4th Year Critical Care EM Elective Necessary?

[EMwolf]

I read a lot of the previous elective questions on here and the general sense I get is that most would recommend spending time off if possible or doing lighter rotations. That seems really appealing to me but I have next to no direct critical care exposure in my required med school curriculum. I have the option to schedule a critical care elective and I'm wondering if anyone can speak to how necessary it is to get exposure to this prior to residency. Would a month reading texts be adequate if I already feel a little comfortable with procedures? Otherwise, I've done a week of ophtho and a month of US and Anesthesia in addition to my EM SUB-Is.

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[canigetawhatwhat]

I read a lot of the previous elective questions on here and the general sense I get is that most would recommend spending time off if possible or doing lighter rotations. That seems really appealing to me but I have next to no direct critical care exposure in my required med school curriculum. I have the option to schedule a critical care elective and I'm wondering if anyone can speak to how necessary it is to get exposure to this prior to residency. Would a month reading texts be adequate if I already feel a little comfortable with procedures? Otherwise, I've done a week of ophtho and a month of US and Anesthesia in addition to my EM SUB-Is.

Its not.

Spend yor end of 4th year at the beach

 

[Fox800]

No.

You'll get critical care experience in residency, and it's a fellowship anyways so you have a few years to figure it out.

 

[alpinism]

Necessary? No.

If you want to spend time in the ICU then by all means schedule a rotation.
If you want to spend time on the beach then schedule a vacation instead.

 

[EMwolf]

Hey guys thanks for the input! I'll take a break then. 🙂

 

[TooMuchResearch]

Hey guys thanks for the input! I'll take a break then. 🙂

I try to get my ICU students home as early as possible, but they still have to show up early almost every day. Except when they are required to do nights or 24s, then they're stuck the entire time.

Consider taking a bit of an easy rotation. Tropical underwater basket weaving?

 

[Druggernaut]

Both my medical school and residency MICU rotations gave students the weekends off. You'd have to be there by 6 or earlier, but you usually didn't stay late unless there was actually something you could be involved with.

If you can do a critical care month that doesn't kill you, I'd recommend it.

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[SasquatchEM]

I recommend doing an ICU rotation to every med student I talk to. Just a cursory introduction to things like vents and pressors is super helpful imo.