[2019-2020] Emergency Medicine Application Thread

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Stephanopolous

Stephanopolous

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Does anyone know what the character limit is for our personal statement?
 
Stephanopolous said:
Does anyone know what the character limit is for our personal statement?
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Don't make it more than one page. Nobody wants to spend that much time reading them. Although, I will say I was surprised with how many comments were made about my personal statement (positive). It was only 3/4ths a page.
 
Does anyone have suggestions for what to do if you have housing through a program but need transportation? (For the sub I month away)

Renting a car for a month is super expensive.
 
Stephanopolous said:
Does anyone have suggestions for what to do if you have housing through a program but need transportation? (For the sub I month away)

Renting a car for a month is super expensive.
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I actually took my car with me on my audition rotations. I knew paying for transportation was going to be a mess, and I ended up taking my car some pretty long distances. Was worth it in the end though, and something to consider.
 
drfoxxy824 said:
I actually took my car with me on my audition rotations. I knew paying for transportation was going to be a mess, and I ended up taking my car some pretty long distances. Was worth it in the end though, and something to consider.
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I did the same. One rotation was an 11 hour drive, the other was 14 hours. I split both drives into 2 day road trips to make it more management. After factoring in airfare to the location and the exorbitant cost of renting a car for a month, it was really the only feasible option for locations where you absolutely have to have a car. Everyone else on my rotations also seemed to have driven their own cars, some from much further away than I did.
 
Stephanopolous said:
Does anyone have suggestions for what to do if you have housing through a program but need transportation? (For the sub I month away)

Renting a car for a month is super expensive.
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+1 for just driving your own car. I drove 17 and 20 hours to my sub-is. There really just isn’t a way to budget a month long car rental, so unless you are walkable this is probably the only option for most.
I just put on some audiobooks and power through in one day.
 
I wish that was an option but my car may not make it across country again (120k miles and needs new brakes). I’m heading from west to east and then back west again for this whole journey.
 
Stephanopolous said:
I wish that was an option but my car may not make it across country again (120k miles and needs new brakes). I’m heading from west to east and then back west again for this whole journey.
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You could try Touro. Depending on the place, it was cheaper than rentals. You also might be able to message them, tell them your situation and get it for cheaper, especially if you don't plan on putting many miles on it.
 
Rekt said:
You could try Touro. Depending on the place, it was cheaper than rentals. You also might be able to message them, tell them your situation and get it for cheaper, especially if you don't plan on putting many miles on it.
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Great idea thank you!
 
gamerEMdoc said:
I'm not sure there's an easy answer if you can't drive your own car. Options are either renting a car, Uber/Lyft, or rotating somewhere where they having housing for students close by the hospital.
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I’m thinking I may try and see if the other students rotating with me would help me out and I’ll give them gas money/buy coffee. This particular location has housing but is too far to walk.
 
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Stephanopolous said:
I’m thinking I may try and see if the other students rotating with me would help me out and I’ll give them gas money/buy coffee. This particular location has housing but is too far to walk.
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The only issue with relying on other students is the schedules. Student schedules aren't going to line up. There's a good chance the other student you'll be relying on will be at work when you need a ride to work or a ride home. Or they'll be sleeping post shift. Or it will be one of their days off. Or they may leave town to visit family / interview somewhere / etc. Students aren't usually paired up on shift at the same time. I don't think this plan will be real reliable to be honest.
 
Dang I hadn't thought of that but it makes sense. Well it looks like I may have to sell a little more of my soul to sallie mae to help finance this gig.
 
The Knife & Gun Club said:
Wow. So it begins. Can’t wait to be done rounding on pediatric constipation and get down to the ER.

Only 3 more weeks...I’ve had enough wards for one lifetime.
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You’ll see more pediatric constipation in the ED than you ever could have imagined.
 
You can rent a car for like $700-$800 a month usually if you do a "month" rental and book it long in advance. This is definitely worth it if you're doing an away on the opposite coast...
 
doggydog said:
You’ll see more pediatric constipation in the ED than you ever could have imagined.
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Yes but there’s a difference between managing it in the ED and discussing the pathophysiology and psychosocial risk factors in excruciating detail during rounds.
 
The Knife & Gun Club said:
First day on the first subI. Propesed a full stoke work up for a guy with...cerumen impaction.

Off to blazing hot start!
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Well, in your defense, maybe you would have seen the cerumen impaction on CT?
 
The Knife & Gun Club said:
Wow. So it begins. Can’t wait to be done rounding on pediatric constipation and get down to the ER.

Only 3 more weeks...I’ve had enough wards for one lifetime.
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I've had enough 3rd year for a lifetime. I start my subI during block 1.

And omg, we really are applying in roughly 4 months.
 
teeayejay said:
I've had enough 3rd year for a lifetime. I start my subI during block 1.

