EM PD - Ask Me Anything

[gamerEMdoc]

I mean, the questions I'm most often asked are what do you like about your program, what are you most proud of about your program, what keeps you here, etc. All variations on the same thing. Along those lines, whats the one thing you'd change about your program if you could. People ask about where residents end up. How residents get evaluated. If there is any type of mentorship programs. If anyone steals procedures from the ED and what the ED's role in trauma is. Those all pretty much sum up 95% of the questions I get asked. I've rarely had a question that isn't some version of these, to be honest, unless its about something very specific (ie someone who is really interested in EMS and wants to know about EMS involvement).

What's the best questions? Something I haven't been asked. Haha... not because those aren't important questions above, but because I get tired of reciting the same answer 80 times a year, plus over and over at residency fairs. I sound like a broken record in my head. So anytime someone asks me something I haven't answered before it's refreshing.

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[boolin_1]

So I have 1 eSLOE and 1 non EM residency SLOE. Do I still need a 3rd? I worked a few months with the nonEM residency SLOE thinking that it would look better but now I feel like it took the place of a possible 3rd letter and now my app looks incomplete.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

No that should be fine

 

[boolin_1]

No that should be fine

you should be fine

 

[Doctor W]

My ID attending just surprised me and offered to write a LOR for my reapplication this yea. I just went through CORD's website and they wrote:

"Q: Do I qualify for SLOE?
YES: You a current medical school student
NO: Only current medical school students should have a SLOE completed. Non-medical students such as faculty, returning to medicine, rotating through EM after completing another residency, should complete TWO, up to four, Letters of Evaluation. Because you are NOT a current student, you cannot be compared to your peers. Unanswered questions on a SLOE can do more harm than good."

Should I ask the attending to complete an O-SLOE, or write a regular LOR?

 

[boolin_1]

seems like regular LOR to me. because the SLOE PDF has a lot of questions comparing you to prior EM bound students so the SLOE would look incomplete

 

[EMhopeful987]

Are there any EM residencies out there that require (or look for) the personal statement to address why you specifically want to go to their residency program in particular? Or can you generally just use one personal statement (just addressing why you want to go into EM as a specialty) to apply to all EM residencies? Thanks in advance.

 

[Dr.Bruh]

@gamerEMdoc LOR question:

if I have 4 EM letters (1 eSLOE, 1 Subspecialty SLOE, and 2 Non-residency EM SLOES) should I send all 4? I see programs that just have 2 or 3 LOR requirevents on their website (most aren’t updated to reflect this year and still say 2 SLOEs). Do I only assign as many letters as required (ie 2-3) or do you think it’s worth assigning the 4 letter I have to all programs this year (I’m assuming all are good letters no red flags).

 

[gamerEMdoc]

My ID attending just surprised me and offered to write a LOR for my reapplication this yea. I just went through CORD's website and they wrote:

"Q: Do I qualify for SLOE?
YES: You a current medical school student
NO: Only current medical school students should have a SLOE completed. Non-medical students such as faculty, returning to medicine, rotating through EM after completing another residency, should complete TWO, up to four, Letters of Evaluation. Because you are NOT a current student, you cannot be compared to your peers. Unanswered questions on a SLOE can do more harm than good."

Should I ask the attending to complete an O-SLOE, or write a regular LOR?

Regular LOR

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Are there any EM residencies out there that require (or look for) the personal statement to address why you specifically want to go to their residency program in particular? Or can you generally just use one personal statement (just addressing why you want to go into EM as a specialty) to apply to all EM residencies? Thanks in advance.

I generally like the one PS approach. I find the "personalized" PS's to be a bit disingenuous. I mean, after all, every program knows students are applying to a ton of programs. So seeing some paragraph that talks about how much the candidate wants to match at my program lessens the effect when you know they wrote the same thing to 50 other places.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

@gamerEMdoc LOR question:

if I have 4 EM letters (1 eSLOE, 1 Subspecialty SLOE, and 2 Non-residency EM SLOES) should I send all 4? I see programs that just have 2 or 3 LOR requirevents on their website (most aren’t updated to reflect this year and still say 2 SLOEs). Do I only assign as many letters as required (ie 2-3) or do you think it’s worth assigning the 4 letter I have to all programs this year (I’m assuming all are good letters no red flags).

