Where did you have a *great* student EM rotation?

[deleted109597]

If I were a more typical med student, I'd do the same order, but replace that last rotation with someplace I really wanted to go, but thought I might not get an interview at. Then I'd bust my tail all month. A "high pass" isn't a death sentence, but don't pretend it doesn't matter.

Agree with the busting of tail. To JoeDO2, this means always willing to do whatever is asked, picking up patients without asking to, and being very thorough. A subI in EM should be very busy. Seeing 1pph to completion as a medical student is very hard.
The only reasons you should be sitting around in the ED as a student are: if there is literally nobody in the department, or you're told to slow down by the resident/attending. This happens probably more than it should, but the Laws of the House of God apply (SHOW ME A BMS (Best Medical Student, a student at the Best Medical School) WHO ONLY TRIPLES MY WORK AND I WILL KISS HIS FEET.)

Disagree with the honors. Honors should be a very small amount. We average around 10%. Places where half of the students are getting honors simply practice grade inflation. Only Lake Wobegon and In-n-Out are that good.

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[AvocadoLover]

Per the residents at Vandy on interview, most people who rotate at Vandy end up lowering their stock w/r/t rank list. Might be educational, but you probably don't want a average/poor SLOR.

You'll learn what you need to learn in residency. Go somewhere you would want to go for residency.

I am hoping to rotate at Vandy in June because it is one of the few programs that offers rotations for that month and I heard it is an amazing learning experience from 2 friends that rotated there last year. I really have no desire to train in the SE but I do plan on working hard and trying to score a good SLOE. This is the first I have heard that they tend to give average/poor SLOEs... Can anyone else who rotated there confirm or deny this?

 

[willen101383]

I am sure this exists elsewhere....but I had a GREAT rotation at Albany Med. Ive had "sub I" rotations that were more or less just any other med school rotation. My first shift I asked an attending something and he straight up told me that I needed to be responsible from A-Z with all my pts. So yeah, the first few weeks were insane, but it was definitely a great way to start my 4th year. Forced me to think on my feet and own my decisions. Highly recommended rotation.

 

[joeDO2]

I am hoping to rotate at Vandy in June because it is one of the few programs that offers rotations for that month and I heard it is an amazing learning experience from 2 friends that rotated there last year. I really have no desire to train in the SE but I do plan on working hard and trying to score a good SLOE. This is the first I have heard that they tend to give average/poor SLOEs... Can anyone else who rotated there confirm or deny this?

Haven't been there but I think what they meant by the comment was that you have better chance of getting a stellar letter at a place that has less volume of rotating students...ie better chance of standing out from the crowd.

 

[AvocadoLover]

Haven't been there but I think what they meant by the comment was that you have better chance of getting a stellar letter at a place that has less volume of rotating students...ie better chance of standing out from the crowd.

Oh, I see. Thanks JoeDO2! That makes sense to me.

 

[deleted547339]

Sorry. I supposed I implied something I didn't mean to. When I interviewed at Vandy, they were open about the fact that "about 90% of our rotators have their stock drop as a result of rotating here." I heard that twice while there for my interview day from two different people. I've also heard that from others on the trail.

I have no direct knowledge of their SLORs. They may write everyone fantastics SLORs. I just meant to say that I doubt if they view the majority of their rotating students as decreasing their likelihood of matching there, that they would not write them great letters.

Again, sorry. Wasn't trying to imply anything that I don't know about.

 

[AvocadoLover]

Sorry. I supposed I implied something I didn't mean to. When I interviewed at Vandy, they were open about the fact that "about 90% of our rotators have their stock drop as a result of rotating here." I heard that twice while there for my interview day from two different people. I've also heard that from others on the trail.

I have no direct knowledge of their SLORs. They may write everyone fantastics SLORs. I just meant to say that I doubt if they view the majority of their rotating students as decreasing their likelihood of matching there, that they would not write them great letters.

Again, sorry. Wasn't trying to imply anything that I don't know about.

