Prelim medicine vs. TY

[dermie09]

Hey Guys, thought it would be interesting to start a discussion on prelim vs. TY. I personally applied to both and honestly do not know which way I will go. I'm torn because I do love medicine and feel that it'd be great to get good medicine training, esp. if I decide to do more medical derm. I've heard folks (and friends who are now derm residents) overwhelmingly say TY over prelim..and that you'll learn more at a TY program because you won't you won't be working to death. Or that it doesn't matter anyway because the stuff you learn intern yr isn't relevant.

I'd really be interested to hear both sides.

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[Ignite hardcore]

To me this is a no brainer. 5 elective months vs. 1-2. I think a transitional intern will learn just as much about the ICU and floor patients in their 6-7 months vs. a preliminary medicine intern does in their 10-11. Meanwhile, the tranny intern has plenty of elective time to broaden their exposure to other aspects of medicine and is much more prepared to take step 3. Most tranny years even pay for their interns to take the boards, the hours are much better, you get more proceedure experience and much more autonomy in managing patients. Prelims are the paperwork nanny for the senior, get the trainwreck patients, get no proceedures (seniors need to fill quota requirements), have no time to read for step 3, and are treated as the little step-children of categoricals by faculty.

Another interesting topic would be, If you don't match: Research fellowship vs. preliminary medicine year?

 

[scumbagderm]

Hey guys,

To be honest, I really want to be in a transitional year because I don't want to die before the year is over. The thought of 10-11 months of ward medicine/ICU sounds like a living hell.

However, I did apply to prelim med programs because I can't guarantee that I'll get into a transitional year. They are pretty competitive. I think you learn about the same in both.

I have heard that if you don't match you should NOT do transitional year because it will hurt your chances for matching later. It is looked down upon by some. I've heard its recommended to do a strong medicine year to boost your chances.

 

[Cheebs09]

Scumbagderm, I did the same.

Anyone know what happens if you match derm but not to an internship program? Does this kill your derm spot or do you get to scramble for internship?

(yes, I realize the opposite is *much* more likely)

 

[tdk]

I applied to both types, but I actually prefer rigorous prelim med progs (as long as the rigor does not entail drawing your own labs, rehab screening, etc.). I did my medicine sub-i at a busy hospital that had a good case-worker and great, competent nursing staff. I absolutely loved it and wanted to take on a lot of patients. Maybe, things will be different after I've had 10-11 months of ward time, but I enjoyed the responsibilities.. even if at times it's just secretarial work.

It's only 1 year of our life. I wouldn't even mind doing a prelim surgery year.

 

[goodies]

have you gotten a lot of interviews yet for Prelims/ TY's? or am I the only one who doesn't have that many yet

 

[tdk]

I applied to 14 programs and have heard back from 4 so far. Most of the big hospitals have not replied to me yet.

 

[dermie09]

I haven't gotten that many prelims/TYs considering how many I applied too..but still way more prelim invites than derm!!

Still waiting on some "big name" prelim programs too. I seem to be getting no love from west coast prelims.

 

[scumbagderm]

It's only 1 year of our life. I wouldn't even mind doing a prelim surgery year.

I value that one year. A year can be a long time if you are miserable.

 

[dermie09]

How many prelim/TY interviews is "enough" ?

5? 10?

 

[kralwok]

i think it really depends on the prelim med program whether you want to go prelim vs. transitional. my prelim med program was fine. granted intern year is always tough, but my program was relatively easy. i had 5 four week blocks of wards, 1 of micu, 1 of ccu, 1/2 block of night float, and 1 block of ambulatory medicine. that left 3 1/2 blocks of elective time and 1 block of vacation. it was not that bad, and i got to take a derm elective, path elective, and do research. during my elective blocks i would have at most 1 night of call. i would recommend staying away from programs with 10 months of call, but there are plenty of prelim med programs that are not so brutal.

 

[deltamed]

Seriously, do a transitional year if you can help it.

Some prelim years are OK but you will thank yourself for picking a transitional... Also, if you are doing prelim (or even tranny) look carefully if there is a night float system or not. The Q4 30 hours call shifts are BRUTAL especially cross-covering the rest of the hospital.

I personally think transitional is more valuable. You get more than enough medicine for a derm residency plus you can do rheum, derm, dermpath, plastics etc... 10 x more high-yield for residency.

 

[OntheRoof55]

i have heard that derm programs look down on people who do a transitional year? Can they see what you have ranked when they are ranking you??

 

[Long Dong]

i have heard that derm programs look down on people who do a transitional year? Can they see what you have ranked when they are ranking you??

This is the first I've ever heard of this. I've only heard they look down on TY if you don't match and are reapplying from a TY. Otherwise it doesn't really matter. I'm at a large program, half did TY the other half did prelim medicine, is one group clinically better then the other? Who knows. The TYs did plastics, path, allergy, rheum got more sleep, went to the beach more and partied more. The prelims did more call, can r/o an MI better and place gomers in nursing homes quicker.

 

[Dermocrat]

I got my first rejection the other day...not from a derm program, but from a mediocre PRELIM program! It doesn't feel good, let me tell you, since I've only heard from one derm program so far. They said that they've received 2500 apps for 34 positions. It's bad enough having had to wonder what derm programs were looking for, but now the same for internships?

 

[dermie09]

I got my first rejection the other day...not from a derm program, but from a mediocre PRELIM program! It doesn't feel good, let me tell you, since I've only heard from one derm program so far. They said that they've received 2500 apps for 34 positions. It's bad enough having had to wonder what derm programs were looking for, but now the same for internships?

Don't sweat it..I applied to over 20 prelims and only heard back from like 6 or 7!

 

[dermie09]

Hey Guys-

Obviously interviews for prelim programs are low stress compared to derm, but I don't want to blow them off either..what sorts of things have you guys done to prepare for these?

Aside from reading about their program on their website (if it exists)..