Making Sense of a Program Switch and Ensuring the Benefits of Your Swap

The exact statistic of physicians or doctors-in-training opting to switch to another program halfway through their current residency program is negligible for many, and it is very seldom that you would encounter individuals who have ever thought about changing their programs midway. Of course, this incorporates many factors inherent in humans – fear of spending more time in school, fear of falling behind, worrying about their expenses – but all these factors are likewise misinterpreted in many situations where our emotions take the best of us.

Indeed, there are various established ways to go around this notion. The ever-developing field of medicine is doing its best to cater to these individuals who feel unfulfilled in their current positions. After all, despite rising above these worries and concerns about their program, the fact remains that their heart is not in the right place anymore – making it inconducive for these future physicians and their subsequent patients in the long run.

So, what is there to do?

Well, switching residency programs or switching specialties entirely is an arduous task that many would not even dare to take, mainly because the process is just a big hunk of pending paperwork that you would have to take care of on top of your ongoing residency program. Sure, satisfaction is the greatest achievement that you could ever get from this endeavor. Still, many would rather opt-out of such instead of making their lives intentionally harder along the process.

So, you could ask once more, what is there to do?

Well, the entire process is lengthy, that is for sure, and the reason behind that is pretty much self-explanatory – you are starting over, and this time, you are taking care of it all by yourself.

However, before we even get to the part where you process your documents, perhaps the main question you should ask yourself beforehand is, “Why am I switching residency programs?”

Why are you trying to get out of your current program, and what exactly are you trying to achieve through this swap?

What are your Intentions?

What are your intentions? What are your motives? These are the questions that you should ask yourself the moment you start contemplating about switching to a completely different program, especially if it is a whole other specialty or located in another city or country entirely. The process of deciding whether it is worth it to switch to another residency program is not something that you should take lightly, and you should not make it out of impulse either.

You need to realize and probably remember that switching residency programs is a big step during this process. The fears that were ringing in your ears are not lying by any means, and your career will be put on hold or be delayed for a few months or years, depending on how quickly you adapt to your chosen residency program. You must intently think about the reason driving you towards this switch, and you must weigh the benefits and consequences of this switch before you even take a step towards talking to your program director about your concerns.

After all, many factors could come into play about your dissatisfaction with your program, and they may not necessarily imply that a switch is necessary for you to change your program entirely. From burnout to personal problems affecting your professional lives, all these factors could sway you towards leaving your current program, and that is why you need to be level-headed when trying to make such life-altering decisions beforehand.

List down your priorities and identify your capabilities. While it might seem like a selfish action when perceived from a practical perspective, you need to take care of yourself while ensuring that you can take care of yourself if you ever decide to leave what you have started. It is an honorable thing to follow your heart, but sometimes, you should also look at the question of when and why before you declare the case closed and shut.

Thinking About a Long-Term Plan Instead of a Temporary One

The practice of medicine is a lifelong endeavor, but there are only so few minutes that you could spend looking for the right position just to catch up with the level of knowledge that you need to have to practice medicine. From your undergraduate degree to studying in medical school and taking on residency programs, you have already spent an excessive amount of time trying to expose yourself to as many means as possible and soak up the information you need to succeed in your field. Sure, this might seem like it is worth it in the long run, but in the topic of switching residency programs, a new factor is introduced entirely to upset the equation that you have spent your whole life in building: starting over.

While it might not be as literal as it sounds, taking on another residency program, especially if it is under a different specialty altogether, is almost like starting over – seeming like everything from your Match to specific experiences that you have collated during your current program has been all for naught. Of course, this is not necessarily the exact case. However, the point still stands that you are giving yourself a massive handicap by intentionally plastering a gap in your experience – making it hard to catch up immediately when you enter the new residency program of your choice.

To not regret your decision later in life, you need to ensure that your decision to take another residency program fits snuggly into your long-term plans and goals and ensure that it is not just something you did on a whim when you were contemplating one stormy night. The repercussions of having to start all over again, which is especially true in taking another specialty entirely, would be reflected in your professional, financial, and personal life – aspects that quickly start a chain reaction once you get the ball rolling from some corner of the room. To ensure that your decision to switch to another program makes sense, you need likewise to ensure that you see where this program is going to take you instead of simply riding the boat to where the winds take you – it is not a fairytale movie where your destiny will be handed out to you in a silver platter.

