Switching in the future

[Top.Knife]

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Hi...a question for those in the know...

I am an IMG who joined an IM residency basically to overcome some immigration issues at the time.

My background has been in surgery and I have had some surgical experience in the UK, including taking parts of the MRCS (Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons) examination. Back when I was a student, I had also done clinical electives in North America in trauma surgery.

I am very interested in continuing to train as a surgeon. However I plan to complete my IM residency as I have already done a significant portion of the residency and do not wish to go back on the commitment I made when I first joined. In addition I wish to remain in the United States, and this route has best accommodated that for the moment. Finally being board certified would I feel be much better than having half a residency under one's belt.

My question then is IS THIS POSSIBLE i.e. completing IM and then starting a Surgery residency from scratch? If so, how do I go about it?

Odd situation I'm sure, but I'd appreciate any help or advice. Thanks!

 

[cyanocobalamin]

Hi...a question for those in the know...

I am an IMG who joined an IM residency basically to overcome some immigration issues at the time.

My background has been in surgery and I have had some surgical experience in the UK, including taking parts of the MRCS (Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons) examination. Back when I was a student, I had also done clinical electives in North America in trauma surgery.

I am very interested in continuing to train as a surgeon. However I plan to complete my IM residency as I have already done a significant portion of the residency and do not wish to go back on the commitment I made when I first joined. In addition I wish to remain in the United States, and this route has best accommodated that for the moment. Finally being board certified would I feel be much better than having half a residency under one's belt.

My question then is IS THIS POSSIBLE i.e. completing IM and then starting a Surgery residency from scratch? If so, how do I go about it?

Odd situation I'm sure, but I'd appreciate any help or advice. Thanks!

It has been done, but I'm not sure after an entire IM residency. Problem is, there is a cap I believe to the number of PGY years you can train since it costs the government around $90k or so for every year you train as a PG and the government does not wish to spend its money training people in 10 specialties so they can practice none, e.g.

 

[Top.Knife]

It has been done, but I'm not sure after an entire IM residency. Problem is, there is a cap I believe to the number of PGY years you can train since it costs the government around $90k or so for every year you train as a PG and the government does not wish to spend its money training people in 10 specialties so they can practice none, e.g.

Point well noted.

You say it has been done though...what is the best way for one to go about doing it?

Again thanks for the info.

 

[cyanocobalamin]

Point well noted.

You say it has been done though...what is the best way for one to go about doing it?

Again thanks for the info.

Your situation is better in the sense that the problem with switching for many people who don't finish their residency is a problem of "gumption" or will they quit/flake on me too and why are they switching - don't they have any clue as to what they want to do? It's also hard to get letters leaving on not-so-good terms. Since you're not quitting, you don't face that scrutiny - these are just thoughts from one of the surgery attendings at my school who talked about switching specialties - who thinks most people who switch go down in terms of program caliber (but this may not affect you because you're not a quitter).

I'm not expert on this topic, but I believe you would simply apply for a categorical position just like any old MS4 your last year of IM seeing if you can swing an interview schedule, with the same old dean's letter, LORs, personal statement, step scores, etc. - interview, rank, and match. It might be better to concentrate on your own institution's surgery program - get to know them well. 3+5 is only 8 years so I doubt you'd run up against any cap, though I'd worry about it more if you had your heart set on some fellowship post gen surgery. Ask about it now...talk to your institution's surgery staff...

 

[Winged Scapula]

The "cap" which is referred to is the HCFA Funding which is "capped" at the length of training for your first residency program. Therefore, if you match into an IM program HCFA caps your funding at 3 years. Any further training or doing another residency generally isn't funded by HCFA but comes out of the training program's pocket. It is done so some programs are willing to overlook this.