Unless you are concerned about red flags, submit all 4.

 

[partypantss]

I generally like the one PS approach. I find the "personalized" PS's to be a bit disingenuous. I mean, after all, every program knows students are applying to a ton of programs. So seeing some paragraph that talks about how much the candidate wants to match at my program lessens the effect when you know they wrote the same thing to 50 other places.

I wish all programs felt this way. Unfortunately, there are a handful that are specifically requesting that applicants add a little blurb about how great they think the program is. Which makes me wonder how many others are putting a lot of stock in doing this vs those that don't care. I'm still overall leaning towards not doing it for the vast majority of programs since it will just basically be a repeat of what's on their website, and how those aspects "perfectly match what I'm looking for!"...

 

[gamerEMdoc]

I wish all programs felt this way. Unfortunately, there are a handful that are specifically requesting that applicants add a little blurb about how great they think the program is. Which makes me wonder how many others are putting a lot of stock in doing this vs those that don't care. I'm still overall leaning towards not doing it for the vast majority of programs since it will just basically be a repeat of what's on their website, and how those aspects "perfectly match what I'm looking for!"...

Yeah, I can't speak for other programs, but I do read a lot of PSs of applicants every year and I can say that the vast majority are not personalized to the program. Some are, most aren't.

I do think its absurd that programs would "require" you to tell you what you like about them. Its just as obnoxious as students who need to be told they are being ranked highly for them to rank your program highly. And vice versa. Or programs that "highly encourage" a second look to be ranked competitively. I just hate this part of the "game" that is the match. I just want to look at an application, interview someone, then slot them into the list. All the other stuff shouldn't matter.

 

[EMhopeful987]

I generally like the one PS approach. I find the "personalized" PS's to be a bit disingenuous. I mean, after all, every program knows students are applying to a ton of programs. So seeing some paragraph that talks about how much the candidate wants to match at my program lessens the effect when you know they wrote the same thing to 50 other places.

Thank you!

 

[joeschmoejohndoe]

Do you think there is any utility to submitting a regular LOR this year? I will have two SLOEs (our school has two affiliated residency programs) and potentially an o-sloe from fam med. I just finished an ICU rotation and they were willing to write me a regular LOR, should I get it?

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Do you think there is any utility to submitting a regular LOR this year? I will have two SLOEs (our school has two affiliated residency programs) and potentially an o-sloe from fam med. I just finished an ICU rotation and they were willing to write me a regular LOR, should I get it?

Yes. Unless you expect bad things to be said about you, there is never a downside of having up to four letters submitted. Even in normal years, its only ever expected to have 2 sloes, which means you can submit 2 regular LORs.

 

[boolin_1]

How do I bring up a hobby/interest that I completely forgot to add in my stupid damn ERAS. And it’s such an easy and fun topic to talk about

 

[Dr.Bruh]

Hey @gamerEMdoc
Regarding the 1 SLOE recommendation. The program I just did my Sub Specialty rotation at stated that they Won’t hold 2 sloes against anybody but will only read the first sloe for every applicant and not look at any addition eSLOEs to keep it even. I felt like that was a reasonable approach. What’s is your take on that? Do you think lots of PDs will do something similar? Bc where I was I was the only student who was only doing 1 true audition.

 

[Dr.Bruh]

Also is it weird to put a list of my favorite Netflix shows under “hobbies and interests” on eras? Lol

 

[gamerEMdoc]

How do I bring up a hobby/interest that I completely forgot to add in my stupid damn ERAS. And it’s such an easy and fun topic to talk about

Every single person that interviews you is going to ask you some variation of "what do you do for fun" and it will take up a big chunk of your interview.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Hey @gamerEMdoc
Regarding the 1 SLOE recommendation. The program I just did my Sub Specialty rotation at stated that they Won’t hold 2 sloes against anybody but will only read the first sloe for every applicant and not look at any addition eSLOEs to keep it even. I felt like that was a reasonable approach. What’s is your take on that? Do you think lots of PDs will do something similar? Bc where I was I was the only student who was only doing 1 true audition.

