The Transitional residency program at Methodist is designed to provide physicians-in-training with an ideal mix of hands-on clinical experience and time for academic study. From the beginning of the program, residents are primarily responsibility for the diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care of their patients.

Specific duties include:

• Patient care
• Data gathering and organization
• Physical exam skills
• Decision-making

The transitional year fulfills the educational needs of medical school graduates:

• Needing one year of fundamental clinical education before entering another graduate medical education program for a particular specialty
  
• Wanting to acquire at least one year of fundamental skill education prior to entering a career path that does not require broad clinical skill, such as administrative medicine, or clinical research
  
• Planning to serve an organization like public health service or on active duty in military as general medical officers
  
• Wanting to have a broad-based year to make a career specialty decision