choosing 4th year rotations

[dcazwl]

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Hey all,

I am an Osteopathic student planning my 4th year rotations and I am interested in matching in an ACGME anesthesiology residency. I had a few questions that hopefully someone will be able to answer.

1) How many showcasing electives should I do? I was planning on doing 4 from end of July to mid November.

2) I also wanted to do an ICU/critical care rotation in July before I do a showcasing elective at the same hospital in Aug. Is this a good idea? My thought was that I could get a letter as well as get recognized by residents/attendings. This is also my top choice as of right now so I figured I would try to be involved in different departments.

3) Another worry about ICU/critical care rotation in July, do I need to worry about this time slot because new residents will be starting?

I hope that someone can shed some light on my questions and offer me some advice. We don't exactly have any anesthesiology advisors at my school.

Thanks in advance!

 

[viciouz]

Im in the same boat as you except Ill be doing my MICU, ER rotation (school scheduled), and probably 3 ANES rotations, and then finishing off the year with multiple IM, ER, ICU; and Pain management rotations.

Im also a 3rd year osteopath looking to apply acgme. To make it more complicated, I will most likely couples match with my gf who wants to do IM.

 

[PMPMD]

Hey all,

I am an Osteopathic student planning my 4th year rotations and I am interested in matching in an ACGME anesthesiology residency. I had a few questions that hopefully someone will be able to answer.

1) How many showcasing electives should I do? I was planning on doing 4 from end of July to mid November.

4 sounds like a lot. You might be burned out after 4 months of audition rotations. If you're not ready to give 110%, don't do an audition rotation.

2) I also wanted to do an ICU/critical care rotation in July before I do a showcasing elective at the same hospital in Aug. Is this a good idea? My thought was that I could get a letter as well as get recognized by residents/attendings. This is also my top choice as of right now so I figured I would try to be involved in different departments.

The good thing about subspecialty rotations is, you work with a much smaller pool of attendings = more time with each. Just make sure the ICU is anesthesia-run.

3) Another worry about ICU/critical care rotation in July, do I need to worry about this time slot because new residents will be starting?

Maybe, but by the time the interns figure out which end of the patient the ETT goes in, it might be too late to get a letter in.

I hope that someone can shed some light on my questions and offer me some advice. We don't exactly have any anesthesiology advisors at my school.

Thanks in advance!

 

[RussianJoo]

I agree that 4 audition rotations sounds like a lot, I think most people do 2, but to be honest if your school allows it do it. I love anesthesia so giving 110% was easy during my rotations and came naturally. I would do my whole 4th year just doing anesthesia rotations if i could...

As for ICU in july, don't worry it's not like you're going to do anesthesia or surgery in july, there you wouldn't get to do anything at all, and I know a few places that don't allow students to do a rotation in july because they need to focus on training the new residents. ICU is a lot about presenting on rounds, coming up with differentials checking labs, doing physical exams and putting in orders. At most you'll get to do ABGs, and should do ABGs, where I rotated everyone on a vent would get a morning ABG, all were drawn by the respiratory tech, I would just ask him and he would let me do as many as I wanted every morning, the residents were too busy wrtting notes or putting in orders to do them. Also there's a big push to get anesthesia back into the ICU's so doing an ICU rotation is very smart and no matter who runs the unit will improve your knowledge and your application. I was able to get an LOR from the chair or ICU after 1 week of rounds so it is doable.

 

[Per4mer8]

Im in the same boat as you except Ill be doing my MICU, ER rotation (school scheduled), and probably 3 ANES rotations, and then finishing off the year with multiple IM, ER, ICU; and Pain management rotations.

Im also a 3rd year osteopath looking to apply acgme. To make it more complicated, I will most likely couples match with my gf who wants to do IM.

If you actually go through with that plan I would be shocked. I know right now you want to spend your 4th year turning yourself into super-intern but that will likely fade. Not to mention when or how do you plan on doing your interviews?

2-3 aways is good, ER, and an extra ICU month(esp SICU) would be plenty in my opinion.

 

[bkell101]

Hey all,

I am an Osteopathic student planning my 4th year rotations and I am interested in matching in an ACGME anesthesiology residency. I had a few questions that hopefully someone will be able to answer.

1) How many showcasing electives should I do? I was planning on doing 4 from end of July to mid November.

2) I also wanted to do an ICU/critical care rotation in July before I do a showcasing elective at the same hospital in Aug. Is this a good idea? My thought was that I could get a letter as well as get recognized by residents/attendings. This is also my top choice as of right now so I figured I would try to be involved in different departments.

3) Another worry about ICU/critical care rotation in July, do I need to worry about this time slot because new residents will be starting?

I hope that someone can shed some light on my questions and offer me some advice.We don't exactly have any anesthesiology advisors at my school.

Thanks in advance!

Hey.....I'm a DO student too....just like you, absolutely no advice my from school. If your school lets you do 4 anesthesia rotations do them all. I don't agree with the burnout. If you love anesthesia then those will be the absolute best four months of your 4th year. When you find something you love to do, its hard to even think about completing other rotations no matter how valuable they may be to your education. Work your butt off off and enjoy the opportunity that other institutions have given you. I did one month of anesthesia at my home institution before I went out to do two other rotations in anesthesia. I don't have any intention of going to my home program, but I like the people there and enjoy learning from them. I learned the flow of OR and some basic skills before I went out to the programs where I really wanted to be. If you are a personable student and really enjoy anesthesia you will flourish throughout the month and have a much better chance at matching at the program you visit. I actually had the opportunity to use my last four weeks of vacation to visit another program and chose not to. I regret it. I didn't receive an invitation to interview there. After 7 interviews so far, the programs I feel most comfortable with are the places where I actually rotated. Do yourself a favor and research the programs where you are considering visiting. Go on scutwork, pm people that posted on SDN on their program, search the web, whatever you need to do. Pick a place for rotation where you THINK you would like to live and work. Long story short, DO matching into any acgme program is a challenge and you should take advantage of every opportunity you are given. If you are a good student, work hard, love what you are doing, and get along well with people, all of your visiting clerkships will benefit you. I don't care how burnt out your are, putting the work in now is worth it to do what you want for the rest of your life. When you are scheduling rotations being done by November is ideal, but you are given options to schedule interview dates later in December and throughout the month of January. I am still doing a rotation right now. Did half of my interviews before this rotation and half at the end of Dec and beginning of January. Best of luck to you. If you have any specific questions about where I rotation or my personal situation feel free to PM me. Happy holidays! btw how does tim tebow keep winning?