BayCare Health System Program

Program Identity & Fit

BayCare's Transitional Year Residency is a multi-site community-based program spanning three hospitals across the Tampa Bay/West Central Florida region—Morton Plant North Bay Hospital, St. Joseph's Hospital, and Winter Haven Hospital—giving residents rotations across facilities ranging from a 222-bed community hospital to a 615-bed tertiary center to a level-one trauma center. As the region's largest not-for-profit academic health system, BayCare frames clinical research as integral to its identity, offering residents exposure to clinical trials and evidence-based medicine infrastructure alongside a rapidly expanding GME enterprise (new academic corridor, Northwestern Medicine collaboration). The program emphasizes structured resident wellness programming (wellness days, resiliency training, EAP, Doc Be Well) as a core part of its training culture, reflecting an institutional priority on sustainable, well-supported transitions into categorical specialties. As a transitional year, its explicit purpose is to serve as a broad preparatory launchpad rather than a terminal training destination, valuing flexibility and breadth over a singular specialty focus.