So it's already that
time of the year when clinical clerks get busy for post graduate internship
application. So what are the things you need to know before clicking the submit
button in your online form? How do you choose the hospital best for you? Keep reading as I share to you the important things to note.
Post graduate internship
is one of the most exciting milestones in one's medical training. You start
with a thrilled heart as that newly acquired MD starts to sink in and you end
it with heebie-jeebies as the board exam schedule hits you. Some say that
PGIship is a break after that gruelling year of clerkship and a time to
recharge yourself in preparation for more years of training in residency but
some believe it is the best time to gain new skills and improve your clinical
eye, and to prepare for the most important exam in medicine - the physician
licensure exam. Nevertheless, choosing the right hospital is vital to get you
to whatever goal you have.
Here's the schedule for
2018 Application:
•November 1,
2017-January 31, 2018: Application for the 1st round of matching
•February 16-April 15,
2018: Application for the 2nd round of matching
•May 1-June 30, 2018:
Walk-in application period
How to apply?
Last year, the Association
of Philippine Medical Colleges (APMC) launched the online application for
internship. This is way better from years ago when medical clerks had to fill
up hardcopy of forms and submit them to their respective schools for final
submission to APMC. This way, you are able to track the progress of your
application in real time while schools get to have a more convenient way of
organizing and submitting requirements to APMC.
1st step is to register
an account in the National Internship Program System (e-NIPS) here. and fill out the necessary details. Just
make sure that you choose "Medical Student/Intern" option in
the --Select User Role-- so your application will be valid.
Also, don't forget to
prepare a softcopy of your passport size photo to be uploaded in your profile.
Then, you have to wait until your school validates and approves your account
before you can start applying for a hospital.
Once approved, you can
already access the long list of different hospitals you can choose from. e-NIPS
only displays the hospitals with available slots, so don't wonder if the
hospital listed during the 1st round is gone in the 2nd round. Below are photos
taken from APMC-SN page containing the list of hospitals (1, 2, 3, 4) and their
corresponding slots.
You can choose up to 3 and rank them according to your
preference. Aside from deciding which hospital to choose, the rank is also very
crucial in the application since it will determine which hospital will be
matched to you if you happened to be accepted in all 3 hospitals. Processing of
applications is simultaneously done by hospitals, in contrary to what others
believe that processing depends on the order of your hospital preference (some
think that the 1st hospital of choice will be processed first and once denied,
the application moves on to the next hospital of choice). So it is really
possible that you will be accepted in all 3 hospitals simultaneously but the
one matched to you is the hospital with the highest preference. So be sure with
your preference before submitting because once matched, the unmatching process
is so much of a hassle that you don't want to go through it. Also for this
year, e-NIPS might not show your results in your other choices and will only
display the one matched to you, unlike what they did last year that the
applicants can see if they are accepted or not in each choice and they have the
option to accept or refuse the assigned hospital. Apparently, e-NIPS has
removed that option. So this year, if you want to change your hospital, you
have to be unmatched first with the assigned hospital (write a formal letter to
them), then repeat the application process but you will be allowed during the
walk-in period only.
So for those still
confused with the terms, let me make it simple. Being "accepted" to a
hospital doesn't necessarily mean that you are already matched to it. You can
be accepted in a hospital but not matched yet. The final status will be given
when all the hospitals of your choice have submitted their final evaluation and
e-NIPS will automatically "match" you to the hospital of higher
preference. So being matched is the goal and again, once matched you can't
reapply in the next round until you have unmatched yourself.
It is also important to
remember that there are hospitals that post results early but there are buzzer
beaters too so don't fret if your classmates are already matched during the
first month of application while you are still waiting anxiously for your
results. How will you know if your result is already final? Once accepted in
the hospital with the highest preference, your status will automatically become
"matched to _________ hospital" but if you were accepted in your
lower-ranked hospital and your higher-ranked hospital is yet to release
results, you will be given "pending" status. However, if your status
indicates that you are "matched" to your lower-ranked hospital, it
means that your higher-ranked hospital has already released results and did not
accept you.
