3rd year rotation - pediatrics - please help!

[aurora027]

Hi guys,

I just got part of my 3rd year schedule, I'll be doing

1. OB/GYN & surg
2. Internal Medicine
3. Family Practice / Pediatrics
4. Neuro / Psych.

Now I have to choose which one to do first (ie ob/gyn first or surgery, family practice or peds).

I'm really interested in Peds, so I was wondering if there is a best time to do that rotation. If I do it before family practice, it will be in January-February, if I do it after, it will be in March-April. This sounds horrible - but would it be better experience-wise to do Peds first since kids will probably be sicker in the winter?

Thanks for the help!

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[ChiDO]

Ob/gyn before surgery so that you get acquainted with the OR. No idea about the peds/fm..does it matter? (I'd do FM before peds)

 

[njbmd]

Order doesn't actually matter because you have to do them all. The only things that order affects are things like on peds in August are tons of immunizations and school physicals; surgery in July is loads of trauma and having internal medicine last is helpful for taking an early Step II CK.

The thirds years that rotate with us early are not expected to be a clinically sophisticated as the third years that rotate late in the year. You may think that you are going into a particular field, do the rotation and then hate it. Again, order doesn't matter, just do well on all of them.

 

[Scaredshizzles]

Hi guys,

I just got part of my 3rd year schedule, I'll be doing

1. OB/GYN & surg
2. Internal Medicine
3. Family Practice / Pediatrics
4. Neuro / Psych.

Now I have to choose which one to do first (ie ob/gyn first or surgery, family practice or peds).

I'm really interested in Peds, so I was wondering if there is a best time to do that rotation. If I do it before family practice, it will be in January-February, if I do it after, it will be in March-April. This sounds horrible - but would it be better experience-wise to do Peds first since kids will probably be sicker in the winter?

Thanks for the help!

I'm not sure kids would be sicker in January-February...If you're talking outpatient, then yes kids will have more respiratory tract infections those months. But for inpatients, if you're thinking babies with RSV bronchiolitis, or serious bouts of croup, or the occasional pertussis, then late Fall is probably peak season for that. July-August-September are usually pretty good for diarrhea/dehydration. But if you're at a major peds center you'll have very interesting cases year round.

 

[KidDr]

RSV starts around November and peaks in January-Feb. You'll still see some RSV in March and maybe into April too. Croup and pertussis are present year-round. There may be some geographic differences in what diseases you see at various times throughout the year.
Inpatient pediatric volume is definitely higher in the winter months, but like people have already said, there is interesting stuff year round. And there can be busy days/nights in the summers too. There'll certainly be plenty of sick kids whether you do your rotation Jan-Feb or March-April, so I wouldn't worry about the order of your rotations.

 

[aurora027]

Great, thanks so much for the advice everyone!

 

[P Diddy]

Order doesn't actually matter because you have to do them all. The only things that order affects are things like on peds in August are tons of immunizations and school physicals; surgery in July is loads of trauma and having internal medicine last is helpful for taking an early Step II CK.

Order does matter. By doing FP first, the OP will have exposure to treating kids and thus more knowledge and skills, allowing them to get off to a running start and shine during Peds. I don't think the pathology will differ markedly between the two time periods.

I would do FP first, then Peds if interested in Peds. I went into IM, and IM was my last rotation; the 11 months of seasoning definitely helped me.

p diddy

 

[BigRedBeta]

Agreed with the comments about order not mattering...The only advice I'd give beyond that I think it's a bad idea to put your specialty of choice either first or last in the year. Too early, you're just not clinically sophisticated and it's hard to be impressive. Too late and you run the risk of absolutely hating that field which then puts you behind the 8 ball in terms of 4th year scheduling, getting LOR's and doing all the prep work required to apply for residency.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Agreed with the comments about order not mattering...The only advice I'd give beyond that I think it's a bad idea to put your specialty of choice either first or last in the year. Too early, you're just not clinically sophisticated and it's hard to be impressive. Too late and you run the risk of absolutely hating that field which then puts you behind the 8 ball in terms of 4th year scheduling, getting LOR's and doing all the prep work required to apply for residency.

I agree with this. But if you have to do something you think you'd like first or last, it'll still be OK. The best advice overall is to ask other students at your school because rotation hours/atmosphere vary a lot at different locations. Also, yes, peds seems to be very seasonal (at least here), so you're going to have a much easier experience in peds wards when the weather's warm. If you think you'd like peds, I can't say whether the less busy experience is a good or a bad thing, though.

 

[sprinkibrio]

As long as you take peds before April you're fine. At my school we start registering for 4th year in April, so you're going to want to have finished peds and know you are going into it so you can do a peds sub I instead of a medicine or obgyn sub I. That's just my school... if you don't have choices on which sub I to do, I suppose it wouldn't matter. Plus if you don't get a peds sub I it's not the end of the world.

If you do take peds in January, make sure you don't take the ID subspecialty rotation (if you even have an option for subspecialty rotations). From what I've heard from ID docs specifically is you won't get ANY teaching attention since the docs just want to get the ton of work they get in the winter done.