Results from a transitional-year program director survey: identifying crucial issues and concerns

Transitional Year (TY) programs meet an important need by preparing residents for specialties that accept individuals after an initial preparatory year. To our knowledge, no surveys to date have been conducted to identify attributes of TY programs and concerns of TY program directors.

The purpose of this study was to review TY program characteristics and identify critical issues and concerns of TY program directors (TYPDs).

A web-based, 22-question survey was sent to all 114 TYPDs of programs accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education between January and April 2011. The survey included open-formatted and closed-formatted questions addressing program and institution demographics, program director time, administrative support, satisfaction, and future plans.

The survey response rate was 86%. The median age of TY programs was 28 years, with few new programs. More than 80% of TY programs were conducted at community hospitals and university-affiliated community hospitals. Of the responding TYPDs, 17% had served less than 2 years, and 32% had served 10 years or more. Common sponsoring TY programs included internal medicine (88%), general surgery (42%), family medicine (25%), emergency medicine (24%), and pediatrics (18%). Overall, TYPDs were satisfied with their positions. They expressed concerns about inadequate time to complete duties, salary support, and administrative duties assigned to program coordinators. Forty-nine percent of TYPDs reported they planned to leave the position within the next 5 years.

Our survey provides useful information to assist institutions and the graduate medical education community in meeting the needs of TYPDs and strengthening TY programs.