transitional year? what is it?

[kreno]

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I'm noticing a lot of residency placements have med-grads listed as "Transitional Years". What is that?

 

[Bonds756]

Some specialties require a year of general/internal medicine (internship) before going on to the selected specialty. For example, all people who choose radiation oncology have to do one year of internal medicine, usually at a different hospital. So you apply for rad onc with the understanding that you are entering two years after applying and that you must apply to a one year program in between.
I am not sure this is called a transitional year, but it could be what you are talking about.

 

[tBw]

Some residencies do not start at year 1 but instead at year 2 and are called things like 2,3,4 programs (eg some emergency medicine residencies). You then do a 1st year either there or somewhere else. This is the 'transitional year'. I think it's most often asscoiated with trying to get into a radiology or opthamology program where you need a first year rotating through general rotations before specializing. I think some people who do this already have a residency to go to after the transitional year, some people do it because they didn't match and will try to match into a 2,3,4 /whatever the next year.

...hope thats not too confusing...basically there are a series of situations thats can lead someone to be doing a 'transitional' year. It's just a first year not part of the full residency which takes you through various services.