I gotcha. Thanks for the info and the clarification

 

[iPod765]

Bump. Applying for aways is coming up again soon! Anybody else care to share their away rotation experiences?

 

[photodr2]

UF Jacksonville: Awesome rotation as a MS4. Super high volume --> trickle down procedures for med students. I did a rotation in August and was able to get several intubations, including a glidescope that failed in the field, a trauma chest tube s/p GSW, lots of central lines including two temporary dialysis lines, some complex lac repairs, and a paracentesis. No need to chart. Just see patients and present them to an upper year resident with a plan.

 

[Pinner Doc]

As stated in subject, I see lists and lists of EM electives, but I know very little about each one. I'd like to take one at home and one away.

At this point, I really want to know what you found to be a good place with good teaching and student support -- not necessarily Top 5/famous/most respected. If you had a very positive EM student elective at a given institution, can you please share?

I did an away EM rotation at Univ of Utah. It was awesome. I ended up going there for residency.

 

[Pinner Doc]

St Lukes Hospital/Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan, NY was great. They treat their residents and their med students really well. You aren't bogged down with too much academic lectures, and the ones you attend are really worth it. There is one on one attending time on every shift. They definitely dont just shoo you off with a resident and then leave you in the predicament of having to have an attending who you never presented to write your evaluations. You can get bedside teaching similar to IM rotations or you can have a lot of autonomy and do most things yourself (after you run it by the attending of course). It's basically what you are comfortable with. If you feel confident then you can do a lot, and if you need hand holding, then there are definitely attendings there who will walk you through slowly. It's basically a great place to go whether it's your first EM rotation or your third.

I wrote all this in comparison to the program I am currently rotating in (I obviously won't name it here). Now that I am doing a second rotation in EM, I had no idea how good I had it at SLR. Definitely, do a few rotation (2-3) so you can see how the students and residents are treated. You will see vast differences among programs.

Also agree with this. It was an affiliated hospital with my medical school, and it's where I did my "home" ER rotation.

 

[GTP]

Hi everyone. I'm a D.O. student (240's USMLE, 680's COMLEX) interested in ACMGE EM programs. I've been going through this thread, and I cross-checked the list of programs that could be a good fit for me with what you guys wrote here. The following places made my short list for great rotation sites:
Albany
Mayo
UT Southwestern
Penn State Hershey
Illinois Peoria
Christiana
Advocate Christ

Obviously these SUbI coordinators are notorious for not responding to emails, so I imagine having to send out 30 emails to get 4 spots. Can you guys recommend other rotation sites that are med student/DO friendly? Finding a site that is student friendly is important to me because even though it is important to take charge, not having clear expectations and being ignored from day 1 make the learning process more difficult. I am a little bit geographically limited in that I'm not interested in certain places like Michigan, NYC, Florida, cali or those with 4 year programs. However, I'd be willing to rotate at such places if the teaching is phenomenal and they can provide a great letter of recommendation. My main goal right now is finding 3-4 sites where the rotation is organized and students have clear expectations, they learn lots, staff are helpful/down to earth, and most importantly, can get a good letter of recommendation. Also, I'd like to avoid malignant programs at all costs. If you rotated at a site where they provided housing or you didn't need a car, please mention that too lol. High acuity and not having surgical residents stealing cases easily handed in the ED are also a plus. Any inputs you guys have would be appreciated.

Even if it's a non-EM rotation, I am still interested in hearing about great elective rotations in specialities which are helpful for EM (Eg cardiology, anesthesia, ICU, radiology, etc). All suggestions are welcome obviously, but I am particularly curious about the following programs (these are EM) because they rank high on my personal list (the research I've done is still in its early stages right now, barely scratched the surface).

Syracuse
Illinois Chicago program
Medical college of Georgia
U Connecticut
Drexel
Thomas Jefferson
Temple
Dartmouth
Mercy St Vincent

Thank you!