Everyone will probably do something different. There won't be any kind of a consensus. I personally won't hold it against people who are local and in state or the people that rotated with me, because those are people I'm almost always going to interview just because they are the most likely to rank your program highly in the first place. But when it comes to sorting out a thousand people for the last 30 spots, I'll probably be more apt to give the interviews to the people that played by the rules, just because the spots are so limited to begin with, and I was very vocal about recommending sticking to what CORD/EMRA/ACEP recommended on social media. I don't begrudge people for doing something different, but I personally said from the beginning how I'd view doing more, and I don't think its fair to the people that listened to that advice if I backtracked on it later.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Also is it weird to put a list of my favorite Netflix shows under “hobbies and interests” on eras? Lol

Not at all.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

I'm sure this has been asked before but this thread is long and I couldn't find it in a quick search: Advice for an undecided MS3 who won't be doing core EM rotation until 4th year?

I'm basically between IM and EM at this point. I'll be getting plenty of IM exposure, but the earliest I can schedule my core EM rotation will probably be May/June (planning to try to schedule as early as possible, but it's still at the mercy of the school scheduling gods). Will that be fine, or should I try to find a way to get into the ED earlier? I do have some prior EM related exposure (shadowing, EMT, managed student wound care clinic staffed in part by EM docs). What should I be looking out for on other rotations to help make the decision?

 

[gamerEMdoc]

You don't have to do a 3rd year EM rotation, plenty of students don't. You do however need to decide if you are seriously going to pursue it, because you are going to want 2 rotations at residency sites from June-Sept, probably 3 altogether. That doesn't leave a lot of wiggle room if you are also trying to fit in 2 IM AIs during the same time frame. You figure you are going to be scheduling these AIs around March or so, so I would want to have made my mind up by then so you can move forward with a forth year plan.

So if you know you are going to go into EM, then a 3rd year EM rotation isn't necessary. But if you need one in order to decide, then you are going to be at the mercy of your school so you can try to figure out what you want to do in your life, so you can appropriately plan your 4th year.

If they won't let you do any EM rotations, you may have some luck if a local EM residency would let you volunteer a few shifts in your off time just to see if its something you actually enjoy doing.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

So if you know you are going to go into EM, then a 3rd year EM rotation isn't necessary. But if you need one in order to decide, then you are going to be at the mercy of your school so you can try to figure out what you want to do in your life, so you can appropriately plan your 4th year.

Yeah, therein lies the problem! Hoping my upcoming IM rotation will help shed some light on things, but the absolute earliest I can schedule anything is late may (we have other core rotations scheduled until then). I'm hopeful I can get an EM rotation in that spot, but that obviously doesn't help much for deciding how to schedule later rotations. I'm sure that will be decided through a personal existential crisis in february/march...

 

[that's bad mmkay]

Are PDs filtering on CS failures this year? Failed mine last year during a year off and didn’t get a chance to remediate. I know several other people who are in the same boat too

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Are PDs filtering on CS failures this year? Failed mine last year during a year off and didn’t get a chance to remediate. I know several other people who are in the same boat too

I don't know, I can't speak for all PDs. There is a "no board failure" filter in ERAS. The people that used it before will probably still use it I'd imagine, I doubt this year is any different.

 

[YeOleBoneWiz]

Do you all rank applicants that can hit the CT scan button faster than those who cannot?

 

[Doctor_Strange]

Hey @gamerEMdoc I had a question not related to ERAS


I did three consecutive nights last weekend, 9pm to 6am shifts and then on Tuesday had another one. Today is Friday. My sleep schedule is a bit off still ie went to bed at 2am and woke up today around 11am. My question is what do you do to help get back on cycle. I will concede, I feel like I cannot be as productive on these days. Doing a 3pm-1am shift are no problem for me, but this past week has made me realize I don't really have any strategy. Is it as easy is just forcing myself to wake up early to get back on cycle? Interested in your thoughts!!

 

[shinsoochoo]

I had a question about interviews. So when they send out the invite on ERAS, I saw 20 openings for one vs 26 for another vs like 4 for another? Is this just a limited amount of spots for the time being?

How many people would you say would get interview at a program with 12-14 seats?

Thanks a lot for doing this!

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Do you all rank applicants that can hit the CT scan button faster than those who cannot?

I rank the applicants that will make the most versatile docs in the entire hospital.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

I had a question about interviews. So when they send out the invite on ERAS, I saw 20 openings for one vs 26 for another vs like 4 for another? Is this just a limited amount of spots for the time being?

