Class of 2016....how ya doing?

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I feel bad that I'm super excited for my patient's surgery tomorrow because it's going to be intense (4+ rib resection, probable) diaphragmatic advancment and a porcine submucosa implant for the thoracic wall but still poor prognosis) but I'm a little bummed that I now have an in-patient during "popefest." I hadn't really planned on leaving my house so that I could avoid all the crazy. Also kind of a bummer because it's a super nice dog and nice owners. =(
 
Also, j/c...who's applying for an internship? I'm applying for small animal rotating 🙂
 
NStarz said:
Also, j/c...who's applying for an internship? I'm applying for small animal rotating 🙂
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I think I am. I just haven't committed yet. I'm still figuring out how to ask for letters cause I just feel like I'm doing meh at clinics compared to everyone else. It's very very unlikely that I'll do a residency afterwards though. I'm just over the hours and no pay.
 
For those of you thinking about internships, how are you getting your letters of rec? Is it primarily people you worked with during your fourth year? I feel like that's the most common answer but there's not that much time between starting fourth year and getting things settled for the match. Do you walk into a rotation and drop major hints that you may be asking for a letter later?
 
Rwwilliams said:
For those of you thinking about internships, how are you getting your letters of rec? Is it primarily people you worked with during your fourth year? I feel like that's the most common answer but there's not that much time between starting fourth year and getting things settled for the match. Do you walk into a rotation and drop major hints that you may be asking for a letter later?
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I spent some time this week talking with one of our clinicians about this and he said that when you start a rotation, clinicians appreciate if you let them know you are interested in potentially going through the match. By doing so they will evaluate you a little different so that they might be able to write a letter if you ask / they feel comfortable doing it.
 
Kpowell14 said:
I spent some time this week talking with one of our clinicians about this and he said that when you start a rotation, clinicians appreciate if you let them know you are interested in potentially going through the match. By doing so they will evaluate you a little different so that they might be able to write a letter if you ask / they feel comfortable doing it.
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So, most of my rotations so far consist of a bit of an introduction "Hi my name is X, I want to do X," so you'd recommend throwing it in during that little intro? For fourth year, we actually have to contact our sites and ask them about blocks of time they have available and all that jazz, and so we have to include a cover letter -- include wanting to match in the cover letter?
Letters of rec have always freaked me out. I don't know the best way to go about asking for them.
 
I have a few rotations coming up that would be good ones to have letters from. I'm going to send an email before hand and just say that I'm considering an internship and if they could just pay a little extra attention if we work together.

I've just been having a hard time asking some previous ones because I feel like most of time has been spent working with interns/residents.
 
Rwwilliams said:
So, most of my rotations so far consist of a bit of an introduction "Hi my name is X, I want to do X," so you'd recommend throwing it in during that little intro? For fourth year, we actually have to contact our sites and ask them about blocks of time they have available and all that jazz, and so we have to include a cover letter -- include wanting to match in the cover letter?
Letters of rec have always freaked me out. I don't know the best way to go about asking for them.
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I'd say maybe say it in a personal conversation with the clinician and maybe not in group introductions if that is the setting of your normal intros.
 
I'm on the fence for applying to internship. I've been told by multiple faculty/residents/interns that I should do one. I don't have a great GPA, but it's improved greatly since I've been in clinics. My SO doesn't see the point and trying to explain it is useless. Trying to find one where we both can go is going to be hard. I don't know... I think it will make be a better doctor but I also don't think I *need* one.
 
Jamr0ckin said:
I'm on the fence for applying to internship. I've been told by multiple faculty/residents/interns that I should do one.
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Just realize that the people giving you this advice all had gone through with internships. Most of these people have no idea what it is to be out in practice outside of academia (with or without internship). If your goal is private practice gp, then talk to a bunch of people actually out in practice both that have done an internship and those who haven't. I think it would help most to get opinions of people who have been out 3-5 years because they'll have more perspective looking back, and are more in touch with the newer grad issues that are present today.
 
