More than 25 years ago, the starting date of most hospital internships was advanced from July 1 to June 24. This allows physicians 1 week after their internship ends on June 23 to move to the location of their residencies that start on July 1.
Unfortunately, we in dermatology have not embraced this policy for our postresidency fellowships. Most fellowships in dermatosurgery, dermatopathology, etc, begin at 8 AM on July 1. This causes unnecessary stress. Residents must either request time off at the end of their residency or travel overnight to reach their fellowships on time.
I propose that each fellowship director achieve 7-5 by '05. By this, I mean that postresidency fellowships will begin on July 5 by the year 2005.
One way to achieve this is to notify your fellowship applicants that they will be expected to participate for one extra day. If each of the next few . . . [Full Text of this Article]