And omg, we really are applying in roughly 4 months.
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4 months.... can't believe its almost here. So excited for another application season!
 
Info on the SVI:


No registration fees.

From AAMC :

Registration Process
Registration for the Standardized Video Interview will open when the ERAS® 2020 season opens in early June 2019 through July 16, 2019, at 11:59 p.m. ET (the Interview Window). Your responses to all six questions of the interview must be recorded and uploaded in the system no later than July 16, 2019, at 11:59 p.m.
  1. Obtain your ERAS® token from your dean's office (or the ECFMG, for international applicants).
  2. Log into the ERAS® system.
  3. Verify that your email address is correct in the "Personal Information" tab under the "Application" section of the ERAS® application. Interview invitations and score reports will be communicated to you via the email address you provide.
  4. Navigate to the ERAS® dashboard. There is a question near the bottom of the screen: "Are you planning to apply for a residency position at an ACGME-accredited emergency medicine program?" If you are planning to apply—or even considering applying—in emergency medicine, then you should click “Yes.”
Within 24 hours of selecting “Yes”, you will receive an email invitation to complete the Standardized Video Interview. The email will be sent to the email account registered with your ERAS® application and will include a link to the Standardized Video Interview login page. The system may reissue your email invitation throughout the interview cycle, which deactivates your previous email invitation. Use the most recent email invitation you receive to access the Standardized Video Interview.
If you do not complete the interview by July 16, 2019, and were not granted an extension, you will not be permitted to take the SVI. You will not be barred from applying for a residency position in emergency medicine if you do not complete the Standardized Video Interview. However, the emergency medicine residency programs to which you apply will be aware that you did not complete the interview and may consider your application incomplete.
 
What are y’all thoughts on drinking at events where attendings are present?

We recently had a journal club where there was an open bar - I really wanted to have a beer with the residents, but shied away because drinking in front of the PD and aPD seemed like a bad plan, even for just one beer.

As a side note I’m now only considering residencies where journal club is accompanied by open bar.
 
The Knife & Gun Club said:
What are y’all thoughts on drinking at events where attendings are present?

We recently had a journal club where there was an open bar - I really wanted to have a beer with the residents, but shied away because drinking in front of the PD and aPD seemed like a bad plan, even for just one beer.

As a side note I’m now only considering residencies where journal club is accompanied by open bar.
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It’s fine - have a beer. Just don’t have 7 beers. Yet.
 
Stephanopolous said:
Does anyone have suggestions for what to do if you have housing through a program but need transportation? (For the sub I month away)

Renting a car for a month is super expensive.
Click to expand...
I did an away on the opposite side of the country and didn't bring my car. The hospital was close to where I was staying but I actually found a cheap bicycle for 60$ on craigslist and bought a lock. Used that for a month and just left it out unlocked after I finished my month. Used the occasional Uber too but I saved a lot of money by getting that bicycle.
 
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gamerEMdoc said:
4 months.... can't believe its almost here. So excited for another application season!
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Just to be clear. Our SLOE's take the place of traditional LORs, right?
 
The Knife & Gun Club said:
What are y’all thoughts on drinking at events where attendings are present?

We recently had a journal club where there was an open bar - I really wanted to have a beer with the residents, but shied away because drinking in front of the PD and aPD seemed like a bad plan, even for just one beer.

As a side note I’m now only considering residencies where journal club is accompanied by open bar.
Click to expand...
Don't be the weirdo not drinking a beer.
 
WildcatS11 said:
It’s fine - have a beer. Just don’t have 7 beers. Yet.
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A good rule of thumb is, just don't exceed what the faculty are doing. If the PD/APD are on their 7th beer, its probably cool for you to have 7 beers. If they had one beer and you are on your 10th, that will probably be noticed.
 
Curious what people think. I have a possible ultrasound rotation at an institution I'm interested in for January. Wasn't able to get a sub-i there. Hypothetically if they haven't already given me an interview is January too late to make any real impact on their rank list?
 
How many patients per shift or per hour should I be striving for as a medical student doing a sub-i/audition? I am currently doing my emergency medicine elective rotation for third year and in the past couple of days I saw between 6-8 per shift. Wondering if I should practice during this month to hit a certain goal where I'm comfortable or if the number isn't much of a thing and it's more a stay busy, help out and do quality over quantity work type of situation. I feel good about the quality of 6-8 now, able to re-eval my patients 3-4 times, keep up with their labs/imaging, etc.

Thanks!
 
