PGY-I Curriculum

Happy Monday, and welcome to Medical Mondays! I already kindasorta talked to you about my residency orientation, so I figured I’d share my schedule for the year with you!

pgy-1 curriculum

I’m listing our PGY-I curriculum below–this is basically going to be continually updated throughout the year as I go through each of my rotations–sounds a lot like my clinical years in med school, yes yes? I guess the only difference is that now, my decisions actually matter/have consequences, and…I’m actually being paid. (What what. Still not used to this.)

This almosttt has all the residents in it!

This almosttt has all the residents in it!

The plus side to residency is that unlike in medical school, we actually have work hour restrictions (aka cannot exceed 80 per week) and are paid for said hours (fixed salary, but after so many years of debt, who’s going to complain?). The fact that I’m in Family Medicine means that this will actually be adhered to. (There are certain specialties where I’ve definitely heard of them going over that cap.)

I’ve done two “decipher the med school terms” posts (Part 1 and Part 2) already, but since I haven’t collected enough for a third, I’ll just define “golden weekend” in this post…

A golden weekend is a weekend where you don’t have to work on Saturday or Sunday. :O

I have none of these magical golden weekends until my vacation in mid-December and my other vacation in April. I’m also working a bunch of holidays and am eligible for a lot of comp days because of them, but don’t actually have enough days where I’m allowed to take a day off because it’s highly frowned upon to peace out of inpatient rotations and that makes up almost the entirety of intern year. (My seniors recently took a look at all the intern schedules and unanimously concluded that I have the worst one of all, hahaha.)

It’ll be okay though. I’m actually super excited because I’m going to be working with my advisor and one of the other residents on developing a nutrition curriculum for our program! :D!!! You know I’m all about preventative medicine, and eating healthy + exercising contribute so much to that!

mywaybibimbap

My advisor just so happens to be on the medical board of the gym that I go to and is also super good friends with or is the doctor of a couple chefs at the local culinary school, so weĀ might be doing community cooking classes at the culinary school or at the teaching kitchen!!


  • What’s your weekly/monthly schedule like?
  • Guess which rotation I’m dreading the most?
  • Do you work on the weekends?

I came up with this design ages ago for our class t-shirt contest! :]

Permanent link to this article: https://www.fairyburger.com/pgy-i-curriculum/

22 comments

Skip to comment form

  1. You are one busy woman! For what it’s worth, for me as a Mom there aren’t any golden weekends or comp days either!

    Interesting times ahead, though! I don’t know you well enough to guess which rotation scares you, but probably because you’re still a “new resident” with not that much experience I’ll say the surgical one?

    Yay for the possibility of cooking classes! This way at least you get to eat :-)

    PS: Aren’t you glad the burn unit is not on your schedule?
    Tamara recently posted…Photographer’s ChoiceMy Profile

    1. haha, that is very very true. Being a mom is a full time job and then some. (Major props to you–I don’t know how you do it! :O )

      I actually just finished my surgery one! I got spoiled at my surgery rotation as a med student since I did them mostly at small community hospitals and basically got to be first-assist on everything, so that’s not quite the one I was dreading most! (OB and ICU though, ahhh! I’m not a fan of anything childbirth-related, and the intensity of the ICU is just intimidating. ._. But hopefully I will learn a lot!)

      haha, right?! :P That’ll definitely be nice!

      That could’ve been pretty depressing! x_x I used to volunteer at a children’s hospital that specialized in orthopedic and burn injuries!

  2. OK I’m laughing over here in my kitchen :-) I woke up this morning and had a text from my niece who is in her residency.
    She referenced a golden weekend and I was going to have to Google!!
    Carla recently posted…Whats on YOUR laundry tag?My Profile

    1. hahaha, so glad that I could be of help! ;P

  3. I love your passion! Sometimes I work at home on the weekend, usually to get a head start on the week “so Monday won’t suck” or at least will suck a little less! Once in a while I have to go to the office and do some serious work, but that’s rare these days.
    Coco recently posted…Wrapping Up JulyMy Profile

    1. Aww, thank you! <3 I try to get as much stuff done as possible ahead of time so that if anything comes up, I'll be slightly less swamped and a little more prepared to deal with whatever it is. (That helps sometimes!)

