Led by Clinical Assistant Professor in General Internal Medicine, Matthew Soltys, MD, the Department of Internal Medicine Transition to Residency (TTR) course is a two-week elective offered through the Carver College of Medicine to fourth-year medical students who have applied to Internal Medicine residency programs, or are spending a preliminary year in Internal Medicine before pursuing a residency in their chosen specialty. Beginning shortly after Match Day, the course prepares first-year residents for day one of residency, helping to shift their mindsets from the classroom to the ward.

“Even though we have really outstanding medical students, transitions are inevitably hard,” said Clinical Assistant Professor in Immunology Jennifer Strouse, MD, one of the lead TTR facilitators. “I think most physicians still remember approaching residency filled with both excitement and concerns. I feel very passionate about helping identify areas for improvement in this transition, and then using TTR as an opportunity to maintain the excitement while easing the concerns of the transition.”

Now in its second year, the program has already shown significant growth: the pilot group was made of six students, while this year’s group included 19, with two auditing the course.

Read about the initial TTR course here.

“That’s great, because it shows people are voting with their feet and registering,” Soltys said. “Currently, [the Department of] Surgery also has a Transition to Residency course, but other specialties have reached out to us, including Pediatrics and OB-GYN. I would like to help them get a course off the ground for learners interested in those specialties.”

To make its second year even better than the first, Soltys took the “plan, do, study, act” model of continuous evaluation and sought feedback from the year-one cohort, removing some topics from the curriculum that the group found less helpful, and replacing them with ones they might have preferred. This feedback led Soltys to arrange more simulations in collaboration with the Center for Procedural Skills and Simulation (CPSS) and more hands-on learning opportunities with faculty.

“The Transition to Residency course was yet another incredible example of how much the Internal Medicine department at Iowa cares about the students at CCOM. Even for someone like me who is going elsewhere for residency, there’s clearly a genuine interest in helping to prepare me for the next step of my career,” said Reece Wadle, a participant in this year’s TTR. “Obviously, the jump from medical school to residency will be huge in terms of what is expected of me, and nobody can ever be fully prepared for that, but it’s comforting knowing I’m coming from a place that invested in me and my success and did what they could to get me ready.”

Numerous faculty in the Department of Internal Medicine volunteered to help with the course, and multiple residents, including those in the Ultrasound Distinction track and the Distinction in Medical Education (DIME) track. In fact, previous DIME residents identified scholarly projects specifically to address the transition from undergraduate to graduate medical education, with 90% of DIME residents participating in teaching the TTR course this year.

“It was amazing to see so many people come together, giving so much of their time and energy, to help prepare us for residency. All of the course directors and instructors were very well prepared,” John Nelson, another student in this year’s cohort, said. “Almost every lecture, and each simulation, were focused on important topics, things we had not been exposed to in our education to that point. Or if we had been exposed to it, we had never had the chance to actually do it ourselves. I felt that the simulations were particularly helpful. It was good to experience making difficult and time-sensitive decisions in a controlled environment where we could build foundational practical skill.”

Now, having completed the second year of the TTR course, Soltys continues to iterate the program, working toward the end goal of assisting the Carver College of Medicine in offering a version of this course to every learner going into residency.

“After taking the course, I feel well prepared to hit the ground running in July,” said Tim Davie, another second-year cohort member. “I particularly appreciate the simulation sessions, which provided realistic interactive cases of some of the most challenging scenarios residents encounter. During these sessions I learned how to compassionately deliver news about the death of a patient to their family, properly navigate and respond to codes and rapid response scenarios, and express empathy to a family member in distress. Not all residency programs provide these types of simulations during training, so being able to experience these challenges prior to encountering them in real life is an invaluable opportunity. I am excited for the future students who will be able to benefit from this course as it continues to grow and develop!”

Dr. Soltys would like to thank everyone who was involved in helping facilitate and showcase this year’s course:

• CPSS staff and simulated patients
• Design Center staff
• Mazen Aiche, MD
• Grace Alexander, MD
• Rachel Anderson, MD
• Taylor Becker, MD
• Nicholas Behne, RT
• Andrew Bryant, MD
• Taylor Cox, MD
• Dennis Firchau, MD
• Alejandro Comellas Freymond, MD
• Katharine Harris, MD
• Britnee Haynes, DO
• Reed Johnson, MD
• Tyler Maggio, MD
• Daniel Miller, MD
• Luke Morrey, MD
• Alex Paschke, MD
• Shivaliben Patel, MD
• Joseph Phillips, MD
• Haley Pysick, MD
• M. Lee Sanders, MD, PhD
• Michael Sauer, MD
• Michael Schlossman, MD
• Ashten Sherman, MD
• Matthew Smith, MD
• Justin Smock, MD
• Kathleen Steenlage
• Jennifer Strouse, MD
• Bryan Struck, MD
• Manish Suneja, MD
• Raul Villacreses, MD
• John Wilde, DO
• Alice Xu, MD
• Kathie Zhang, MD