HCA Healthcare-Mercer University School of Medicine-Summerville Hospital Program

Program Identity & Fit

This is a new, community-based Transitional Year program at Summerville Hospital, a 124-bed acute-care facility within HCA Healthcare's Trident Health System serving the Charleston/Lowcountry region of South Carolina. The 13-resident program is structured purely as a launchpad year, providing broad exposure across inpatient medicine, general surgery, emergency medicine, ICU, inpatient psychiatry, and a wide array of electives (endocrinology, ENT, ophthalmology, radiology, wound care, community medicine, and more) to prepare residents for advancement into their chosen PGY-2 specialty. The curriculum is explicitly tailored around Step 3 preparation and ACGME PGY-2 readiness rather than deep specialization, reflecting its function as a foundational, transitional bridge year rather than a terminal training pathway. As part of HCA's national GME network, residents gain access to system-wide research infrastructure and a resident well-being framework, but the program's core identity is a generalist, community-hospital springboard rather than a research- or subspecialty-focused environment.