transitional?

[bruinkid]

i have a question about transitional residencies....meaning doing a year of medicine and then going on into a specialty like anesthesiology etc. why do students apply to these? is it because they don't know what to do or is it because they don't know if they'll match into the specialty?

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[pathstudent]

The idea is that non-primary care residents should do a tranisitional/intern year (typically all med, all surg, or a few months of this and that) in order to better learn how to manage patients.

This is an extension of guidelines set up "back in the day" when an additional year outside med school was considered sufficient to go practice. That is hardly the case now.

The only not primary care specialty where you don't have to do this is some ER programs and path. Path used to but just did away with it last year. But path people are smart enough to pass step 3 and get their DEA # without needing an extra year.

Transitional years can be quite competitive and it does not imply that someone couldn't get into residency.

 

[mellotron]

I'm confused. I know a guy who is a pgy-2 in rad onc, just starting his radiation stuff, and just finished his transitional int.med. year. Does that mean he had to match twice? Or are rad onc (or anesthesia, etc.) residencies "packaged" together, ie. one match, with a specific transitional year program designated by the subspecialty program?

 

[TysonCook]

I know for my brother that it was a "package deal." He is doing a transitional year in Spokane, WA and then his residency in Radiology at Colorado. It was put togehter like that, so it said something like Transitional Year: Spokane, WA Radiology: Colorado etc. So you only match once, but you still interview at both programs.

 

[Stinky T]

Originally posted by pathstudent
But path people are smart enough to pass step 3 and get their DEA # without needing an extra year.

Hmmm....does this mean that interns going into Ophtho, Derm, Rad Onc, PM&R, Anesthesia, Psychiatry and Rads aren't as smart as those going into Pathology?

Anyway, certain specialties require you to do a prelim (either in surgery or medicine) or a TY and that is why students apply to them. These residencies include Rads, PM&R, Derm, Rad Onc, Anesthesia, Psych, and Ophtho. I'm not so sure about Pathology and even if they require one of the above, I think it is usually incorporated into the residency. Basically, the first year of your residency is considered the internship year no matter which specialty you are going into. Residencies in FP, IM, Peds, etc. do not require a prelim or TY, but that doesn't mean they are skipping out on their internship year. Future Pathologists aren't skipping a year because they are smarter than the rest of us.

TYs are more competitive than prelims because many consider the year to be easier than a year in surgery or medicine. Some programs will incorporate a TY or prelim into the residency so that you don't have to match twice.

 

[Brewster]

Originally posted by mellotron
I'm confused. I know a guy who is a pgy-2 in rad onc, just starting his radiation stuff, and just finished his transitional int.med. year. Does that mean he had to match twice? Or are rad onc (or anesthesia, etc.) residencies "packaged" together, ie. one match, with a specific transitional year program designated by the subspecialty program?

You apply through ERAS to these various programs. Then you interview at the residency spots (rad onc, anesthesia, etc) and the internship spots (prelim medicine, prelim surgery, transitional). When you make your rank list, you first rank the residency programs. Then, for each residency program you rank, you make a rank list of internship spots. The computer first matches you at your residency (rad onc, anesthesia, etc) then looks at the internship list you have associated with it and matches you to an internship spot. Then, on match day, you find out where you are going for both.

Some programs may guarantee you an internship at their hospital if you are going into residency there.

Hope this makes sense.

 

[mellotron]

That's very clear, thanks. It was also helpful that I learned the difference b/w internship and residency - words that I see often used as synonyms. stupid med-zeroes