Welcome!
We, at the Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital Transitional Year Residency Program, are pleased to see that you’re interested in our teaching program. Our program has been in existence since 1974 and is still under the leadership of its director, Dr. Burton J. Polansky.
Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital is a 253-bed, not-for-profit, community, teaching hospital, affiliated with Tufts Medical Center and serves a very diverse population. The emergency department is one of the busiest in the region. There is certainly no shortage of learning opportunities.
Our program offers 8 PGY-1 positions and is sponsored by the medicine and surgery departments of Tufts Medical Center. We are fully accredited by the ACGME.
There are a few things you might want to know about our program. First, you truly will have the opportunity to transition into a high-functioning, capable physician– proficient in the six general competencies. Our program encourages early, graduated independence and responsibility. Supervision, 24/7, comes from a very talented group of hospitalists, medical subspecialists, surgeons, intensivists and medical and surgical residents that rotate from Tufts Medical Center.
Secondly, our program is one that fosters a sense of camaraderie, teamwork, and community (both in and outside the hospital). It is no surprise, some of our medical staff, having begun their medical careers as Transitional Year residents, have re-circulated back into our hospital community, as members of our radiology, psychiatry and ophthalmology departments. You will definitely feel connected to the program and the hospital. 
You also benefit from a full-time, on-site Medical Education Director, Dr. Dale J. Ellenberg, who works very closely with you in developing a curriculum that fits you best and encourages you to achieve your goals.
The hospital offers 24-hour ancillary services, a wonderful nursing staff, competitive salaries, flexible scheduling, and 3 weeks vacation.
The year is broken up into 13 blocks or rotations. The number of weeks in each rotation over the course of the academic year looks like this:
- Internal Medicine 26
- Critical Care 6
- General Surgery 4
- Emergency Medicine 4
- Electives 8 (offered at Tufts Medical Center)
- Ambulatory Medicine 4
There are many educational activities which include regular subspecialty lectures, a critical care lecture series, Grand Rounds, Tumor Board Conference, M&Ms, Journal Clubs and bedside teaching.
In June 2008, a group of young doctors came through the doors of Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital to embark on a year-long journey that will undoubtedly shape the rest of their lives. Three of these residents, James, Leah, and Justin have agreed to have their year chronicled - their successes and challenges - by the local newspaper, the Enterprise. A dedicated Website consisting of news articles and video clips from that chronicle can be found at www.makingadoctor.com
Please visit the links listed below that outline our application guidelines, and selection process. A sample copy of the House Officer's Appointment Agreement is also provided.
Applications for the program are accepted through the "Electronic Residency Application Service (ERAS)" via the internet. Information about ERAS can be obtained through their web site: http://www.aamc.org/eras
For additional information about the program, email Linda Lalli, the Transitional Year Residency Program Coordinator.
Dr. Burton J. Polansky, the Chief of Medicine Emiritus at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital and a Clinical Professor of Medicine at Tufts Medical School, has been associated with the teaching of medicine for his entire career. After ten years as Assistant Director at Boston City Hospital's residency program, he founded Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital's Transitional Residency Program in 1974.
His main goal in developing the program was to provide an educational atmosphere that involves the residents with nursing professionals, members of the medical staff and the community. His devotion to teaching along with that of many others on the staff here at Signature Healthcare Brockton Hospital, is what continues to make the Transitional Residency Program so successful in teaching generation after generation.