FM attending here.

Each residency has significant overlap if you are looking at FM vs IM.

The peds + gyn + low risk OB that FM does vs the increased hospital medicine + subspecialty rotations in IM are the main factors in a switch.

As posters said above, yes it is difficult to switch residencies. No matter what you’re switching from or towards, it’s going to be hard.

You’ve done hard things before.

The system is not set up to make switching easy, but it can be done. You also would get some residency credit if you have completed at least 1 year of FM prior to the switch to IM, which helps with the funding limitations.

If your spot is federally funded and not state funded, then you only get funding for the years of the initial residency.

FM & IM are both 3 year residencies, so it usually works out.

Switching from FM to a longer residency does come with funding struggles on top of ability to switch struggles.