The reality in the practice of medicine is grim, but it only takes a few weeks or days of deep thinking and decision-making to make it a little better. Sure, anyone would struggle at first due to the feeling of being a fish out of the water. Still, for as long as you have carefully planned and outlined your next steps, considering long-term options instead of settling for impulsive and unsustainable ones, we are more than confident that you will do alright in any residency program of your choosing.

Are you Looking at Changing Programs or Changing Specialties Completely?

From toxic work environments to an unfulfilling role in the practice of your chosen specialty, various aspects could affect your willingness to continue your previously selected program – a fact multiple professionals often overlook due to the fear of having to miss out on a lot of things while undergoing the transition between programs. However, considering that you are going to be exposed to the deepest depths of the specialty that you chose during your years of residency training, there might come a time where you would undoubtedly question the reason why you decided to stay all these years, and this comes gnawing at you if you have overlooked the doubts that you already had from the beginning of your residency training.

Pro Tip: Listen to what your heart wants. Cliché as it might sound, it is an undeniable fact that would go a long way in ensuring that your long-term goals will not be upset by a last-minute moment of indecision. Sure, it is not fair to blame individuals who chose to switch their programs as, once again, many factors come into play when we encounter such situations. However, we would simply like to insert a little advice for you to avoid any more moments of uncertainty in the new residency program of your choosing.

Going back to the topic at hand, when you are exposed to the deepest depths of the specialty program that you once honored and praised with utmost certainty back when you were a medical student, there are moments when a creeping feeling of doubt about your skills, your future, and your fulfillment about the program happens, and there is no shame in admitting that it is so. What you need to take note of, however, is that doubting your specialty instead of your program is a much bigger task than the latter – requiring more effort and dedication from you once you decide to push through with the switch.

What makes the former even more difficult is that specific experiences that you have collated throughout your stay in the program could not be translated to particular necessary skills in the new specialty program of your choosing. While it is arguable that certain aspects in the practice of medicine could be applied in any field, certain elements are likewise specific to each program – elements that you would have to catch up on as you enter a whole new world in your practice. After all, contrary to switching specialties, switching programs instead could still make your previous experiences valuable (albeit they are still useful nonetheless) in furthering your progress in your chosen field (different program, same field).

As such, when deciding whether you would like to switch residency programs, perhaps the first thing that should come to mind is whether you are simply looking for a new program, a new hospital, a new director, or if you are looking for a new specialty entirely. The difference is massive, sure, but with the proper preparations through careful planning and decision making, the process is made bearable and somehow predictable at the very least. At least you know what you are getting into instead of simply diving into various challenges without knowing the path you are about to take.

It is about shedding light on the path ahead of you, you could say.

Do you Have Plans to Move to Another Place?

Relocation is another factor that could either trigger your need to change residency programs or be a subsequent result of your switch – or maybe it could be both. During your transition between residency programs, you would have to look for hospitals or institutions with a free spot for you to apply. The choices could span from a different hospital in the same city to another hospital from a different region entirely. While this might seem like a simple notion from one perspective, what you need to understand is that moving should likewise be a core aspect in your decision-making process – or at least it should be a possibility that you would have to take note of and expect when you do push through with your choice of switching programs.

Why are we bringing this up, you may ask?

Well, in switching residency programs, as we have previously mentioned, the repercussions could be reflected not only in your professional and personal life, but likewise in your financial life – an aspect that could very well affect your means of living for a few months or so and effectively steer your way of life in such a way that it will restrict your living means, living options, and finally, your address. After all, if your residency program takes place in your current city, you would have to move when the only available residency program is in another State (unless, of course, you would be alright in flying cross-country every day as you report for your on-call shifts).

The point is, you would have to assess your living situation if you are planning to switch residency programs as it is bound to change unless you are simply taking on a different program in the same hospital/institution or a different program in a hospital nearby. Whatever the case may be, you need to expect changes in your way of living, and you would have to think about it sooner rather than later to tie up loose ends before the whole endeavor untangles weeks or days before the start of your new residency program.

If you feel like you are not yet capable enough to make a move or accommodate the required living situation of your prospective program, then there is no shame in putting it off for a few months or cycles before going in deep. Even better, it would help if you tried to look for the program of your choice in the same hospital as the paperwork could be eased a little, albeit it is not that far off from the actual process. After all, you are the one who ultimately controls your pace, and it would be a shame if your new program becomes disagreeable due to a minor problem like your living situation.

