 4th year clerkships, in which you'll rotate through different dept's, i.e. fam med, int med, peds, surgery, ob/gyn, er, etc.

"Residency" is your post-graduate training, in which the first year is generally considered your "internship" year (some internships are separate from your residency - some are combined - this is a whole other thread, though)

"Fellowships" are usually post-residency training programs, normally 1-2 years, in which you undergo further subspecialty training, i.e cardiology, infectious disease, gastroenterology, etc. Of course, certain fellowships are only available to certain residencies, you obviously can't pursue a cardiothoracic surgery fellowship if your residency was in family practice.

(Sometimes, however, "fellowship" in used to describe additional trng w/in medical school, e.g. here at OUCOM we have primary care and OMM "fellowships" whereby you spend a 5th year as a student focusing on one of these areas)

I hope I didn't confuse you more.

 

[Nutella]

Regarding the "relationship" between the two, does the rotation site play a role in the match process for residencies? At one of my interviews, the adcom told us that it was better to have their rotation sites spread out because it allowed you to network outside of a small geographical location. Was this just a sales pitch, or will attending a school in the midwest doom one to living in the midwest post-school?

 

[tealatwo]

Can someone explain how the "internship" and "residency" work. After your 4 years do you have to do both? This is all very new to me and it gets confusing. By the way, I am leaning toward Family Practice or Geriatrics. Thanks!

 

[Teufelhunden]

Generally speaking (and I'm only a 1st year, so I do not claim expertise on this subject), people normally try to do their elective 4th year rotations in disciplines related to the resideny they hope to match in...and if possilble, try to rotate in the specific places they're applying to. The advantage of doing this is quite obvious...this of course assumes you're gonna impress the hell out of them during your rotation.

Now, addressing the internship/residency question. Some programs don't have an internship, per se...where you're considered a PGY-1 (Post-Graduate Year 1) during your "intern" year. Some do internships separate from their residency, i.e a traditional rotating internship; Those individuals have to apply again for their specific residency (however, most will enter their residency as PGY-2's...however, if you do a traditional rotating internship, but decide to be a surgeon, you'll start over as a PGY-1). I know this is all confusing...I'm still trying to figure it all out. When you think you finally understand it, you'll read about some weird exception. Hopefully others farther down the road than I will chime in with perhaps a more succinct explanation.

 

[tealatwo]

Thanks. That helped a bit. Like you said, I keep hearing all different things. I guess I will just take it 1 year at a time. I just want to have as much info(ammunition?) before I get to that point.