How many people would you say would get interview at a program with 12-14 seats?

Thanks a lot for doing this!

I have no idea. There is no standard way programs schedule applicants.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Hey @gamerEMdoc I had a question not related to ERAS


I did three consecutive nights last weekend, 9pm to 6am shifts and then on Tuesday had another one. Today is Friday. My sleep schedule is a bit off still ie went to bed at 2am and woke up today around 11am. My question is what do you do to help get back on cycle. I will concede, I feel like I cannot be as productive on these days. Doing a 3pm-1am shift are no problem for me, but this past week has made me realize I don't really have any strategy. Is it as easy is just forcing myself to wake up early to get back on cycle? Interested in your thoughts!!

Take a nap before the last night shift, for like 90 min if you can. After the shift, you'll sleep a much shorter period, probably 3-5 hours because of the anchor sleep before. It lets you then wake up, but you'll get tired again at night. Split sleeping like that works best for flipping back and forth and dealing with nights. But its still not as good as staying on a consistent night schedule, which is what I do. Unfortunately, students and residents don't have he luxury of only being nocturnists.

 

[Apollyon]

I rank the applicants that will make the most versatile docs in the entire hospital.

From looking at this guy's(?) posts, I don't know if s/he is just being antagonistic, or is a true troll. However, as his/her history on SDN is short, if s/he continues in the same vein, his/her tenure will be similarly short.

 

[miacomet]

Compared to other fields, I'd say the biggest threat will be a persistent decrease in volume after COVID. I don't know anywhere that is still seeing their pre-covid volumes consistently, and that can obviously create issues in the job market with more residents graduating. How likely is that? Idk. But COVID definitely put telehealth on the forefront, and its possible that could continue to clip away some ED volume going forward. Time will tell.

Every ED in my health system (17 hospitals) is above our pre-Covid volumes. We dropped briefly in April (and visits had dropped for several years prior), but this fall has blown it out of the ballpark. Calling in extra docs all the time. We are a fairly big system- not as big as Kaiser or Northwell, but a national player. We have an extremely robust telehealth program, yet our volumes are still higher than ever. But we aren't hiring...just absorbing the volume.

All those people fleeing New York, New Jersey, Oregon, and California had to go somewhere, and apparently it's here.

 

[drjmd2be]

when do you expect majority of interviews to be sent out for middle-of-the-road students? just sitting in very low digits...vs peers pursuing other medical specialties

 

[gamerEMdoc]

when do you expect majority of interviews to be sent out for middle-of-the-road students? just sitting in very low digits...vs peers pursuing other medical specialties

ERAS has been open for like 3 business days. It normally takes 4-6 weeks in most years. Be happy you have any at this point. I posted a long answer about this in another thread. I am guessing about 2 weeks in, but that's a complete guess.

'20-'21 Interview Timeline

Since finishing my application last Tuesday my anxiety has shifted from applications to interviews and have searched a few times since then for any consensus on how the interview timeline will be different this year. The most common response I had read is "no one knows", which is fine leading...

forums.studentdoctor.net

 

[Doctor_Strange]

UNM sent an email via ERAS. Seem virtually all county programs will be sending out their interview invites on 11/2.


@gamerEMdoc , unrelated question -- I read an old reddit post that a certain New Jersey program had to do procedures during their didactic or sim days to reach ACGME numbers. That was a huge major red flag. It so happens I applied to that program already, but a) is such an occurrence common? b) if so, how should applicants view such a practice? My initial reaction is that speaks, unfortunately, poorly about the experience provided by that program, but what do I know haha

 

[hopefulERdoc251]

UNM sent an email via ERAS. Seem virtually all county programs will be sending out their interview invites on 11/2.


@gamerEMdoc , unrelated question -- I read an old reddit post that a certain New Jersey program had to do procedures during their didactic or sim days to reach ACGME numbers. That was a huge major red flag. It so happens I applied to that program already, but a) is such an occurrence common? b) if so, how should applicants view such a practice? My initial reaction is that speaks, unfortunately, poorly about the experience provided by that program, but what do I know haha

name and shame pls, I think this knowledge could benefit a lot of people

 

[gamerEMdoc]

UNM sent an email via ERAS. Seem virtually all county programs will be sending out their interview invites on 11/2.