Establishing Your Connections

Remember when we said that you would go through all this application process alone? Well, that is only half the truth, but the indisputable fact is not that far off from what the entire endeavor insinuates and demands from you. You see, when you first apply for a residency program, there is a process known as a “Match” – a process wherein a residency candidate, and various residency programs within the country are matched accordingly to provide the available spots to the students who are looking for a program that they could apply in.

The process seems simple, or perhaps it is not, but it is still more straightforward than the process that awaits you when you apply for a whole new residency program on your own. Of course, you could always choose the Match option to make the process and hunt for a new program more accessible, but the Matching process occurs in cycles, and it might be weeks or months before you could even be matched to a program that you might ultimately abhor later (abhor’s a strong word but you get the point).

In a sense, the application process for a new residency program is tedious enough for it to be worsened by you doing it all alone, all by yourself, with no one to help you through with this process at all – if you let it be, at least.

Nowadays, there are many ways to find residency programs. One of them is checking out websites and institutions that specifically help residents who would like to switch programs due to specific reasons like unfulfillment, personal problems, or doubt. On top of that, there is also the apparent choice of talking to your program director or the program directors of other hospitals to receive information regarding potential openings that you could apply for. Of course, you would have to keep these conversations formal and professional still, but you need to understand that these are connections that you would need to make the process easier.

After all that explanation, the bottom line in this aspect is that you need to build your connections as soon as possible if you are planning on switching residency programs. If you feel like you do not have the means yet to find the right program for you, perhaps you should reassess whether you are ready for the entire ordeal after all. Apart from the fact that the application process is more complex than anything than you probably have taken on before, looking for the right program for you that will provide you with the necessary experience that you have longed for is like looking for a needle in a haystack – if you are looking alone, that is. As such, before you make any impulsive decisions about changing your residency program there and there, perhaps you should first check if you have the capacity to make the switch in the first place – a surefire way to make sure that you get the most out of the switch.

It Is Never Easy

Bottomline of the residency switch process? It is never easy, and it will never be easy. It is comforting enough to learn that various institutions and companies are developing new ways to make this process more manageable for those struggling to build connections and find new opportunities. Still, it does not change the fact that the task remains arduous, nonetheless.

What makes the process even worse is that switching and opting out from your residency program halfway through the process could take a toll on your credibility in the medical field, considering that your current program director would have to relay all your files and their comments on your performance to the new program director of your choosing. It is essential that if you are planning to switch programs, you need to be sure that the next one will be the one you want, lest that the medical community would have less faith in your commitment to your work. After all, you are leaving the hospital with a gap as soon as you go – making it not only hard for you but for the institution that you left as well.

We are trying to say here that you need to make sense of why you are switching in the first place, on top of considering whether you have the capacity and capabilities to make the switch. For the sake of you, your career, and the institutions you would leave and enter, make sense of everything beforehand to avoid any mishaps in your future endeavors.

Learn to prepare, learn to make sense of why you are training in the first place.

References Used:

Wolters Kluwer. (2020). A guide to changing specialties during residency. Retrieved July 2021 from https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/expert-insights/a-guide-to-changing-specialties-during-residency

Wolters Kluwer. (2020). Should you consider transferring residency programs? Retrieved July 2021 from https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/expert-insights/should-you-consider-transferring-residency-programs

Health Careers. (2020). Is Switching Specialties a Good Idea for You? Retrieved July 2021 from https://www.healthecareers.com/article/career/is-switching-specialties-a-good-idea-for-you

Med Residency. (2020). Considering a Residency Swap? Here are 5 Tips to Make a Smooth Transition. Retrieved July 2021 from https://medresidency.com/considering-a-residency-swap-here-are-5-tips-to-make-a-smooth-transition

American Medical Association. (2018). Want to Switch Residency Programs? 5 Things You Should Know. Retrieved July 2021 from https://www.ama-assn.org/residents-students/residency/want-switch-residency-programs-5-things-you-should-know

The DO. (2018). Switching specialties during residency: What you need to know. Retrieved July 2021 from https://thedo.osteopathic.org/2018/07/switching-specialties-during-residency-what-you-need-to-know/

KevinMD. (2019). How to transfer residency programs. Retrieved July 2021 from https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2019/01/how-to-transfer-residency-programs.html

Americna Academy of Family Physicians. (n.d.). The Match: Getting into a Residency Program. Retrieved July 2021 from https://www.aafp.org/students-residents/medical-students/become-a-resident/match.html

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