 

[QuackaDO]

I am hoping to rotate at Vandy in June because it is one of the few programs that offers rotations for that month and I heard it is an amazing learning experience from 2 friends that rotated there last year. I really have no desire to train in the SE but I do plan on working hard and trying to score a good SLOE. This is the first I have heard that they tend to give average/poor SLOEs... Can anyone else who rotated there confirm or deny this?

The reason why this is said is simply because of a certain portion of your letter is likely to say something that could be misconstrued as "negative" when in reality it's just honest. For me (yes, I rotated), the part that probably draws the "not very good letters" comments from some is that when asked on the SLOE "how will this person rank on your match list". Well, mine said "will not rank". I got honors on the rotation. Why the "will not rank"? Well, you see, I'm a DO, lol, and Vandy just won't match a DO so they are honest when they say they will not rank, no matter how good you are. I was told (who knows how true it is) that I was on of the few DOs who have gotten honors there but was told (by the Chair) that because I'm a DO, don't come from a top 5 or top 10 med school, and do not have 240-250+ on my boards that I would not match there. So in reality, what they said was not "negative", it was just honest. Outside of that, I have been told my letter is outstanding and the comments are awesome. The only question I've gotten was about the "will not rank" part and as soon as I told them Vandy has never taken a DO and told them what I was told they just said "oh, makes sense". Was it a "negative" to some programs? Maybe for the ones that I never talked to and maybe some flat out garbage piled me simply because of that but if so then oh well, not likely I was going to make an impression anyways, lol!

 

[Dr.CCM]

The reason why this is said is simply because of a certain portion of your letter is likely to say something that could be misconstrued as "negative" when in reality it's just honest. For me (yes, I rotated), the part that probably draws the "not very good letters" comments from some is that when asked on the SLOE "how will this person rank on your match list". Well, mine said "will not rank". I got honors on the rotation. Why the "will not rank"? Well, you see, I'm a DO, lol, and Vandy just won't match a DO so they are honest when they say they will not rank, no matter how good you are. I was told (who knows how true it is) that I was on of the few DOs who have gotten honors there but was told (by the Chair) that because I'm a DO, don't come from a top 5 or top 10 med school, and do not have 240-250+ on my boards that I would not match there. So in reality, what they said was not "negative", it was just honest. Outside of that, I have been told my letter is outstanding and the comments are awesome. The only question I've gotten was about the "will not rank" part and as soon as I told them Vandy has never taken a DO and told them what I was told they just said "oh, makes sense". Was it a "negative" to some programs? Maybe for the ones that I never talked to and maybe some flat out garbage piled me simply because of that but if so then oh well, not likely I was going to make an impression anyways, lol!

That's pretty ridiculous to me.

 

[shenanigi]

That's pretty ridiculous to me.

They are being honest... Nothing wrong with that. That is the whole purpose of the SLOE.

 

[TooMuchResearch]

They are being honest... Nothing wrong with that. That is the whole purpose of the SLOE.

No, it's ridiculous. The SLOE is a performance evaluation. If the entire eval is honors, top 1/3, etc., then it should be likely to rank highly. If it isn't a possibility b/c of the student's pedigree, the program shouldn't let the student rotate/be very up front about the fact that they cannor provide a good SLOE.

 

[Dr.CCM]

No, it's ridiculous. The SLOE is a performance evaluation. If the entire eval is honors, top 1/3, etc., then it should be likely to rank highly. If it isn't a possibility b/c of the student's pedigree, the program shouldn't let the student rotate/be very up front about the fact that they cannor provide a good SLOE.

That's my point. I'm not a DO, but if I were and I applied to Vandy not knowing this situation, busted my ass during the away, only to get "will not rank" or whatever, I'd be pissed. I mean how many programs know this policy about Vandy? It could really hurt you if you are a DO rotating there due to the fact that you can't explain yourself to people looking at your file if you don't get an interview.


Now, it if they let the student know beforehand about this situation, then it is fair. But, it sounds like they don't.

