Elective Advice

[HopeTo99]

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Hi everyone.
I'm an IMG and I'm planning on doing an elective in pediatrics soon. Can anyone please shed some light on what exactly a medical student is required to do during the rotation (duties, responsibilities etc)? What is the key to doing well? I'm really hoping to make a good impression and may be get a letter of recommendation out of it.
Thanks!

 

[Rollo]

It generally varies by the site where you are rotating, as you may or may not have known. But in general:

Inpatient - follow 3-5 patients, write progress notes, follow labs/imaging studies, formulate a plan and discuss with resident who will usually write the orders, see consults and write up a consult note, assist with any procedures being done (and maybe get a chance to do a procedure depending on how complex the procedure is and how confident your resident feels in letting you do it)

Outpatient - see patients on your own first and get a detailed history and do a bit of physical exam, formulate a diagnosis/plan, discuss with attending and see the patient again with the attending

I'm early in clinical training so I don't really know how to go about getting a strong LOR but the whopping 1 letter I have gotten so far, I asked the attending towards the end of the rotation for it.

I've also been told that it might be a good idea to let the attending know at the beginning your interest in the specialty and your hope for a strong letter by the end of it. This way, attending will pay more attention to your work and can therefore write you a strong letter.

Hope this helps. I'm sure more experienced students will chime in and correct/add to information I've provided.

 

[HopeTo99]

Helpful as always. Thanks