Clinical years

[xSTALLiONx]

How is 3rd and 4th year? Is it all just on the job training or do you actually spend your non-clinical time studying as much as 1st and 2nd year?

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[39094]

For a lot of rotations "non-clinical time" doesn't really exist unless you are a person that can function with no sleep. Just as in 1st and 2nd year there are exams which come at the end of each block. The problem with 3rd year is that you have to balance working hard on the wards to impress your team and also finding time to review for the shelf (which often will test you over things you will never see working with actual patients). There is downtime during the day in a lot of clerkships where you can spend a few minutes reading, but in others there is not (Surgery).

This applies to 3rd year though, once you get to 4th year it's all electives which don't usually require you to put in 80+ hours a week and there are rarely exams (and if there are they're easy).

I suggest you check out the forum on clinical rotations for more info.

 

[WhoisJohnGalt]

For rotations like surgery, how do you possibly review for the shelf? There's no downtime during the rotation, and you're in the hospital 12+ hours a day, so when do you study?

 

[Bertelman]

For rotations like surgery, how do you possibly review for the shelf? There's no downtime during the rotation, and you're in the hospital 12+ hours a day, so when do you study?

There actually can be some precious downtime during the shift. I am sure this depends on your experience, but our team had 3 med studs. Never more than two ORs at the same time. So one was always hanging out. Heck, it's not like you have to spend more than 5 minutes on a daily surgery progress note. SO, on the OR days at least, you could sometimes squeeze in an hour or two of studying.

Otherwise, really it's about the weekends, if you're not on call.

 

[braluk]

For rotations like surgery, how do you possibly review for the shelf? There's no downtime during the rotation, and you're in the hospital 12+ hours a day, so when do you study?

i would presume during hygeine times
(e.g. while defecating, urinating, brushing your teeth, showering (book on tape), and other areas of life never previously pervaded by academia before)

 

[8744]

For goodness sake, all of your questions can be answered on my blog. Just scroll through.

 

[Dunce]

I think Panda hired some big city powerhouse marketing consultant and gave her his password so she could log on under his name and strategically spread the word about the "humble" blog. She has apparently been in almost every forum this week.

It is good, by the way, if you have not checked it out.

 

[8744]

I think Panda hired some big city powerhouse marketing consultant and gave her his password so she could log on under his name and strategically spread the word about the "humble" blog. She has apparently been in almost every forum this week.

It is good, by the way, if you have not checked it out.

Like most writers, I write for myself. On the other hand if nobody read it I wouldn't do it.

It might not be apparent but I put a lot of time into my blog, usually when I am on call (like tonight) and should be sleeping. So I appreciate all the positive (and negative) feedback.