 

[MSmentor018]

that happened to me, rotated at a place. slammed dunked it only to be told later on you're from what school? oh sorry to waste your month, we don't take those here without an internship first. but I will give them credit, we worked together and now they let DO's in right out of school

as for the SLOR, true its a performance eval but there's a place on the bottom of the form to add your own personal comments. it's not uncommon to see "top 1/3" on the checkboxes then written very indirectly that you're not coming there for residency. I did a study on this and presented multiple times, search "SLOR" in journal of EM, SAEM, annuals of EM

 

[alpinism]

Yeah that's complete BS.

If you won't rank a DO or non 240+ med student you should either explicitly state this (in bold letters) in your away rotation application or just not let those students rotate.

To be fair, a large percentage of their current residents are not from top 20 med schools (South Carolina, SLU, Wake Forest, South Alabama, Kentucky, etc..) and I highly doubt they only rank 240+ applicants since most people have no burning desire to live in Nashville.

 

[QuackaDO]

Well, what I can say to all is this... I'm sure the reason that they don't "advertise" this little caveat is simply a political correctness thing. To advertise on your website or anywhere that you essentially are biased for or against anything is like asking to be terminated by HR so they advertise all PC but shoot straight when you meet with them. To their credit, they didn't say they "absolutely will not" take a DO... just said they have never had one competitive enough that interviewed and ranked there and matched. To me that seems like the same thing since you KNOW plenty of very qualified DOs have applied in the last 5-10 years but none have made it... what would it take to ACTUALLY match there?? Probably being the second coming I guess, lol! Everyone holds their own personal preferences and biases and if theirs is to not have DOs cuz they think whatever then so be it... I still got great teaching and an awesome experience and surprisingly Nashville was pretty nice and liveable. At any rate, no problems and no worries from me... it's still a great rotation and highly recommended if you want to learn

 

[421822]

Can anyone comment on some of the ohio programs? Specifically, OSU,Case, and Metrohealth.

Thanks!

 

[EMapplicant117]

I did rotations at Christiana and Stanford. Christiana has a cool set-up where you have a certain number of "teaching" shifts along with your normal shifts. During teaching shifts, third year residents are paired with you, and their sole job is to guide you through any procedures and help fine-tune your clinical thinking. They're not supposed to see patients of their own during teaching shifts, so they chill at the computers and you can go grab them whenever you have a question or want some advice. Students don't work any overnights, and housing is provided at a nearby hotel for all weekdays and for any weekend days when you work a shift.

Bump this. How long after submitting online does Christiana respond for their elective?

 

[DrDrummer]

Hennepin County Medical Center. Amazing rotation. Fills up quickly for the early spots, but by far the best educational experience of my four years of medical school. They give you autonomy, responsibility (you enter orders then talk through them with your PGY-3 who supervises you), great teaching and conferences, and Minneapolis in the summer is a great place to live.

 

[Fox800]

Hennepin County Medical Center. I rotated there as an MS-3 and had a great time. You'll have autonomy and you'll be doing any procedures that your patients need in the ED. Strong emphasis on critical care, an aggressively autonomous ED, and smart residents.

 

[fahimaz7]

There is a sweet one in Maine at Maine Medical Center.

 

[Fox800]

Any thoughts on Palmetto vs. UF-Jax for an away rotation? Got em both the same month, have to drop one of them.

 

[racerwad]

Any thoughts on Palmetto vs. UF-Jax for an away rotation? Got em both the same month, have to drop one of them.

What are you interested in? They're not wildly divergent, but they are different. Jax is a classic county program while Palmetto is a large, community tertiary center. I assume you're asking about these two because of their geography.

I interviewed at Palmetto and liked it a lot. The PD is as great as everyone says he is, and the residents I had a chance to meet with were really great. There was really very little to complain about but a lot to like, especially from a resident perspective (teaching, didactics, faculty, etc).

 

[Fox800]

What are you interested in? They're not wildly divergent, but they are different. Jax is a classic county program while Palmetto is a large, community tertiary center. I assume you're asking about these two because of their geography.

