transitional year

[doctaroo]

I what cases do people have to do this? I heard some residencies require it...

Is it also for people that didn't match that year?

 

[Ludicolo]

From the ACGME:

“The objective of the transitional year is to provide a well-balanced program of graduate medical education in multiple clinical specialties designed to facilitate the choice of and preparation for a specific specialty.”

Some specialties - such as PM&R, anesthesiology, radiology, dermatology, etc. – require that you do an internship in general medicine prior to starting. This generally can be served by a prelim year in internal medicine or surgery. The TY also serves this purpose.

Some people apply for the TY because they are still undecided on a specialty coming out of medical school, and the TY gives them a little more time and experience in making that decision. Some people pursuing military medicine also use the TY as their initial year of training.

It is not designed as a fall back year for people who didn’t match, although people have scrambled into TY spots.

 

[Winged Scapula]

TYs are generally very competitive - often being a fair bit less harsh than Prelim Medicine or Surgery - so to scramble into one is a tough prospect. Prelim Surgery is often the bastion of people who didn't match, being the most unpleasant choice of the options.

 

[mangochew]

There's something I don't get about the transitional year. When you go to TY program websites and they list current TY residents, they also list what residency program (Ophtalmology, Anesthesia) that TY resident will be moving on to next year. Out of curiosity, when you apply for a TY residency, do you need to have the following year figured out? Can any TY residents speak from experience?

Thanks.

 

[Winged Scapula]

There's something I don't get about the transitional year. When you go to TY program websites and they list current TY residents, they also list what residency program (Ophtalmology, Anesthesia) that TY resident will be moving on to next year. Out of curiosity, when you apply for a TY residency, do you need to have the following year figured out? Can any TY residents speak from experience?

Thanks.

Yes. Non-TY resident here, but this question is pretty easy.

You apply for the TY AND the PGY-2/Advanced position at the same time. Some TYs will not take you if you don't have a match for the following year. Its really no different than using the Prelim Med or Surg year as your first year - you still have to have a plan, if not a position for the following year.

 

[mangochew]

So based on what you say, in some cases you apply to PGY-2 and the transitional year at the same time -- ok. How do you apply for two programs at the same time?

 

[Winged Scapula]

So based on what you say, in some cases you apply to PGY-2 and the transitional year at the same time -- ok. How do you apply for two programs at the same time?

Not in *some* cases, in all cases (unless you want to be unemployed after your intern year).

You can apply to as many programs and as many specialties as you like. If you apply to a specialty which does not include the intern year, you MUST apply to intern year positions in addition to the advanced specialty.

There is a specific matching process for a TY or Prelim intern year with an Advanced Match. Here's a document which describes the match process: http://www.nrmp.org/res_match/userguide/2009_applicant.pdf