Hello OPM!
I received unbelievable, fabulous news yesterday! The anesthesiology Program Director at Dartmouth called and offered me a PGY-2 slot outside of the match! I have mentioned this potential to a couple of you, others were probably not aware. However, yesterday, they faxed me a letter of commitment for a slot in their anesthesiology program. It is my number one choice & and absolutely SUPERB program. I cannot tell you how surprised & honored I am that they are willing to do this. According to the Program Director, this is the first time in many years that Dartmouth has gone outside of the match to sign someone.
The anesthesiology program at Dartmouth is one of the best in the country. And, the atmosphere is unbelievably collegial. I was truly impressed at how informal the relationships were b/t the faculty & residents of both Anesth & Surgery were. I have worked in alot medical centers over the years and it is a rare gem to find one where everyone is on such collegial terms.
Their anesthesiology program was not the only reason I am so keyed up for them. Yes, it is one of the top programs running. What really sealed the deal for me is a new adjunct program that Dartmouth has begun. They have started a co-residency program in Medical Leadership & Preventive Health through the Dartmouth Center for Evaluative Clinical Sciences (CECS). This program will add 1 year to my anesthesiology training. The additional year will find me as a Dartmouth grad student in their CECS program. From Sept thru Nov of my PGY-3 year, I will be a FT student w/ no clinical duties & from Jan thru May of my PGY-3 year, I will .6 student & .4 resident. After this time ends, I will return to anesthesiology FT to complete my residency training. And, all of the class work is 100% subsidized by the residency – meaning I get a Dartmouth education w/ no out-of-pocket expenses to me!
Upon completion of the clinical aspects of the residency, I will be required to complete a 1-year practicum. This entails a research & application project integrating my clinical and graduate work to undertake a clinical quality assurance/process improvement project at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center – the nature of which is 100% at my discretion. During this practicum year, I will be eligible for a Jr Faculty slot…meaning I will draw not only a PGY-5's salary, but also earn supplemental income on the Dartmouth faculty. The practicum only requires that I spend .6/.7 doing the actual project, leaving the rest of the time to actually make a living for a change.
Upon completion of all of this, I will not only be Boarded in Anesth, but eligible for Boarding in Preventative Health and receive an MPH from Dartmouth. I still plan to tack on a fellowship in one of either critical care, cardiothoracic or peds…most likely critical care. Doing the latter will make me triple Boarded!! With all of that paperwork, I will be almost as hirable as Wendy is as an RN!!! LMAO!!!
The only catch is, in our negotiations for this I had hoped to land a slot as a PGY-1 and do all 5 or 6 years there. Without boring you with a load of details, they could only offer me a slot beginning PGY-2. However, of all of the prelim slots I interviewed for, my utmost favorite and the one where I received the most positive feedback was the Dartmouth surgical program. The anesth PD has told me that he'd pull some strings to see if he could get them to either offer me a slot or to rank me highly enough that I would end up there. I am very positive on the possibilities that I can match into that PGY-1 program.
But, there is still a potential that we will not land a PGY-1 at Dartmouth. Therefore, I will be ranking, in no particular order: UMass-IM, St. Vincent's-IM (Worcester, MA), Unity-IM (Rochester, NY), Penn St-IM & UConn-IM for prelim years. Since most of these programs are relatively nearby, that would be far from the worst thing that could happen.
I cannot tell you how elated we are about this. This ranks up there in my life's top 5!
Tied for #1 - impending birth of my daughter and Wendy agreeing to marry me
#3 - Our wedding
#4 - landing this slot
#5 - my Yes Letter from KCOM – of course, this will likely be supplanted by my actual graduation from KCOM!
I just wanted all of you, my friends, to know about this!!!
Dave,
This is fantastic! Congratulations!! Give Wendy & Co. my regards, a big hug and congratulations as well. I am very very happy for all of you.
