What exactly IS the internship year?

[Pewl]

Could someone explain to me the concept of the internship year? I know it's the year after you graduate, but I'm a little confused about how that works into the whole residency thing. From what I understand, you apply for residencies so where does the internship year come in? Let's say I wanted to do oncology. So... I know I need to get into internal medicine, but that would be for residency. Where does the internship year come in??

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[shantster]

The way I understand it is that the first year of your three year IM residency is considered the internship year.

 

[Mr. Tee]

the year right after graduation with an MD, before residency

 

[Pewl]

the year right after graduation with an MD, before residency

If that's the case, do you need to apply separately for internship year? or is it like part of your residency that you just applied to? I know there are some cases where the internship is not part of the residency.

 

[LizzyM]

If that's the case, do you need to apply separately for internship year? or is it like part of your residency that you just applied to? I know there are some cases where the internship is not part of the residency.

Internship if the first year out of medical school. For some specialties, such as pediatrics or internal medicine, the residency match includes the internship year and you do 3 years in the same place. For some others, such as radiology and anesthesiology, one does an internship first, often rotating among different areas to get a better foundation in various aspects of medicine (including the care of children & pregnant women) and then (usually) move to another hospital for residency.

This is usually something that is explained during 3rd year of med school as people start thinking about 4th year electives, applying, interviewing & match.

 

[BaylorGuy]

Internship if the first year out of medical school. For some specialties, such as pediatrics or internal medicine, the residency match includes the internship year and you do 3 years in the same place. For some others, such as radiology and anesthesiology, one does an internship first, often rotating among different areas to get a better foundation in various aspects of medicine (including the care of children & pregnant women) and then (usually) move to another hospital for residency.

This is usually something that is explained during 3rd year of med school as people start thinking about 4th year electives, applying, interviewing & match.

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Agreed....internship year is built into a number of residencies (IM, peds, fam), but a number of residencies that are more speciailized have an internship year as the first year of your residency. It has been known for people to be able to switch out of residency after their internship year into a new specialty (Ex. you match in your surgery residency, but you are in the process of your internship year in surgery and you decide you want to do rads....you can switch, only if there is an open 2nd year spot in your field of choice).

 

[erin682]

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Agreed....internship year is built into a number of residencies (IM, peds, fam), but a number of residencies that are more speciailized have an internship year as the first year of your residency. It has been known for people to be able to switch out of residency after their internship year into a new specialty (Ex. you match in your surgery residency, but you are in the process of your internship year in surgery and you decide you want to do rads....you can switch, only if there is an open 2nd year spot in your field of choice).

There is also some discrepancy within some fields. For emergency medicine in most of the programs your internship year is your first year of residency but in a fair number of programs you have to do a separate internship year before you begin your residency.

 

[BDiesel]

I was looking over one school's match list and I noticed that several of the grads did a transition year. What exactly is that? Is that another term for internship in the case of a separate one?

Also, do you get to choose where you do your internship year if it's not part of your residency program? My bf is most likely going to get a Ph.D. (5 yrs) and I'll be going to med school in the same area (hopefully) for 4 years. If we decide to stay together, it would be nice to do my internship at the same hospital as my med school and then potentially move to another area.

 

[tigress]

You have to match into the first year, whether that be transitional or whatever, so you can choose as much as you can choose where you match. I'm pretty sure you do both matches at once but not 100% sure. Most people I've known have gone to different places for the internship/transitional/whatever year and their chosen residency, but for sure some stay in one location.

A transitional year includes exposure to all sorts of things, what LizzyM was talking about. Some things you have a choice; like for anesthesiology, for example, you can choose to do either a transitional year or a preliminary surgery year before starting the anesthesiology residency. I'm not sure what the rules are for things like radiology.

Like erin682 said, almost all EM programs are 3 years, and some are 4. There's tons of info on the EM forum about debates over whether one is better than the other.

You can check FRIEDA for all residency information (if you're a dork like me) to see what sorts of things are available for different specialties. Also, if you're really curious, spend some time reading the residency forums, particularly their FAQs. There's some great info there for the curious.

edit: I remember at some point in the past I heard that the term "intern" was going out of fashion. Can anybody in the know comment on whether that is the case or not? I suppose this is more specifically for the straight 3 year residencies.