Transfer to Anesthesia

[HonestAbe04]

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Has any one ever transferred to Anesthesia from a different specialty? I started my PGY-2 year and fulfilled MY NRMP responsibilities and want to join a CA-1 position next year. I don't mind losing a year.

Has anyone else done this on this forum? Any one been Unsuccessful??

I'm a bit scared to tell my current program director because I know anesthesia is competitive and I don't think I have the best scores although I do have strong Lors from my med student days including one from an academic neurology program and can obtain strong letters from my attending as an intern. And I passed step 3 already .

 

[HonestAbe04]

I forgot to mention..are there any things I should know before I take this big risk and burn bridges with my current PMR program and try to switch to anesthesia?

Oh also I know the University of Michigan holds spots every year at CA-1 position via the match for people who want to transfer in. Are there any other programs?

 

[bkell101]

Have you eve been to Nola for a wedding? Haha hey man. ...sorry if I'm not replying to who I think is my good friend

 

[musli]

You have one big systemic handicap: the federal government will only provide your hospital with CMS funding for the number of years equalling the length of your *original* training program. So if you match in categorical internal medicine and want to transfer after your PGY2 medicine year into a CA1 position, your anesthesia residency will only get money for one year. On the other hand, if you're a PGY2 neurosurgery resident transferring to anesthesia, you'd be fine.

Hospitals / programs might be willing to eat the cost, but your application would need to be exceptional.

 

[codeb1ue]

I transferred into a CA-1 year after doing 2 years of medicine. It's possible and the funding issue is more complex than what the above poster mentioned. You'll be fine from that end. My only recommendation for you is to hold off on saying anything to your PD until you are pretty confident you landed a spot elsewhere. Go ahead and start looking now. Start emailing anesthesia programs that you are interested in and send out your CV, NRMP app, etc. I went out to interview secretly during my research months. Some people say don't tell your PD until you actually signed a binding contract for a spot next year. I probably wouldn't go that far since it's always better for your program to know sooner than later so he can start his search to fill your spot, but do know that you WILL be treated differently once the word gets out you are leaving the residency. As an anecdote, one of my colleagues told his PD very early that he is planning to change residencies to another specialty. Unfortunately he never found a spot for the next year so he decided to stay and finish out his current residency. Our PD, however, ended up NOT renewing his contract for the following year and he got F'd in the end.

Anyways, good luck.

 

[Biohazard1]

I posted this post in the general residency forum as well, would appreciate your thoughts as well.



Last july (2012) I matched into a categorical IM position through ERAS/NRMP, however I soon realized that maybe IM was not for me, I approached my PD and told him the situation and he was supportive of me applying into anesthesia, he said I could consider my first year in IM as a prelim year. I applied for a anesthesia positions and ended up matching in a CA-1 position that begins July 2014 (right now I am sitting out a year).

My question is this; could the funding issue come and haunt me in the future? I did not realize that funding maybe a problem.

I am not sure if the anesthesiology program knew that I was originally in a categorical position (although I did mention it to one of the interviewers)

Any thoughts would help as its causing a great deal of anxiety.

 

[Idiopathic]

i think since you went through the match it shouldnt be an issue. essentially you took a new funded spot, you arent transferring from one program to another

 

[wolverine09]

Just curious, but why did you all decide to make the switch to Anesthesia? I'm interested in both fields so just wondering

 

[musli]

Biohazard1: If they accepted you, then you'll be fine. It's not like the money is earmarked for the support of each resident individually. Your presence in the residency, overall, has caused your hospital's GME program to be in a slightly worse position financially. But it won't reflect on you personally, so don't stress.

The point is that this issue can cause GME offices to exert pressure on residencies not to interview / offer spots to residents in that position. Clearly you hurdled that issue.

 

[Mac or Miller]

Agree with the above comments about GME offices generally knowing who they are ranking and how it affects their funding.

Bear in mind that some programs out there get subsidy from state government and agencies outside of CMS like the VA, and they can sometimes grab some extra cash to cover you.

FWIW, any years beyond your original "allocation" are still funded at half the rate just like most fellowship programs, so it is only half of the money they have to eat for those years beyond your original allocation.

As to the issue of switching, I have known several who have switched to gas with their prelim year already in their back pocket, though most have switched from a surgical field which has actually had more years of GME funding laid out than gas.

Anesthesia is more competitive in some regions than others. Find a program that traditionally fills with IMG's and learn to call it home.