I interviewed at Palmetto and liked it a lot. The PD is as great as everyone says he is, and the residents I had a chance to meet with were really great. There was really very little to complain about but a lot to like, especially from a resident perspective (teaching, didactics, faculty, etc).

From what I'm reading (and heard from a friend that auditioned there), Jax is a white-hot, love it or hate it kind of county shop. Didactics seem to be lacking but you get great experience. + beach, lots of DOs on the roster.

Palmetto seems to be universally-loved by everyone on SDN. + free housing.

 

[Fox800]

Bump this. How long after submitting online does Christiana respond for their elective?

One of my classmates got a rejection e-mail today, but I'm still in the dark...and I applied all the way back in December.

 

[cbrons]

Hennepin County Medical Center. Amazing rotation. Fills up quickly for the early spots, but by far the best educational experience of my four years of medical school. They give you autonomy, responsibility (you enter orders then talk through them with your PGY-3 who supervises you), great teaching and conferences, and Minneapolis in the summer is a great place to live.

Hennepin County Medical Center. I rotated there as an MS-3 and had a great time. You'll have autonomy and you'll be doing any procedures that your patients need in the ED. Strong emphasis on critical care, an aggressively autonomous ED, and smart residents.

Did you get to meet Dr. Smith of ECG blog fame? Have been reading that site since my exercise physiology/ECG training in graduate school before med school.

 

[Fox800]

Did you get to meet Dr. Smith of ECG blog fame? Have been reading that site since my exercise physiology/ECG training in graduate school before med school.

I did. He gave a great EKG lecture. Cool guy to work with.

 

[DrDrummer]

Did you get to meet Dr. Smith of ECG blog fame? Have been reading that site since my exercise physiology/ECG training in graduate school before med school.

Yes, haha- as the other poster said, he gives a great ECG lecture and works a lot clinically. I sort of lived the entire month in fear that he was going to ask me to interpret an ECG and I wouldn't recognize some subtle-but-clearly-pathognomic 1.23 mm o ST elevation with concordent somethingorother in V1, but that fear was totally off-base. Super chill Minnesotan, amazingly acquainted with the literature base for a lot of treatments beyond cardiology, and a great teacher. I actually just watched his lecture on the crashing asthmatic on the HCMC website (amazing, under-publicized #FOAMed resource, by the way) this morning, and was really happy to see that he recently released his textbook on the ECG in AMI free online (he's a guest on EMCrit this week). Cannot say enough good things about Hennepin.

 

[cbrons]

Yes, haha- as the other poster said, he gives a great ECG lecture and works a lot clinically. I sort of lived the entire month in fear that he was going to ask me to interpret an ECG and I wouldn't recognize some subtle-but-clearly-pathognomic 1.23 mm o ST elevation with concordent somethingorother in V1, but that fear was totally off-base. Super chill Minnesotan, amazingly acquainted with the literature base for a lot of treatments beyond cardiology, and a great teacher. I actually just watched his lecture on the crashing asthmatic on the HCMC website (amazing, under-publicized #FOAMed resource, by the way) this morning, and was really happy to see that he recently released his textbook on the ECG in AMI free online (he's a guest on EMCrit this week). Cannot say enough good things about Hennepin.

Yeah I was listening to his interview. His website is great by the way. Virtually a textbook of how to not miss things that most other people miss on EKG.

 

[cyanide12345678]

Resurrecting an old thread, but anyone rotated at Cincinnati? What were your thoughts?

 

[Cinematographer]

Bump.

I found this thread very helpful late last year/early this year when I was deciding on away rotation sites. Since current US seniors have already completed all or most of their EM away electives, I thought this was the perfect time to resurrect this thread and help future EM applicants learn more about the programs offering visiting student electives.