What if you only have
one hospital in mind, are you really required to choose 3? You have the
prerogative to choose only one and be charged with cheaper fees because you
process only one set of requirements (TOR, Certificate of Eligibility from the
Dean's Office and class ranking) or maximize choosing 3 institutions and get
higher chance of getting matched because "probability" but pay higher
fees for additional set of requirements. By the way, I'll leave the fees part
to your school because charges may vary.
What can you do if you
were not matched during the first round? You can still reapply in the 2nd round
without paying additional fees. To those not matched in both rounds, you have
to directly apply in your preferred hospital as walk-in applicant during the
indicated schedule and once accepted, you have to inform the APMC for recording
in e-NIPS. What if you were not able to make an online account and failed to
apply in the 1st round? You can still register an account but you will be
allowed for walk-in application only.
How to choose a
hospital?
There are different
kinds of training hospitals, the ones that will give you unlimited errands,
hone your skills and train you to accomplish 5 different tasks in a minute;
those which will let you sit with training doctors, study with them and get the
Einstein out of you; or those which will demand you to work tirelessly while
simultaneously being bombarded with series of reportings, endorsements and a
consultant ready to prey on the remaining soul in you. But hey, you already got
that MD and there's no room for backing out because you are already a step away
from that license. What's even better is that APMC has ordered training
hospitals to give not more than 12 hours of duty hours for post graduate
interns. However, there are still remaining hospitals that give 24hr duties to
interns. That, you have to know in your prospect hospital because it would
still matter depending on your priorities.
In choosing a hospital,
you have to first identify your strengths and the things that you already know,
those skills you can confidently perform in any situation and of course your
weaknesses, what were not taught to you that you want to learn and the things
you want to improve on. From there, you can lay down your goals. Knowing what
you want to specialize later on is also a good starting point.
Location: There are many
hospitals to choose from north to south, you have the freedom to apply in any
of those. This will matter if you already have a preferred place to settle down
in the near future. Being able to train in your future hometown will give you
the advantage to introduce yourself as a doctor and eventually start building
your network of patients. Language is also an important factor here because
medical terms have to be relayed to patients in their vernacular version, so
you will be trained to talk to the patients more comfortably. There are also
those who aim to be able to communicate to a wide variety of patients so they
choose to train in places with different language. For instance, a doctor who
is fluent in bisaya and hiligaynon chooses to train in Manila for flexibility
and become language-ready.
Stipend: Hospitals give
stipends as high as 10 thousand pesos with additional compensation with every
paperwork you do and as low as free meals only. This depends if the priority is
to earn as early as PGIship (but application screening might be more
competitive) or if other goals outweigh this factor. If you are contented with
free meals only, then you have one less problem in choosing your hospital.
Specialization: Each
hospital has its own flagship program and you might consider one depending on
the specialization you want. With this, you get to be immersed in the culture
of the department and get acquainted with your possible future colleagues
(residents and consultants). It will also help you reassess your passion for
that field and give you the advantage of being familiarized with the know
abouts in the department. The number of cases a hospital receives is also
important here. There are hospitals that have a good number and variety of IM
cases whereas some hospitals are known to have good training in trauma care
because of the influx of trauma patients.
Type of hospital:
Being able to manage or handle patients directly may depend if the
hospital is government or private. Interns may be limited in doing procedures
in private institutions compared to public ones. However, there are hospitals
which cater to both pay and service/charity patients so interns can do
procedures with the latter. There are also other hospitals that, despite their
public status, offer limited procedures to interns because of having fellowship
programs wherein fellows have to perform the procedure themselves (e.g
thoracentesis). On the other hand, being exposed in private hospitals will give
you the advantage to observe the ideal management because they are able to
request the necessary labs and procedures to patients freely. You also get to
be exposed in modern equipment and technology, which will be a plus for your
residency training.
Schedule: I think this
is one of the most important things to consider especially if you are coming
from afar. Some start as early as 5am and as mentioned earlier, some still have 24hr duties. There are also hospitals that conduct weekly board exam review for
interns and some have weekly off the floors status/ interns' hour for
educational purposes. This also includes the length of every rotation because some hospitals allow interns to rotate every month per department while some rotate every 2 months. Some offer elective sched as long as 2 months while some are only given 2 weeks of free electives.
