3rd yr Rotation Schedule

[theringworm]

Hey guys, My Med school is trying to make a drastic change in our 3rd rotation schedule. We currently have the following:

IM: 12 wks, Surg: 12 wks, Peds: 6wks, Ob: 6wks, Neuropsych: 6wks, FM: 6wks

They want to change it to:

8 wks for all rotations.

I think this may be a bad idea but was wondering what other schools out there were doing and what your feedback is on this proposed change.

Thanks

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[fantasty]

We do six week blocks for IM, surg, OB/Gyn, and Peds. We do 4 wks each for Neuro and Psych (which can be taken either M3 or M4 year). We also have a 12 week ambulatory care block (M3) with 4 weeks each of family medicine, outpatient IM, and community-based care.

I've spoken with folks at a lot of schools, and many have more medicine and surg than we do. I felt a little short changed at first (since I want to go into IM, and want to be well prepared for my Sub-I). But, on the flip side, I LOVE how much flexibility our schedule provides that other schools do not have. We have 8 two week specialties (which can be taken M3 or M4: uro, oto, optho, ortho, derm, Lab/EKG, anes, and radiology), which does help get us a little more diversity in our surgical and diagnostic medicine exposures. Most other schools would love to have more elective time during m3.

But in your case, you aren't changing the number of weeks - you're just shifting things around (still at 48 weeks for the year, it appears). It might make things a little easier for your scheduling (due to the uniform length), but it might be interesting to know what will be cut out of your IM and surg, and what additional activities your other 4 clerkships will now offer.

 

[jonb12997]

UNECOM: FP-6, IM-12, Surg-6, OB-Gyn-6, Psych-6, Peds-6

 

[dancindr]

Our school does 8 weeks for each and i guess it works fine, i'm just M2 now. The only consistent complaint i've heard is that 4 wks each for neuro/psych is too much. Also, we have condensed pre-clinical years which gives us more flexibility (timewise) for 3rd & 4th so that may make it matter less.

 

[Samoa]

We have 8 weeks for each rotation, and it makes things kind of nice--all of us finish a block at the same time, so we can get together and have a class party.

It doesn't seem to have hurt us educationally, either. 8 weeks for each is plenty.

 

[Melimelomed]

At McGill we get 8 weeks of IM, peds, psych, FM, OB/GYN, 4weeks of surgery and a 4 week elective in 3rd year. In 4th year we get 4 weeks of geriatry, ER and surg subspeciality and the rest are electives. I wish we had 8 weeks of surgery and 8 weeks of psych is a little long, but other than that I think that 8 weeks for each rotation is enough.

 

[Samoa]

I should claify:

Our 8 weeks of surgery is split into 4 weeks of general, and two 2-week subspecialties. We have separate 2-week rotations for outpatient surgery and for emergency medicine, which some schools include as part of a 12-week surgery rotation.

Psych/neuro is one 8-week rotation, with 4 weeks of each. OB/GYN is similarly set up.

Medicine is actually 12 weeks: an 8-week inpatient rotation, and a separate (and separately graded) 4-week ambulatory rotation.

So we essentially have 12 weeks each of surgery and medicine, 8 weeks of pediatrics, 6 weeks of family medicine, 4 weeks of psych, 4 weeks of neuro, 4 weeks of OB, 4 weeks of GYN, and 2 weeks of radiology as our required rotations.

 

[Iwy Em Hotep]

Hey guys, My Med school is trying to make a drastic change in our 3rd rotation schedule. We currently have the following:

IM: 12 wks, Surg: 12 wks, Peds: 6wks, Ob: 6wks, Neuropsych: 6wks, FM: 6wks

They want to change it to:

8 wks for all rotations.

I think this may be a bad idea but was wondering what other schools out there were doing and what your feedback is on this proposed change.

Thanks

UW: IM = 12, Surg = 6, Peds = 6, OB = 6, Psych = 6, FM = 6

 

[lattimer13]

UArizona

IM 12 weeks
Surg 6
Family 6
Psych 6
Ob/Gyn 6
Peds 6
Surg Subspecialty 3
Neuro 3

 

[zinjanthropus]

Also, we have condensed pre-clinical years which gives us more flexibility (timewise) for 3rd & 4th so that may make it matter less.

What do you mean by this? Your first two years are shorter than 2 years....I don't get it.

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
At my school:

Internal Medicine 12 weeks
Surgery 8 weeks
OB-Gyn 8 weeks
Pediatrics 8 weeks
Neurology 4 weeks
Psychiatry 6 weeks
Family Medicine 6 weeks

Fourth Year - all electives were four weeks with one month off and two weeks to study for USMLE Step II.

Once you were declared done with third year, you could travel for electives or do them at local institutions. You could schedule interviews at any time. There was no penalty for taking interviews during electives.

We got two weeks between third and fourth year to study for Step II and one month of vacation during fourth year that could be used as an elective or just for vacation. Most people took April as their vacation month. It was after the match and graduation was the second week in May so you could have a nice relaxing trip before showing up and collecting your diploma. You had to have a passing score in USMLE Step II before graduation or you would not graduate.

Internal Medicine was my last third year clerkship so USMLE was done by the second week in August and out of the way. After match, I only had to show up and graduate. Fourth-year was the best!

njbmd

 

[Pinesinger]

Wake Forest:
IM: 12 weeks (8 wks inpatient, 4 wks ambulatory)
Neuro: 4 weeks
Psych: 4 weeks
Surgery: 8 weeks (divided into two blocks of 4 weeks each)
Family med: 4 weeks
Pediatrics: 8 weeks (4 wks inpatient, 4 wks outpt)
OB/GYN: 6 weeks
Anesthesia/Radiology: 1 week each