Because there is always concern of becoming "identifiable" on SDN, I decided to make a short Google form to let SDN members/lurkers submit their comments/reviews anonymously. Once submitted, I will copy and paste the anonymous responses here. You can complete the form multiple times if you completed more than one away elective.

Link to Google Form: http://goo.gl/forms/PWZ0FlLbLz

 

[Cinematographer]

Posted anonymously via Google Forms

Program: Indiana University
Rotation: EM Sub-Internship
SLOE Provided: Yes

Comments: This place was amazing. Faculty were incredible. Staffed half the time directly with an attending and the other half with an R3. You also get 2 critical care shifts.

An incredible amount of autonomy. At another rotation, I'd discuss the plan if I was lucky with the R3 and was frequently told to not send orders to be cosigned. Here I was encouraged to put in orders to be cosigned even before presenting which was awesome. I was challenged to be more independent in the best way possible. This was my 3rd and last EM rotation and I think that I was really able to develop my skills and shine here. I was seeing 6-12 patients per shift. I was encouraged to see one, staff, and pick up another. Again, other places wanted the work up more complete before letting me pick up another. The volume here is insane and you will learn to handle multiple sick patients at once. I sat very minimally on my shifts. I got a good amount of procedures (sadly for me, none of my patients needed an LP, intubation etc... but they would have given me it).

Also, M4s sign out patients to each other or to an intern if no M4 is coming on. I had never been given the opportunity to sign out/get sign out before, and this was a great chance to learn how.

Ancillary staff are awesome.

 

[Cinematographer]

Posted anonymously via Google Forms

Program: Advocate Christ
Rotation: Other
SLOE Provided: Yes

Comments: I did a trauma month at Christ. The hands down best month of medical school.

24 on/24 off schedule (I think I slept once in the call room for like an hour...) was 100% brutal but worth it. I didn't write notes or carry any patients!!! Instead you carry a pager that gets the trauma pages and you go to every single trauma (unless you're in the OR). Seriously awesome. I instead helped run the list and follow up things for every patient on service.

I saw an incredible mix of blunt/penetrating etc. Residents from Christ and UIC (EM) and surgery residents from UIC were great to work with. I spent the majority of time in the trauma bay with the EM resident. I rounded in the ICU a few times, and on the floors like once. I went to the OR twice (there's an M3 on a surgery clerkship so you can typically have them go). Clinic I only went once.

I was running traumas by the 3rd or 4th shift, and my last shift 2 got dropped off at 4am and it was me and a R2. He took one and I took the other, and an EM attending rolled up as I was calling it all out, saw his BP then walked away haha. Incredible autonomy. I did an insane amount of nerve blocks (digit, supraorbital, infraorbital, mental) and lac repairs, which made me look awesome when I did them confidently on other rotations. I saw an M4 intubate a medical resus while she was on her EM clerkship, and the EM residents tried to get me a tube but the surgery R5 wanted them since she only had a few. I did get to do FAST exams, and even 2 chest tubes.

The EM residents from both places were awesome, and incredibly competent. They were happy to teach me and get me tons of hands on experience. The Christ ED was an insane mess in the best way, always busy, always something to go do/watch. The ancillary staff were amazing to work with (and when you fall asleep in a chair at 4:30 am in the bay they'll give you a blanket hah). Would HIGHLY recommend to anyone looking for a good trauma month.

Ancillary staff are awesome.

 

[Cinematographer]

Posted anonymously via Google Forms

Program: Palmetto Health
Rotation: EM Sub-Internship
SLOE Provided: Yes

Comments: Didactics once a week. Sim Lab and Airway lab once each. Surgical skills lab (chest tubes, thoracotomies) on pigs done once a rotation; first come first serve. 15 required shifts. They call this an AI or SI, but some consider it a clerkship. Residents are unreal. Attendings are unreal and always teach. Everyone wants to let students do procedures. Grading is P, HP, H. My best rotation and experience overall.

