The Categorical PM&R Program Intern Year: A National Rotation Analysis

James Gardner, MD (Vanderbilt University Medical Center PM&R Program, Nashville, Tennessee); Samir A. Khan, DO; Douglas Bryant, MD; Nicholas Abramson, MD; Jakob T. Dovgan, MD; William Galbraith, MD

Meeting: AAPM&R Annual Assembly 2021

Categories: Practice Management, Leadership, and Quality Improvement (2021)

Session Information

Session Title: AA 2021 Virtual Posters - Practice Management, Leadership, and Quality Improvement

Session Time: None. Available on demand.

Disclosures: James Gardner, MD: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: To evaluate and characterize the variety of categorical PM&R internship rotations. This will serve as a first step towards formulating a set of basic national standards for what constitutes a high-value PM&R intern year experience.

Design: Collected a list of programs with at least 1 categorical intern during academic year 2019-2020. Searched Categorical PM&R program websites for data regarding intern year schedules. If website did not contain this information, then an email was sent to program coordinators and/or officials requesting this information. We then analyzed schedules to determine the amount of time an intern spent on individual rotations at their respective programs.Setting : Unites StatesParticipants : Categorical PM&R Programs

Interventions: N/A

Main Outcome Measures: Intern year rotation schedules

Results: We received rotation data from 12 PM&R webpages and additionally from 11 program officials for total of 23 of 33 categorical PM&R programs with active interns during the 2019-2020 academic year. Of the 23 programs: all 23 included Internal Medicine, 19 included ICU, 18 included Neurology, 16 included PM&R, 13 included Emergency Medicine, 13 included a Surgical specialty, and 8 offered elective rotations. Time spent on internal medicine rotations ranged from 12 to 40 weeks.Conclusions: Categorical PM&R programs offer all 4 years of training at one institution and are attractive to applicants for a variety of reasons, including continuity of training sites and geographical location. Currently, there are no evidence-based guidelines to help programs organize a high value intern year rotation schedule. These results highlight the variability among programs in this process and will ideally help to inform education leaders as they work to develop national recommendations on how to best prepare interns for the rigors of PM&R residency.

Level of Evidence: Level V

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Gardner J, Khan SA, Bryant D, Abramson N, Dovgan JT, Galbraith W. The Categorical PM&R Program Intern Year: A National Rotation Analysis [abstract]. PM R. 2021; 13(S1)(suppl 1). https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/the-categorical-pmr-program-intern-year-a-national-rotation-analysis/. Accessed May 21, 2025.

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