What is a Transitional Year?

In many specialties, medical school graduates go right into their categorical training. Some, however, require an intern year of generalized training before entering a specialty program in the PGY-2 year. In order to match with these advanced programs, medical students apply and interview at both specialty programs and intern year programs at the same time. Upon matching, they enter their intern year that July and their specialty program the following year. Some of the fields that require a core medical training year before beginning residency include:

  • Radiology
  • Neurology
  • Anesthesiology
  • PM&R
  • Ophthalmology
  • Radiation Oncology
  • Dermatology

The Mather Hospital Transitional Year Program is designed to provide a well-balanced curriculum of graduate medical education in a variety of disciplines, in order to prepare residents for entry into a variety of specialties that require a prerequisite clinical year. The program may also provide clinical education for those medical school graduates who will:

  • serve in public health organizations,
  • serve on active duty in the military as general medical officers or primary flight/undersea medicine physicians
  • desire or need to acquire at least one year of fundamental clinical education before entering administrative medicine or non-clinical research.

The Sponsoring Institution has recently developed and achieved accreditation for an Internal Medicine Program based at Mather Hospital, which started in July 2014. The Transitional Year Program will foster a close relationship with both of its Sponsoring Programs, the Stony Brook Radiology Program and the Internal Medicine Program at Mather.

How is a Transitional Year different than a Preliminary Year?

At the heart of this program’s educational process is the understanding that the provision of healthcare to a fellow human being is a privilege. We at Mather Hospital will hold the door for someone who is passing by or may, if encountering a person who can’t find their way, walk them to their destination. Each individual is unique and carries a value system with which they frame their world. When we treat a person we must take a step into their world, to see things as they see them. In this way we can truly collaborate with the patient to help them incorporate long lasting changes into their life and achieve results that they can recognize as meaningful. We are looking for applicants that share this passion.

What kind of applicants are you looking for?

At the heart of this program’s educational process is the understanding that the provision of healthcare to a fellow human being is a privilege. We at Mather Hospital will hold the door for someone who is passing by or may, if encountering a person who can’t find their way, walk them to their destination. Each individual is unique and carries a value system with which they frame their world. When we treat a person we must take a step into their world, to see things as they see them. In this way we can truly collaborate with the patient to help them incorporate long lasting changes into their life and achieve results that they can recognize as meaningful. We are looking for applicants that share this passion.

Do you have university affiliations?

We are affiliated with The Zucker School of Medicine/Northwell Health. Residents in the Mather Hospital Transitional Year Program will have access to all the amenities and benefits of the University.

What type of board scores are necessary to get in to your program?

The Mather Hospital Transitional Year Residency Program aims to be very competitive. However, candidates selected to interview and match will be chosen based on the applicant’s entire file. We are looking for residents committed to high quality and safe patient care across the continuum of healthcare. Therefore, it will be important to have a well-rounded file that includes solid board scores, community involvement, a clearly defined passion for your educational goals and letters of recommendation that capture your clinical and personal strengths.

Where is Port Jefferson?

The Mather Hospital Transitional Year Residency Program is located in the Village of Port Jefferson, on the North Shore of Long Island. Situated approximately 60 miles east of New York City, easily accessible by the LIRR, Port Jefferson is within driving distance of vineyards, beaches, restaurants, sporting venues, outlets and more.

Tell me about the quality of life in Port Jefferson. Will I be able to balance my professional and personal life?

We have designed the Mather program to provide not only a satisfying professional experience, but also an overall high quality of your personal life. We take resident well-being seriously and carefully monitor duty hour rules to comply with our policies and to mitigate fatigue and burnout. Our program provides ample opportunity to balance work and play, and Port Jefferson’s locale allows convenient access to everything exciting Long Island and New York City has to offer.

Port Jefferson combines all the quaintness of a seaside historical village with the convenience of a major metropolitan suburb. From vineyards to amusement parks, world famous beaches to spectacular sporting events, outlet shopping to great restaurants, everything one could imagine is just a short drive away.

New York City is no further away than the local train station, which is a 10 minute walk from the hospital. The Bridgeport & Port Jefferson Steamboat Company, offers hourly ferry service to Connecticut, and makes a fun weekend afternoon if you just want to relax and enjoy the sun and water.

Mather Hospital is in close proximity to a number of non-furnished and furnished studios, one and two bedroom apartments, many within walking distance to the hospital.

The residency is a Zucker School of Medicine/Northwell Health-sponsored program. As such, most resident benefits are provided by Zucker School of Medicine/Northwell Health. These benefits include vacation time, liability coverage, health insurance, dental coverage, conference stipends, sick leave, library access and on-campus activity discounts.

Tell me about Mather Hospital.

Mather Hospital is an accredited 248-bed, non-profit community hospital dedicated to providing a wide spectrum of health care services of the highest quality to the residents of Suffolk County in a cost-effective manner. As members of the Mather Hospital Family – trustees, medical staff, hospital staff, volunteers and benefactors – we are committed to providing care to the best of our ability showing compassion and respect and treating each patient in the manner we would wish for our loved ones. We will meet or exceed each patient’s expectations through the continued collaborative efforts of each and every member of the Mather Hospital Family.

Our hospital goal is to be the best community hospital in New York State and we hold four pillars as our core values: people, service, quality & safety and innovation & growth. As such, we strive to provide an ethical and professional environment in which the educational curricular requirements can be fully achieved and assessed. We are dedicated to establishing an environment where diversity of background and thought is both respected and encouraged.

In 2018 Mather Hospital became part of Northwell Health.

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