doing a med or icu sub-I for the extra experience before neuro sub-I?

[fleshwound]

As the subject title states, I'm thinking about doing a medicine or MICU sub-I the month before my neuro sub-I for the following reasons:
1. I'll be rusty after having frontloaded IM and neuro early during MS3 year.
2. Intern year will be medicine anyway, so the extra experience would be helpful, right?

However, I also wonder how much it'll actually help me shine during the neuro sub-I if:
1. I'll be drained and not as fresh full of enthusiastic vigor
2. I would actually benefit more from taking a lighter elective that would allow me to do some neuro reading, e.g., Blumenfeld or Patten

Can anyone with the wisdom of experience and hindsight shed any light on this matter? Thx

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[hoopie]

I would choose option 2 personally. A medicine sub I can burn you out. I don't think it's necessarily a bad idea to do one before the neuro sub I if you really want to shine, but don't do it the month before, at least schedule something light in between the two. If that's not possible then I think you'd benefit more by doing something easy befpre and using your extra time to get your neuro knowledge down.

 

[typhoonegator]

Doing the medicine sub-I would give you more experience on managing patients (irrespective of medical knowledge). The vast majority of what you do day-to-day as an intern has less to do with medical knowledge and more to do with management skills and prioritization. For that reason, I'd do the medicine Sub-I first as practice.

We can teach you to be a neurologist, but we'd rather you come into the game knowing how to take care of patients.

 

[Mattchiavelli]

do the two months, just think of it as one big 2 month rotation. Tell the team you work with for the medicine sub-i that you're interested in neurology and the residents will probably let you help manage patients getting consulted by neurology or in a coma with meningitis etc.

 

[Vader]

It doesn't really matter what order you do the sub-Is in the end (I did my neuro before medicine sub-I back in the day, but not by choice). If you have the choice, would do as typhoonegator says.

 

[Thama]

I did my medicine sub-I immediately before my neuro sub-I. I highly recommend it, especially if you've taken any time off.