Stephanopolous said:
How many patients per shift or per hour should I be striving for as a medical student doing a sub-i/audition? I am currently doing my emergency medicine elective rotation for third year and in the past couple of days I saw between 6-8 per shift. Wondering if I should practice during this month to hit a certain goal where I'm comfortable or if the number isn't much of a thing and it's more a stay busy, help out and do quality over quantity work type of situation. I feel good about the quality of 6-8 now, able to re-eval my patients 3-4 times, keep up with their labs/imaging, etc.

Thanks!
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It's going to depend on the setup of the place and their volume. Some places you can freely pickup on your own, some places want to you to ask the resident first, some places you're told when to go see a patient (although you can always ask), etc. Largely everyone will tell you "quality over quantity", but I found that I had multiple positive comments about how fast I was (including very very brief patient presentations, but not forgetting anything). With that being said, your main goal of being a rotating student is being helpful, showing your knowledge, being personable, but most important of all is not being annoying. Many students fall into the trap of trying to help way too much and it's really just annoying. It's easier said than done finding a balance between being helpful and being over bearing, but it'll come to you. "Over enthusiastic" is not a comment you want on your SLOE. Find a good balance.
 
Rekt said:
It's going to depend on the setup of the place and their volume. Some places you can freely pickup on your own, some places want to you to ask the resident first, some places you're told when to go see a patient (although you can always ask), etc. Largely everyone will tell you "quality over quantity", but I found that I had multiple positive comments about how fast I was (including very very brief patient presentations, but not forgetting anything). With that being said, your main goal of being a rotating student is being helpful, showing your knowledge, being personable, but most important of all is not being annoying. Many students fall into the trap of trying to help way too much and it's really just annoying. It's easier said than done finding a balance between being helpful and being over bearing, but it'll come to you. "Over enthusiastic" is not a comment you want on your SLOE. Find a good balance.
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Agree and to add on, a great way to be overbearing is to pick up more patients than you can handle. It is better to impress at a slower pace than grabbing a new patient every 15 minutes and having no idea what is going on with any of them, though this goes without saying. At one of my auditions we were pretty explicitly told we should average 1 pph-in an 8 hour shift you should have 8-10 patients
 
Any recommendations for a TY re-applicant with only one SLOE? Program does have an in house EM residency but does not allow out rotations so chances to get another SLOE are absolutely nil. Thanks
 
bic_atlantis said:
Any recommendations for a TY re-applicant with only one SLOE? Program does have an in house EM residency but does not allow out rotations so chances to get another SLOE are absolutely nil. Thanks
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You could try for maybe a subspeciality sloe?

Do they have anything like an Ultrasound rotation or maybe Tox or critical care where you could get a 2nd sloe, even if it’s not quite what most programs are looking for?
 
What does it mean if a program where I'm supposed to audition doesn't show up in the list of available programs for EM on ERAS? They are on FREIDA and I tried typing the code in from there to search on ERAS but still nothing.
 
Stephanopolous said:
What does it mean if a program where I'm supposed to audition doesn't show up in the list of available programs for EM on ERAS? They are on FREIDA and I tried typing the code in from there to search on ERAS but still nothing.
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It means they haven't completed their registration for ERAS yet. Programs, like applicants, have to register every year. As you might imagine, most PCs and PDs are busy getting ready for the new class starting in a couple of weeks.

They'll get to it.
 
charles.carmichael said:
Found out today the away I have in June is offering interviews during the rotation. Any insight on how different a pre-ERAS/pre-SLOE interview will be?
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Pretty similar to most interviews, with the exception of there won't be any opportunity to explain away any issues in a bad SLOE if you got one, if that is even brought up. Most interviews are going to be about getting to know you as a person tbh, they aren't grilling you on your application the whole time.
 
The Knife & Gun Club said:
You could try for maybe a subspeciality sloe?

Do they have anything like an Ultrasound rotation or maybe Tox or critical care where you could get a 2nd sloe, even if it’s not quite what most programs are looking for?
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I’ll have to look into that. Are there any EM programs that will seriously consider applicants with only one SLOE?
 
Rekt said:
Or if you're a DO, sometimes institutions themselves do not accept DO rotators so it's automatically not listed for you when you search for the program on ERAS, regardless if they interview and have DOs in the program.
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I thought that was VSAS specifically, not ERAS. Examples include U Maryland, who won't accept DO rotators despite 1/3 of their incoming class being DOs.
 
EmergDO said:
I thought that was VSAS specifically, not ERAS. Examples include U Maryland, who won't accept DO rotators despite 1/3 of their incoming class being DOs.
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Yeah, correct, I somehow read VSAS instead of ERAS and still typed ERAS hah. It must be what Gutonc said then in that case. I didn't bother adding places until September.
 
bic_atlantis said:
I’ll have to look into that. Are there any EM programs that will seriously consider applicants with only one SLOE?
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In the last PD survey, more than 80% said they'd consider a candidate based on one SLOE.
 
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