Minnerbelle said:
Just realize that the people giving you this advice all had gone through with internships. Most of these people have no idea what it is to be out in practice outside of academia (with or without internship). If your goal is private practice gp, then talk to a bunch of people actually out in practice both that have done an internship and those who haven't. I think it would help most to get opinions of people who have been out 3-5 years because they'll have more perspective looking back, and are more in touch with the newer grad issues that are present today.
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These are more of the people who recently changed my mine so that I'm now considering one. I've just been in a funk and pessimistic about life after school that I haven't committed. Rotations aren't going as well as I had hoped and my grades were already meh to begin with. I'm also notoriously hard on myself so it's possible a lot of it is in my head. I just don't have a hospital with strong mentorship for what I want (although I might have a job) that I think I would benefit one, skill/knowledge wise and confidence wise.
 
Rwwilliams said:
For those of you thinking about internships, how are you getting your letters of rec? Is it primarily people you worked with during your fourth year? I feel like that's the most common answer but there's not that much time between starting fourth year and getting things settled for the match. Do you walk into a rotation and drop major hints that you may be asking for a letter later?
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Do your senior clinicians also teach in years 1-3? If so, they may already have a reasonable idea of what you're like and may know you better than you think. I know all of ours were pretty familiar with us before clinics and clinics just let them work a little closer with us, so the short duration may not be as big a deal as you think.
 
Coquette22 said:
Do your senior clinicians also teach in years 1-3? If so, they may already have a reasonable idea of what you're like and may know you better than you think. I know all of ours were pretty familiar with us before clinics and clinics just let them work a little closer with us, so the short duration may not be as big a deal as you think.
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Some of them, yes, but none that I have had experience working with. Pros and cons of our curriculum... you either had exposure to those clinicians and saw them almost every day for 8 weeks or you never saw them at all.
One of the ones I've worked with closely who does work with us a little bit in clinics is our radiologist, but I'm not really sure who is acceptable to ask letters from for match... If I want to go into surgery, does that mean most of my letters should be from surgeons?
 
Started my second rotation in small animal medicine today. Hoping it will go better than the first. Starting it really hungover was not the brightest idea, though.
 
Jamr0ckin said:
Started my second rotation in small animal medicine today. Hoping it will go better than the first. Starting it really hungover was not the brightest idea, though.
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In my N=1 experience, each of my four SAM rotations went better than the previous one. So... here's hoping. 🙂
 
Hey guys! What do you recommend as far as pocket references on clinics? We start 2 weeks from today and while I'm excited, I'm also a little bit terrified!

Also - what do you normally carry around with you? mini notebooks? mini ipads?
 
Kpowell14 said:
Hey guys! What do you recommend as far as pocket references on clinics? We start 2 weeks from today and while I'm excited, I'm also a little bit terrified!

Also - what do you normally carry around with you? mini notebooks? mini ipads?
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I actually don't have any of the pocket references, but the most common books I've seen are the Nerdbook by Dr. Yin and the Small Animal Differentials book (I have two e-book version of this one). I also have a super outdated (6th edition) version of Plumbs on my Google Drive for convenience. Most people here seem to carry around mini notebooks. I picked up a nice one from TJ Maxx for like $3. Some have iPad Minis. My tablet is slightly too large (Galaxy Note 10.1) to fit in my white coat pocket and I don't have a good keyboard for it, so I haven't used it much in clinics.
 
I have the nerd book and the small animal differentials book.

I use the Plumbs that is available via VIN for free..

Otherwise, I do have some mini-notebooks but rarely write in them now.

I have a laptop that I use for accessing patient info and taking notes on during rounds.
 
Excited and nervous to start ES. I really enjoyed my ES externship and I'm excited to be able to do more hands on things since I'll be at the teaching hospital. Hoping I do well enough that I can ask for a LOR from one of the seniors on this rotation. I've been reading through the 2014 Getting Through The Night Series for a quick refresher of common things and what to do.
 
orca2011 said:
Excited and nervous to start ES. I really enjoyed my ES externship and I'm excited to be able to do more hands on things since I'll be at the teaching hospital. Hoping I do well enough that I can ask for a LOR from one of the seniors on this rotation. I've been reading through the 2014 Getting Through The Night Series for a quick refresher of common things and what to do.
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What's ES? Emergency Service?

Toughest thing for people new to emergency to remember - your job isn't necessarily to solve. I mean, if you can, great. But get used to open diagnoses and frequently not getting answers. Often your job is just to stop progression / stabilize and/or start therapy before follow up with GP/IntMed/Surgery/whatever.