@gamerEMdoc , unrelated question -- I read an old reddit post that a certain New Jersey program had to do procedures during their didactic or sim days to reach ACGME numbers. That was a huge major red flag. It so happens I applied to that program already, but a) is such an occurrence common? b) if so, how should applicants view such a practice? My initial reaction is that speaks, unfortunately, poorly about the experience provided by that program, but what do I know haha

Depends on the procedure. Stuff like crich’s may happen once in your career, so they are almost always sim/cadaver related. I think if a residency is using conference for something like tubes/lines, that’s a major red flag.

 

[hopefulERdoc251]

@gamerEMdoc Hey gamer, quick question. My s/o who's also matching EM and I have a handful of EM interviews at the same programs but we also have 3-4 that are nowhere near each other that one of us got offered and the other didn't It's super early so we didn't want to send out any emails to the respective programs inquiring about the others application, but when do you think would it be an appropriate time to reach out to programs and ask about the status of our apps?

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Email the program coordinator and thank them for the opportunity, tell them you are excited for the chance to interview, and were wondering if they had a chance to review the app of your SO that you are couples matching with yet? I think its ok to send an email like that next week. The couples match is kind of different than sending LOIs to random places.

 

[hopefulERdoc251]

Email the program coordinator and thank them for the opportunity, tell them you are excited for the chance to interview, and were wondering if they had a chance to review the app of your SO that you are couples matching with yet? I think its ok to send an email like that next week. The couples match is kind of different than sending LOIs to random places.

And would you recommend the person who got the interview to reach out or the other person who didn't get an interview to reach out? Thanks again for everything!

 

[soccergirl1234u]

Hey Doc, when should we start getting worried about not receiving a lot of interviews? I have only gotten 1 and ERAS was submitted before the first day it opened. I heard EM is slower for certain states too. I'm hearing of people getting a ton of IM and other specialty interviews so it was making me nervous. Thanks

 

[Mr. D.O.five]

Hey GamerEMdoc! So I am applying EM and I just found out I honored my EM shelf exam, and my school states that honoring a shelf exam means you honored the rotation. I was just wondering if emailing programs about that is fine? I thought it may look like a humblebrag, so I haven't sent anything out yet, but I did want to hear your thoughts about it as an APD!

 

[Doctor_Strange]

Hey Doc, when should we start getting worried about not receiving a lot of interviews? I have only gotten 1 and ERAS was submitted before the first day it opened. I heard EM is slower for certain states too. I'm hearing of people getting a ton of IM and other specialty interviews so it was making me nervous. Thanks

By the end of next maybe worry a tinge. By the end of the week after next -- worry quite a bit. Lots of time in between. Stay patient (easier said than done of course).

 

[Shawno19]

Hey GamerEMdoc! So I am applying EM and I just found out I honored my EM shelf exam, and my school states that honoring a shelf exam means you honored the rotation. I was just wondering if emailing programs about that is fine? I thought it may look like a humblebrag, so I haven't sent anything out yet, but I did want to hear your thoughts about it as an APD!

What does honoring the shelf exam mean? I got 113 on my COMAT and almost aced my eval but my school doesn't give honors because it is not a 3rd year rotation.

 

[boolin_1]

I’m starting to feel dejected about all of this. I’m sitting on only 2 II’s while I have friends who have 5-7 at places that I was looking to get interviews at. I have my SubI interview and a little community program in Ohio. The only possible red flag is my SubI SLOE letter and I felt like I worked really hard, tried my best but the clerkship director might’ve given me bottom 1/3. It was my first ER rotation, in peak COVID, and I worked hard as hell. The random subjectiveness is so annoying. Hopefully these next 2 weeks it’s starts picking up

 

[Mr. D.O.five]

What does honoring the shelf exam mean? I got 113 on my COMAT and almost aced my eval but my school doesn't give honors because it is not a 3rd year rotation.

I just checked my schools grading, and it has the exam listed as "honors" but the official rotation hasn't gotten a grade yet. I know our school states that 100% of the clerkship grade is the shelf/COMAT exam.

 

[gamerEMdoc]

And would you recommend the person who got the interview to reach out or the other person who didn't get an interview to reach out? Thanks again for everything!

I don't think it matters personally, but if the person that got the interview has already been in contact with the Program coordinator, it makes sense for them to ask.