Sue
Congratulations Dave! That really is fantastic - I never know how you manage to do so much, so well, in so many different arenas of life - Definitely leading by example!!
congrats on the residency, you make us old-timers very proud
alex
| QUOTE (OldManDave @ Jan 31 2003, 09:57 AM) |
| The only catch is, in our negotiations for this I had hoped to land a slot as a PGY-1 and do all 5 or 6 years there. Without boring you with a load of details, they could only offer me a slot beginning PGY-2. However, of all of the prelim slots I interviewed for, my utmost favorite and the one where I received the most positive feedback was the Dartmouth surgical program. The anesth PD has told me that he'd pull some strings to see if he could get them to either offer me a slot or to rank me highly enough that I would end up there. I am very positive on the possibilities that I can match into that PGY-1 program. |
OMD,
Can you explain what the PGY-1,2,3,..etc. mean? I am assuming that it means 'post graduation year' or something like that. If so, how does it work that you spend part of a residency at one place and move to another or am I misunderstanding something??
Thanks and congratulations again!!
Geoff
wow - great news Dave - apparently you've decided to like winter
- very very happy for you.
Lisa
Dave this is excellent news! (And, from your list, I can see you’ve got your priorities straight 
)!
Please keep us posted. Dartmouth is in a wonderful part of New England…daytrips to Boston are possible and the land is handsome. Enjoy every moment and congratulations!
<<>>
Way to go, Dave. Representin' the OPM'ers at Dartmouth!!
First, my thanks to all of you for your support!
| QUOTE |
| OMD, Can you explain what the PGY-1,2,3,…etc. mean? I am assuming that it means ‘post graduation year’ or something like that. If so, how does it work that you spend part of a residency at one place and move to another or am I misunderstanding something?? Thanks and congratulations again!! Geoff |
Geoff my man…ya just told on yourself!!! You have not been a readin my journal have ya??? I go into significant depth on this very topic for both ACGME & AOA program in the thrid & fourth entries.
Yes, PGY = post grad year
In essence, for the majority of disciplines in the ACGME (that’s the MD residencies), the internship & residency are virtually indistinguishable. You match all into a single program and go soup to nuts…until you are done. This works for FP, IM, Surgery, Peds, OB/Gyn, ER and most everything.
However, there is a subset of dsiciplines that consider the internship & residency as distinct entities. These are Radiology, Dermatology, Ophthalmology & Anesthesiology. For all of these, except anesthesiology, no program offers both internship & residency. Therefore, you must match for both options. 1 - your PGY-1 or intern year & 2 - your actual residency. Yes, it is totally possible and not even uncommon to match for one and not the other. Lots of folks try to match for both at the same facility or to do their intern year at their med school and then move to do their residency – to cut down on the moves.
Anesthesiology is sort of a hybrid - meaning that some programs offer combined internship/residency, residency only or have some positions that are combined and some residency only. The programs are divided into approximately equal 1/3s on this. For example: VA Commonwealth Univ program only has 4 year slots…meaning the internship and residency is one thing. Dartmouth offers 4 slots that combine both and 2 slots that are only residencies – you have secure your own PGY-1. UMass offers ONLY residencies, the anesth dept has no internships.
Where do you get those internship? Well, there are several ways. In the ACGME, first is the Transitional Year - simply a year’s worth of rotations in the various disciplines…much like repeating your 3rd year of med school except with a lot more responsibility. Other options are doing a preliminary year in either Internal Medicine or Surgery. Most nearly all IM & Surg programs have prelim slots – these are PGY-1 training years only…no guaranteed progression to PGY-2. For folks who wanted say surgery and did not match into a combined slot (known as a categorical slot - that has both internship & residency seamlessly attached), they will opt for a surg prelim year and hope to impress the powers that be and land a advanced position to be able to finish their surgical training.
Anesthesiology folks who match into slots w/o internships attached frequently undertake TYs or surg/IM prelim years to satisfy their PGY-1 requirement.