  4. HOly smokes! 80 hours the limit. Yikes! You are going to have one busy year… but I’m sure what you will learn will be amazing!
    Julie @ Running in a Skirt recently posted…Stormy Summer – Weekend Photo DumpMy Profile

    1. haha, it’ll be a crazy hectic next 3 years, but I’m super excited about all the things I’m going to learn (and very hopefully retain)!!

  5. You are going to be one busy gal this year! I used to work in a family practice office that ran a residency program, so I’m pretty familiar with the rotations. Is it your goal when you complete residency to work in an office that does OB? I know a lot of family practices aren’t offering prenatal care/L&D anymore and it’s sad.

    1. It’s gonna be a crazy year! :O I’ve never actually been a fan of OB (it was my most dreaded rotation in med school until psych came along) because I reallyyy don’t like anything to do with childbirth. ._. I do plan/hope to do prenatal care and postpartum care in the future, but I don’t want to do the actual deliveries. They’ve been making it harder and harder for family practice physicians to do OB these days and the liability insurance is super sky-high, so I think that might be part of why lots of practices can’t offer it anymore. :/

  6. I think I need you to fix my ankle for me….you can get pro bono medical school points ;) Hahaha!
    Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine recently posted…Rhubarb Orange Quick BreadMy Profile

    1. hahaha, I think my whole life has been dedicated to pro bono everything. :P

      Let’s hang out sometime! :D I can take a look at your ankle, but no promises at this point. x_x My sports med rotation is not until next year! :o

  7. YAY for being a PGY-1! That is pretty exciting. You are going to love this year. You will work so hard, but you will love it.
    Susie @ SuzLyfe recently posted…First We Eat : mfk Restaurant Review and Family WeekendMy Profile

    1. It’s definitely going to be a crazy hectic year, but I’m excited! (Hopefully this stays with me all year round! :P )

  8. Yay for getting paid, haha! I’ll never stop being in awe of how much you take on, and still have time to blog. I’m thankful for Medical Mondays, because that insight really makes me more grateful of the process through which you’re going.
    Tiffany @ The Chi-Athlete recently posted…Yoga in the street, my foot, and HAPPY AUGUST!My Profile

    1. Aww, thanks so much, Tiffany! I definitely have a tendency to take on way too many things, but…it keeps things interesting (although hectic :P )! I’m glad you like Medical Mondays! :D My next one’s either on Medical Interpretation or about my first rotation in residency! (I can’t recall which comes first, but they’re scheduled! :P )

  9. Hooray for fixed salaries and set work hours!

    I don’t know how you keep up with it all, girl! I would be needing to be checked into the psych ward :P
    Kristy from Southern In Law recently posted…Recipe: The Best Vegan Brownies (Gluten Free!)My Profile

    1. hahaha, right? I think it’ll roughly check out to being paid about minimum wage. :P But you know what? It’s a-okay because at least I’m not the one paying anymore (well, other than student loans ._.).

      I’m hanging on by some threads! :P

  10. EM is coming up- woohoo!! No golden weekends until December is tough but I’m sure the time will fly by. That would be great if you could tie in some education with the culinary school- good luck!!
    Sonali- The Foodie Physician recently posted…Dining with the Doc: Strawberry JalapeƱo SalsaMy Profile

    1. Yes indeed! I’m kinda scared, haha. I hope I’ll do well there!

      hehe, I definitely think the time’s gonna fly by–superrrr excited about the culinary school tie-in though! I’m keeping my limbs crossed! <3

    • RunawayBridalPlanner on August 3, 2016 at 6:28 pm
    • Reply

    One nice thing is at least you know your schedule.
    I’m guessing it’s not the vacation you not looking forward too, LOL
    I was going to guess Inpatient services, but then I saw above you mentioned OB, and yikes thats 8 weeks long. You’ll be looking forward to that vacation after that one!
    It’s nice they break it up for the most part, bet it will help make the time go by faster. As soon as you get used to a place you switch, no chance of getting bored. If that is even possible as a Dr.:)
    Good luck!!

    1. Oh em gee you have no idea how much I love finally knowing what my schedule is, haha. Organization! Planning! Yay!!!

      I’m dreading OB because of my aversion to anything childbirth-related, but aside from that, it’s ICU and inpatient pediatrics (only because I have to work 12 days straight for part of that rotation), hehe. Hopefully I’ll survive though! Vacation will be much welcomed after that! o_o

      Thanks so much! <3

Leave a Reply to Farrah Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

CommentLuv badge