 

[Cinematographer]

Posted anonymously via Google Forms

Program: Hennepin County
Rotation: EM Clerkship
SLOE Provided: Yes

Comments: Obviously, an incredible county experience. The amount of ultrasound is unreal. Faculty are overall really wonderful to work with. The G3s were incredibly competent and able to manage surge well. The new G3s were very impressive. They work hard, play hard, and get along really well. They do believe in heavily graduated responsibility. Their interns won't be getting certain procedures.

Main issue as a med student is that you get pulled away from seeing patients independently to go to the Stabilization Room, where all trauma/resuscitations take place, to record. You literally are expected to drop what you are doing and go record vital signs/meds given.... and they have volunteers trained to do this. I found this extremely limiting. I saw 1-5 patients per shift (compared to 4 to 12 elsewhere) here independently because I'd frequently spend half+ my shift in the stab room. A lot of my eval comments even remarked how difficult it was to grade me based on such few patient encounters.

I did get to do an LP, and several nerve blocks, lac repairs, and some ultrasound. The only thing I did in a stab case was an IO (which was pretty sweet).

Difficult to H/HP. Minneapolis is incredible as a city, tons of breweries and parks. I really loved the residents and majority of faculty, however, would not recommend the away unless they change how the recording/stab room is done (I don't think >50% of time should be taken away from seeing patients independently even if you do see some really cool cases in the stab room).

 

[Cinematographer]

Posted anonymously via Google Forms

Program: Mercy St. Vincent, Toledo, OH
Rotation: EM Clerkship
SLOE Provided: Yes

Comments: 3 year program, 14 residents per year.

12 shifts, 8 hours a each.

Simlab every-week, one day of EMS, possible Helicopter EMS if you can drive to the airbase.

 

[Bojack Horseman]

Posted anonymously via Google Forms

Program: Palmetto Health
Rotation: EM Clerkship
SLOE Provided: Yes

Comments: Obviously, an incredible county experience. The amount of ultrasound is unreal. Faculty are overall really wonderful to work with. The G3s were incredibly competent and able to manage surge well. The new G3s were very impressive. They work hard, play hard, and get along really well. They do believe in heavily graduated responsibility. Their interns won't be getting certain procedures.

Main issue as a med student is that you get pulled away from seeing patients independently to go to the Stabilization Room, where all trauma/resuscitations take place, to record. You literally are expected to drop what you are doing and go record vital signs/meds given.... and they have volunteers trained to do this. I found this extremely limiting. I saw 1-5 patients per shift (compared to 4 to 12 elsewhere) here independently because I'd frequently spend half+ my shift in the stab room. A lot of my eval comments even remarked how difficult it was to grade me based on such few patient encounters.

I did get to do an LP, and several nerve blocks, lac repairs, and some ultrasound. The only thing I did in a stab case was an IO (which was pretty sweet).

Difficult to H/HP. Minneapolis is incredible as a city, tons of breweries and parks. I really loved the residents and majority of faculty, however, would not recommend the away unless they change how the recording/stab room is done (I don't think >50% of time should be taken away from seeing patients independently even if you do see some really cool cases in the stab room).

Palmetto is in Minneapolis now? .... Might have the program wrong on this one bud.

 

[Cinematographer]

x is in Minneapolis now? .... Might have the program wrong on this one bud.

See edit. Please update your previous post.

 

[Cinematographer]

Posted anonymously via Google Forms

Program: Orlando Health
Rotation: EM Clerkship
SLOE Provided: Yes

Comments: Amazing experience. Orlando Regional Medical Center (ORMC) is a community hospital with a county feel to it since Orlando does not have a county hospital. The rotation is structured so that 2/3 of your shifts are spent at the adult ED, and the remaining 1/3 at the pediatric ED. You do a total of 15 shifts, 8 hours each. You are paired on most of your shifts with a teaching resident, which gives you the opportunity to get feedback from the residents on your presentations before presenting to the attendings. Absolutely loved the attendings I worked with. The residents are all young, energetic people who get along and hang out frequently; probably the nicest group of residents I encountered during my away electives. You get to do a lot of procedures and gain a lot of experience using the ultrasound. Didactics occur once a week in the mornings and some type of workshop is offered every two weeks. Other things I recall from my time there:

