Switching from Surgery to Psych. Appreciate any insight

[The_DO_Master]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi guys,

I have googled this tremendously and have found some good information but thought I'd make a post and see if there is anything new that changed since the latest post I could find was a 2018.

I JUST finished my PGY - 1 categorical surgical internship and since february I had some thoughts that surgery wasn't for me since I actually dreaded the OR. I somehow lost the feeling of excitement and never got it back. My psych rotation in med school was at the end of third year, literally my last rotation and I loved it. I thought the patient population was interesting, and I enjoyed reading about psych and the different medications that you get to use to treat patients. The amount of impact you make on someone's quality of life is amazing, and the work/life balance is a HUGE bonus for me since recent family events.
Since my mental health breakdown this year during intern year, I decided that I wanted to help those better their mental health and improve their quality of life in that way. There are alot of fields of psych that interest me but one in particular is the use of social medial on mental health and depression rate.

Anyways, my main question here is, after completing PGY - 1 year in surgery; do I qualify for a PGY - 2 application this year, or would I have to repeat intern year?
I'm ok with either option I just want to make sure when I re apply to ERAS this year, I am aware of my options and every scenario.

How are transfers from surgery seen? Are my chances pretty good or am I looking at an uphill battle here?
What should I look for in a psych residency when applying? (I know this question may seem dumb, but I sincerely only focused on surgery app when I wanted to double apply but was advised on not doing that during 4th year, I really regret it now)
Any other insight would be greatly appreciated here. Thank you so much guys!

 

[Merovinge]

I'm not very well versed in the technical aspects of transfers, so I will just say that surgery, for all it's cracked up to be the polar opposite of psychiatry, is actually a field I see relatively commonly transfer into psych from. I don't think you need to have some amazing coming of age experience to explain the transfer, surgery lifestyle is hard and not for everyone. I would focus on the med school rotation, what your aspirations in the field are, and NOT emphasize personal issues with mental health.

 

[Psychresy]

Why would you want to switch to become a fake doctor that practices pseudoscience and can't get no respect? Stick to surgery and remain god of the hospital.

 

[MacDonaldTriad]

You can come in as either a PGY-I or II. If you come in as a PGY-II, you will be doing a lot of neuro and medicine anyway during your PGY-II year. The only advantage you will generally get over coming in as a PGY-I is that you will need 36, not 48 months of training. The difference will come out of your elective time mostly. Unless you did some non-surgical medicine rotations, you are basically starting over either way. You also will not be able to fast track into a child fellowship if you start as a PGY-II. PGY-II spots are rare compared to PGY-I spots, but you can try for both.
In case this is too close to where your head is at, I believe Psychresy was using sarcasm by the way.

 

[The_DO_Master]

Thanks guys!

I was looking on ERAS and I noticed there are no "PGY - 2" track apps on there. So for me to apply to the PGY - 2 spots, I would have to contact the programs that allow that directly and apply that way?

 

[marauderette]

Thanks guys!

I was looking on ERAS and I noticed there are no "PGY - 2" track apps on there. So for me to apply to the PGY - 2 spots, I would have to contact the programs that allow that directly and apply that way?

I may be wrong, but I think the only way to apply for a PGY2 position is to keep an eye on the APA Clearinghouse website, and check other sites like ResidencySwap, ResidencyFinder, info-residency...

 

[aim-agm]

On ERAS, there are some programs that put their PGY2 positions separately as a separate box to tick, although forget the exact wording. Most don't and you just apply to the "categorical" position and inform the program you are interested in a PGY2 position.

I may be wrong, but I think the only way to apply for a PGY2 position is to keep an eye on the APA Clearinghouse website, and check other sites like ResidencySwap, ResidencyFinder, info-residency...

Most PGY2 spots are applied to through ERAS, although some programs take different approaches. Unplanned for PGY2 spots tend to be on the sites you mention.

 

[The_DO_Master]

Thank you guys! All this info has been amazing and super helpful.
I'll keep looking out for a (now a PGY - 1 spot that someone may drop or switch out of) and reapply at the same time.