Graduate Medical Education University of Texas Southwestern--Austin Transitional Program

The University of Texas Southwestern--Austin Transitional Year Program is structured to give residents broad exposure to the basic areas of medicine. The popular program rotates residents through six specialties, including internal medicine, pediatrics, neurology, surgery, emergency medicine and a specialty of the resident’s choice.

The Transitional Program is a one-year residency designed for medical school graduates who have chosen a specialty that requires a general residency program as a prerequisite. The program is housed at University Medical Center at Brackenridge, where residents care for a diverse group of patients. An attending physician on each rotation supervises the residents. On pediatrics, internal medicine and neurology rotations, senior residents also supervise them.

Goals of the Transitional Year Program

The UT Southwestern-Austin Transitional Year Residency Program has three primary goals for residents:

1. The TY resident should have grounding in basic medicine so that the resident has knowledge and experience in providing basic medicine to a variety of patients. In the case, that the resident chooses to do general practice medicine the resident could function in this capacity.
2. The TY resident should have knowledge about critical situations and what should be done to manage those situations. This education should include cardiac and respiratory emergencies plus fluid and nutritional requirements.
3. The transitional year allows the resident to gain perspective about the specialty they have chosen and its various subspecialties. The resident should have an idea of the various specialty divisions and be able to decide whether they wish to enter into their chosen specialty.

Transitional Program Director
David Harshaw, MD