Virginia Mason Franciscan Health Program

Program Identity & Fit

Virginia Mason's Transitional Year is a small, five-position internship embedded within an academically-oriented, quality-improvement-driven medical center in Seattle, functioning primarily as a launchpad year for interns advancing into competitive specialties such as anesthesiology, radiology, and dermatology. The program is distinguished by its personalized scheduling around each intern's advanced specialty, a dedicated Systems Based Practice elective built on the Virginia Mason Production System (a nationally recognized quality-improvement methodology), and a genuine mix of medical wards, ICU, and surgical subspecialty rotations offering operative exposure not available in the parallel Preliminary Medicine track. Resident outcomes show a heavy concentration in anesthesiology, diagnostic radiology, and dermatology, indicating the program is structured to serve interns whose primary specialty training happens elsewhere. The program values interns who will engage meaningfully with a one-year, multidisciplinary foundation while integrating smoothly into categorical team responsibilities.