Does your school limit rotations in any one specialty? I NEED YOUR HELP.

[illegallysmooth]

Hi. I'm planning my 4th year schedule.

My school's clinical education department is having trouble grasping why making me use electives for my 2 or 3 pre-residency-application EM rotations AND THEN making me complete 3 "core" EM rotations is not ideal. I will end up with 5-6 EM rotations and only a couple electives left for things like cards, ICU, anesthesia -- all the other stuff which EM applicants are encouraged to do.

Does your school have a policy by which you are not allowed to do more than X number of rotations in any given specialty? Then I need you. Please PM me or respond with a link or an attachment that contains the policy spelled out by your school.

I'm trying to get a meeting with the dean of clinical education so that I can plead my case, and I need some supportive materials. This policy is ridiculous. EM is our only "core" rotation during 4th year and the three EM rotations have to be completed according to a rotation schedule that is decided at the end of MS2. This is awful for anyone who then decides to apply to EM, so I'm trying to change this policy.

Even if you have links from prominent organizations with recommendations on how to schedule fourth year so one obtains a well-rounded education, I would appreciate it.

Thanks in advance. Our dean is pretty...severe. I really need to have some materials to back up my recommendations. I would really appreciate any help.

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[DrYoda]

We are limited to 3 months per specialty. One could technically round-about some of the limits by doing peds EM through the peds department ect., but no one usually wants to do that many rotations bad enough to bother.

Everyone is required to do 3 EM rotations? Even those not going into it? That's absurd. I'm going into EM and have only done 2 (with no plans for more).

I can't find any big organizations that specifically say what to limit rotations to. SAEM does recommend a "broad-based" curriculum (and even lays the top 4 helpful non-EM rotations), but doesn't give a particular number. http://beta.saem.org/docs/students/fourthyearcurriculum.pdf?sfvrsn=2

The Western michigan PD has a lengthy opinion page on advice for applicants which advises limiting EM rotations to 2:

http://med.wmich.edu/node/103
Beyond that, I wouldn’t advise doing more than two months of emergency medicine during your fourth year. (Rare exceptions may include something unique: a month of emergency medicine research, a specialized EMS month, something international, etc.). Remember, you’ll be doing emergency medicine the rest of your life, and fourth year is an opportunity to experience the rest of medicine. You should hone your basic medical knowledge with some core medicine, surgery and pediatrics (most schools require this, anyway). Beyond that, explore. Radiology, dermatology, ENT and opthalmology - these may be given little time in an emergency medicine residency curriculum. Have you always wanted to do some tropical or missionary medicine? This is a prime time to do it. But you have to plan ahead, or it won’t happen.

I'll PM you my school's policy. Best of luck.

 

[illegallysmooth]

We are limited to 3 months per specialty. One could technically round-about some of the limits by doing peds EM through the peds department ect., but no one usually wants to do that many rotations bad enough to bother.

Everyone is required to do 3 EM rotations? Even those not going into it? That's absurd. I'm going into EM and have only done 2 (with no plans for more).

I can't find any big organizations that specifically say what to limit rotations to. SAEM does recommend a "broad-based" curriculum (and even lays the top 4 helpful non-EM rotations), but doesn't give a particular number. http://beta.saem.org/docs/students/fourthyearcurriculum.pdf?sfvrsn=2

The Western michigan PD has a lengthy opinion page on advice for applicants which advises limiting EM rotations to 2:




I'll PM you my school's policy. Best of luck.

Thanks very much! This is exactly what I need. And yes, everyone is required to do 3 EM rotations at our "affiliates" around here (community hospitals without EM programs).