Clear as mud? Yes, it is unnecessarily complex. The Amer Board of Anesth recently recommended to all anesth programs that they attempt to start & manage their own internship programs such that, eventually, all anesthsiology training slots will be the 4-year, seamless kind…but that may take many years to accomplish.
For more details, go read my journal and come back with questions.
Congratulations!
Howdy Dave!
Congratulations, you old fart!
So, help me with something here. I thought programs participating in the match had agreed not to offer slots outside of the match.
Obviously there is a lot about this match thing I haven't figured out yet.
And congratulations again on the daddy-to-be thing. Tell Wendy congrats for me!
Take care,
Jeff
As I said in the email I sent you, Dave, how many ways are there to say CONGRATULATIONS!! WOOHOO!! WAY TO GO!! 
You, mighty leader, make us all proud! And what an example you set for the members of OPM to focus upon!
Again, my heartiest congratulations to you, Wendy, and the little-one-to-be!
Applause! Applause! You deserve to take a bow!
A HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS, OMD!!!
Congratulations Dave!! Your hard work has paid off!
Dartmouth sounds like a wonderful program!
Securing a PGY-1 slot there would be icing on the cake!!!
I think you and Wendy will love New Hampshire (Especially in the fall)
Congratulations and Best Wishes!
Jeff-Seattle
Great going Dave. You continue to be an inspiration.
warmly,
boston joe
Yow Dave - you are my idol!
So, gonna be a gas-passer - eh?
In four years, I might be hitting you up for inside info for the Dartmouth program. The wife’s got family in NH, and I’m sure she’ll be chomping at the bit to have an ‘extended return visit’ to the East after med school in Cali.
Congrats!
- Tae
Mr. Sandman…Congratulations!! He he, nice job OldFarte!
| QUOTE (taehyongkim @ Feb 6 2003, 05:00 PM) |
| Yow Dave - you are my idol! So, gonna be a gas-passer - eh? In four years, I might be hitting you up for inside info for the Dartmouth program. The wife's got family in NH, and I'm sure she'll be chomping at the bit to have an 'extended return visit' to the East after med school in Cali. Congrats! - Tae |
Tae,
In 4 years, I will still be there! The program I have committed to is 5 years in lieu of the normal 4 for anesthesiology AND I am still planning to undertake a fellowship, most likely in critical care med, which will add one more year -- 6 in total.
Like I said, I will still be at Dartmouth when you're ready to apply.
Dave-
How did you go about applying, interviewing, etc. for a spot in a program that was independent of the match? I didn't know you could even do this. Is there some reason you didn't go through the match? How did you approach Dartmouth and how often does this happen? Is it possible in other specialties as well?
Thanks in advance for the info.
I applied & interviewed through ERAS (electronic residency application service) just like everyone else. And no, Dartmouth offering a slot outside of the match is far from routine…I was very very fortunate to have them do this. The spot I was offered, and accepted, was originally a spot that was to be offered through the match. However, Dartmouth opted to reduce their in-match slots by one and offer it to me.
I did not approach Dartmouth about the slot. Actually, I interviewed there in early Dec & then returned to interview for the Dartmouth surgical prelim slot in mid-Jan…and decided to use the 2nd trip as a second look at the anesthesiology program. As a part of this, I scheduled a meeting with the Chairman of Anesth and in the course of our time, he mentioned that he would be willing to approach Dartmouth Med School to gain permission to offer me the slot outside of the match…and would I be interested if the school agreed. He told me not to expect too much as this rarely ever occured. In my case, it did…actually, Dartmouth approached me about the slot.
So, I really did nothing special or unusual to prompt the situation.
Up to & including this year, technically, ACGME (MD) programs could offer slots to IMGs & DOs outside of the match legally. Not to pooh-pooh on your parade, but as of the end of this match cycle, all programs working through the match must now offer 100% or 0% of their slots – meaning, no longer will it be legal to offer any slots to anyone outside of the match. This was the last year that this is possible.