The End-of-Year Chaos in GME: How to Survive and Maybe Even Enjoy the Season
If you work in graduate medical education, you already know: late spring and early summer are not for the faint of heart.
Finalizing next year’s rotation schedules.
Onboarding new interns.
Coordinating orientation (and making it better than last year’s).
Hosting graduation celebrations that feel both meaningful and logistically manageable.
Submitting end-of-training evaluations.
Finalizing fourth quarter work hour reports, completing milestone submissions, and ensuring outgoing residents finish their end-of-training tasks while onboarding the new class.
It’s the busiest season of the GME year and it always arrives faster than expected.
There’s no sugarcoating it: this stretch is chaotic, exhausting, and easy to get lost in. But it’s also a time full of transition, potential, and a strange kind of magic if you know where to look.
Why It Feel So Hard
This season isn’t just packed. It’s emotionally complex.
You’re saying goodbye to residents who have grown into colleagues and friends.
You’re welcoming a new group who feel like strangers, but who’ll rely on you more than anyone.
You’re racing to finish strong while already needing to plan ahead.
And you’re doing all of it amid vacation season, budget prep, annual program evaluation prep, and, yes, your own life.
This is liminal space. The in-between moment where two academic years overlap. It’s where uncertainty and opportunity co-exist. No wonder it feels overwhelming.
Tips for Surviving and Thriving in the Chaos
Here are a few reminders and mindset shifts to carry you through:
Prioritize the Essentials
Not everything needs to be done this week. Make a list of true “must-dos” and focus on the pieces that move the needle. The glittery new intern handbook can wait if graduation RSVPs are still pending.
Create Micro-Moments of Joy
Whether it’s printing baby pictures for a resident’s farewell slide deck, adding fun facts to your intern orientation slides, or writing a handwritten thank-you to a departing PGY-3, you get to add heart to the hustle.
Protect Your Energy
Cave out one “meeting free” afternoon each week to get deep work done. use a focus playlist. Close your email for two hours. You need recovery windows too, especially when so much is changing all at once.
Automate and Delegate
If a task is repeatable, create a template. If someone else can do it 80% as well as you, let them. You do not need to carry every detail alone.
Celebrate the Wins
You made it through another year. Your residents grew. Your program evolved. Your team showed up. Name it. Honor it. This work is hard and worthy and you helped make it possible.
Final Thought: The Silver Lining
Yes, the next few weeks will be intense. But they also mark a turning point.
You’re helping people step into new versions of themselves. Whether that’s a brand new intern putting on their white coat for the first time, or a chief resident receiving a training program certificate and heading off to fellowship.
It’s a messy, beautiful, sacred time. And you’re right in the middle of it.
So take a breath. Then take the next step.
You don’t have to do it all at once. Just don’t forget to notice the meaning inside the motion.