- The nurses and techs here were the NICEST I have come across with.
- Housing is provided if requested on time. They give all students a money card to use at the cafeteria as well.
- They have a flex/fast-track where
- The trauma pod, if I remember correctly, is run by both surgery and EM, and all interactions were super friendly. EM takes care of airway, lines, codes.
- Really diverse patient population. It is Orlando city, after all, so in addition to seeing a big number of local Hispanic patients, you also see all the tourists who for some misfortune end up needing emergency care during their vacation there.

Highly recommended rotation, although spots for out-of-state visiting students seems kind of limited (they already have a good number of UF, FSU, and USF students rotating there).

 

[Cinematographer]

Posted anonymously via Google Forms

Program: Henry Ford
Rotation: EM Sub-Internship
SLOE Provided: Yes

Comments: Yet another amazing place for a rotation. Emergency medicine in Detroit should speak for itself. This place is busy. Patients are roomed according to acuity with several areas referred to as categories or cats. You rotate through a couple of different cats and have a variety of day, evening, and night shifts. They're nice enough to put your couple night shifts back to back. You work with a 3rd year resident, and work with a couple more than once so they can really observe and get to know you. The residents work hard, but are not burned out. They always seemed happy. They all get along great. They enjoy having a student. The faculty are all amazing and friendly and willing to teach. You will generally go see a patient, report back to the resident and discuss. They will then see the patient and discuss a plan again. Then you get to present the patient to the faculty. They'll let you do procedures. Sometimes other residents will come find you to do procedures such as lac repairs and I&Ds. They're big on ultrasound. Obviously they're pioneering research (can you say Dr. Emanuel Rivers?) Did I mention they're busy? They have student housing available if you're not from the area for about $270 for the month.

Final comment: Go here if you get a chance.

 

[Cinematographer]

Bump. It's been slow recently and I know a lot of you guys/gals are lurking. The SDN Google survey still open to everyone.

Let's make this thread a valuable resource to the kids (MS2s ans MS3s) out there planning/considering applying to EM in the future.

 

[mega_colon]

Bump...a few people have commented on certain programs that consistently write poor SLOEs. Im curious if any of the previous posters can comment on certain programs to avoid rotating at because of this.

 

[Petypet]

Bump...a few people have commented on certain programs that consistently write poor SLOEs. Im curious if any of the previous posters can comment on certain programs to avoid rotating at because of this.

Maybe its the student and not the program. Those of my classmates that got a few "poor sloes" also coincidentally didn't do very well on boards. n = 1

I had a few great away rotations, Indiana and Metro. Would recommend both for seeing county vs academics and obtaining a very good experience. Tons of autonomy, procedures, quality staff and residents, and a valuable learning experience.

 

[Fox800]

Bump...a few people have commented on certain programs that consistently write poor SLOEs. Im curious if any of the previous posters can comment on certain programs to avoid rotating at because of this.

Probably not a great idea to air that out on SDN. A couple of my upperclassmen told me about places to avoid (due to negative SLOEs) and I followed their advice.

 

[Bucks901]

Bump...a few people have commented on certain programs that consistently write poor SLOEs. Im curious if any of the previous posters can comment on certain programs to avoid rotating at because of this.

I don't think the goal is to avoid a program where people have gotten bad sloes in the past just so you get honors because the inverse is also true - programs know what away rotations give everyone honors. Getting great comments at a program where you got a high pass seems more important than generic comments at a place where you and everyone else gets honors.

 

[Apollyon]

Probably not a great idea to air that out on SDN.

Why not? Honest question. What, is some program going to devote time to figuring out who was whom, and, then what? They already wrote a bad SLOE, so the person mentioning it already won't match there. What are they going to do? Sue? There has to be a tort for there to be libel (ie, it has to be untrue). So, so what?