Away frustration

[Interpolfanclub]

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Is anyone else having scheduling difficulties with aways?
My school starts one week before the rest of the country and I have been denied at several at places I wanted to rotate at b/c they would not take me off schedule. I have only found two other schools that match our schedule out of the over 20 I have looked into.
I've been tentatively accepted at one place, but that is dependent upon their own students not taking all the spots for that month. If too many want to do EM that month, I'm SOL in the middle of June and get to start from scratch trying to schedule an away for early August. I'm trying to do my away before October to get a LOR, like everyone else. This is beginning to drive me nuts. Anyone else in the same boat?

 

[Y2KPSD]

Is anyone else having scheduling difficulties with aways?
My school starts one week before the rest of the country and I have been denied at several at places I wanted to rotate at b/c they would not take me off schedule. I have only found two other schools that match our schedule out of the over 20 I have looked into.
I've been tentatively accepted at one place, but that is dependent upon their own students not taking all the spots for that month. If too many want to do EM that month, I'm SOL in the middle of June and get to start from scratch trying to schedule an away for early August. I'm trying to do my away before October to get a LOR, like everyone else. This is beginning to drive me nuts. Anyone else in the same boat?

What year are you?
MD? DO?
and what part of the country?

 

[turtle md]

Is anyone else having scheduling difficulties with aways?
My school starts one week before the rest of the country and I have been denied at several at places I wanted to rotate at b/c they would not take me off schedule. I have only found two other schools that match our schedule out of the over 20 I have looked into.
I've been tentatively accepted at one place, but that is dependent upon their own students not taking all the spots for that month. If too many want to do EM that month, I'm SOL in the middle of June and get to start from scratch trying to schedule an away for early August. I'm trying to do my away before October to get a LOR, like everyone else. This is beginning to drive me nuts. Anyone else in the same boat?

I had a similar situation a couple of years ago. I ended up taking a block of vacation so that I could do 3 week vacation - 4 week EM - 1 week vacation. I used the 3 weeks for working on ERAS and the 1 week for studying for Step 2. Hope this helps.

 

[Farbar]

I hear you. I would like to know: How important is an away rotation anyway?
I feel pressure to do one, and I would like to, but when you have a family and limited resources it is a huge pain. I would like to know from some residents if an away is really necessary. I don't have a particular program targeted so is it that important. Thanks for any advice.

 

[turtle md]

It depends. If your home university has an EM program, than doing a rotation or two there should suffice. If it doesn't, you really ought to do one so you can see how one works. Doing two rotations at different places gives you a feel for the differences in programs, as well. Whatever you do, you will need a SLOR from an EM physician, preferably one associated with a residency program.

 

[missdr]

although i just happened to find a program that was on the same schedule as my school, i was the exception. almost everyone i know did as the OP and took vacation before and after in order to make it work. this is the way to go and gives you some time to work on your app as well. you will be glad to have the time trust me. also it is not required to do an away and if you don't have a purpose for it in mind (want to check out the program, want a county/academic experience, want to check out the city) it may be better to stick at home. another idea which is less stressful is to talk your school into letting you do a community ED month at another hospital nearby which i also did and it was GREAT! no residents to do procedures so you get to do everything and you can get some additional LOR that way. good luck and don't stress!!!

 

[wook]

Doing two rotations at different places gives you a feel for the differences in programs, as well. Whatever you do, you will need a SLOR from an EM physician, preferably one associated with a residency program.

I would second what turtle said. When I was applying to residency, I didn't know what the SLOR (Standardized Letter of Recommendation) was, and this caused me a little heart burn half way through the ERAS application. Here's a link to the SLOR...http://www.cordem.org/slor.htm.


Wook

 

[wook]

Is anyone else having scheduling difficulties with aways?
My school starts one week before the rest of the country and I have been denied at several at places I wanted to rotate at b/c they would not take me off schedule. I have only found two other schools that match our schedule out of the over 20 I have looked into.
I've been tentatively accepted at one place, but that is dependent upon their own students not taking all the spots for that month. If too many want to do EM that month, I'm SOL in the middle of June and get to start from scratch trying to schedule an away for early August. I'm trying to do my away before October to get a LOR, like everyone else. This is beginning to drive me nuts. Anyone else in the same boat?

I should also add I had the same problem that you are encountering. It added some challenge to mapping out my rotations for 4th year. I ended up not being able to do 2-3 rotations that I wanted.

Wook

 

[ElZorro]

Is it pretty much the consensus that in the case your school has no EM program to rotate at, you should do at least 2 aways? A third seems like overkill but it also gives you the added security of having an extra letter or two to pick from, so you get the best letters sent to ERAS. What are you guys thinking? Are you going to do 1,2, or 3 rotations?

 

[wook]

Is it pretty much the consensus that in the case your school has no EM program to rotate at, you should do at least 2 aways? A third seems like overkill but it also gives you the added security of having an extra letter or two to pick from, so you get the best letters sent to ERAS. What are you guys thinking? Are you going to do 1,2, or 3 rotations?

If I were to do it over, I would do no more than 2 away rotations. Everyone is going to have their opinion on the matter, though, and their opinion is just as valid as mine.


Wook

 

[MLB2000]

There are definitely people who do 1 month(because they decided late they wanted to go into EM and got 2 letters from one place) and people who do 4 months (because they are really interested in checking out as many places as possible, not just for LORs... potentially places where they might want to train so they'll do a month in december or january). I know people who have succeeded both ways. Obviously the vast majority do either 2 or 3 EM rotations. But don't forget that with each rotation, no matter how many, to maintain the same enthusiasm as you had during your first EM rotation...cause even though you might be checking their program out, they are also deciding if they think you'd be a good fit for them.

 

[RayF]

I would second what turtle said. When I was applying to residency, I didn't know what the SLOR (Standardized Letter of Recommendation) was, and this caused me a little heart burn half way through the ERAS application. Here's a link to the SLOR...http://www.cordem.org/slor.htm.


Wook

so in EM application, programs want S-LOR's only? ..we should not ask for regular letters?
and is that for EM attendants or everyone.. ?

confused soon-2-B-MS4 🙁

 

[MLB2000]

Most people who get 3-4 total letters of rec get:
2-3 from EM (the standard letters of rec - print it out from www.cordem.org and give it to your EM attendings - they'll fill it out and may also write a few paragraphs as well)

1-2 from a 3rd year rotation attending (they just write a normal letter of rec)