That can frustrate some people who really like closure and answers.
 
LetItSnow said:
What's ES? Emergency Service?

Toughest thing for people new to emergency to remember - your job isn't necessarily to solve. I mean, if you can, great. But get used to open diagnoses and frequently not getting answers. Often your job is just to stop progression / stabilize and/or start therapy before follow up with GP/IntMed/Surgery/whatever.

That can frustrate some people who really like closure and answers.
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Yup, emergency. I actually had a really good day today. I felt like I for once knew the answers and had a game plan for what I would want to do and why. The only frustrating thing today was that because it was only myself and another student for the day shift and we had a fairly steady stream of patients, I often didn't get to hear the final discussion with the owner about the plan.

And the point you mentioned, I think I'm okay with. Maybe cause it seems like more practical medicine than the "dream world" of internal medicine. Although, my cases today were fairly straightforward. I had one where we couldn't figure out where it hurt or why, but it basically screamed "neck pain" but it couldn't be repeatedly elicited (I got a response once, but the dog was also wearing a prong collar...)
 
Do I want to do an internship??? Or not? Yes? No? Maybe?

Ugh, I just can't decide.

Also, I am actually really enjoying anesthesia... something is wrong... maybe the isoflurane is getting to me... 😱
 
DVMDream said:
Do I want to do an internship??? Or not? Yes? No? Maybe?
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If you are at all questioning it, I would say go ahead and fill out the application. Applications are due December 7 but you have until January 22 to withdraw your application without penalty, so there's still quite a bit of time to think about it. Last year, I decided to try for an internship one week before the application deadline and it was a crazy rush to get the programs researched, application filled out, and references lined up in a weekend. I don't recommend doing that, haha.
 
Lost my stethoscope during my on call shift. I've been contemplating getting a new one since clinics started. So losing my stethoscope just gave me that necessary push to go ahead and get a new one. I'm quite excited actually, hoping I might be able to hear the things better.
 
DVMDream said:
Lost my stethoscope during my on call shift. I've been contemplating getting a new one since clinics started. So losing my stethoscope just gave me that necessary push to go ahead and get a new one. I'm quite excited actually, hoping I might be able to hear the things better.
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What are you gonna get? 🙂
 
DVMDream said:
Present on a medical record from today from another student:

"Patient has a thin hair coat, but no alopecia is present"....



Yup, makes complete sense.
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I've written that a time or two...I consider alopecia to be more distinct/focal areas of hair loss versus just hair thinning. The hair could be thinned for reasons other than straight loss (breakage, for example).
 
that redhead said:
I've written that a time or two...I consider alopecia to be more distinct/focal areas of hair loss versus just hair thinning. The hair could be thinned for reasons other than straight loss (breakage, for example).
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This student eventually admitted that she was downplaying the dog's skin problems because she was afraid the spay surgery would be cancelled and well... she really wanted to do the spay.

We had to mention the crusting, alopecia, epidermal collarettes and fleas to the clinician in charge because the student had not.
 
DVMDream said:
This student eventually admitted that she was downplaying the dog's skin problems because she was afraid the spay surgery would be cancelled and well... she really wanted to do the spay.

We had to mention the crusting, alopecia, epidermal collarettes and fleas to the clinician in charge because the student had not.
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Dude...who does that?
 
WildZoo said:
Dude...who does that?
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Someone who doesn't get a lot of spay experience and is scared she'll miss out on one of the few opportunities she gets? Not saying it's right or that she should have downplayed it (no elective surgeries on flea-ridden, infected skin!) but I do kind of understand where she's coming from. My group had multiple surgeries cancelled on us and it gets old fast.
 
Trilt said:
Someone who doesn't get a lot of spay experience and is scared she'll miss out on one of the few opportunities she gets? Not saying it's right or that she should have downplayed it (no elective surgeries on flea-ridden, infected skin!) but I do kind of understand where she's coming from. My group had multiple surgeries cancelled on us and it gets old fast.
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I get that, but my disapproval wasn't because I didn't understand why she would feel inclined to downplay it. It was with the fact that it was unethical and fairly selfish of her to do so.
 
Have a draft for my letter of intent that I don't hate :soexcited:
 
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