General advice for rotations

[Spetzler-Martin]

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[calivianya]

P/F clerkships wouldn’t change advice for me.

General advice: I would advise you to remember that whatever you think your specialty is going to be, a lot of people change their minds during third year, so don’t go into anything looking to coast. You may find you really like something unexpected. Also, do your best on all rotations because you never know where your good letters are going to come from.

I applied rads with a rads letter, an IM letter, and a FM letter, and all I’ve heard about it on interviews is that my letters were strong. Pick the people to write you letters who say they are going to write you the best letters, period. A mediocre/neutral letter in your specialty is worth less than a fantastic letter in a different specialty (depending on the specialty). Obviously the best letter to have is a great letter in your own specialty, preferably from an important person, but that doesn’t always work out for various reasons.

Related - start accumulating letters early. My IM letter came from my first rotation of third year, the September before I applied. It was still a great letter, and when a bunch of others fell through, I was really happy to have it.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Show up early, Learn about your patients, be interested to learn/ask good questions (aka not stuff you can easily find in uptodate), at least TRY to come up with a plan on your own (but clear it with the resident before rounds), don’t randomly disappear, don’t try to make your fellow students (or in some cases the residents) look bad.

 

[Dr G Oogle]

One thing that always stood out for me with students, is that they went around and introduced themselves to every laboring patient when on L&D. One dude did that 10 years ago and made such an impression that everyone tried to get him to do OBgyn. He correctly chose radiology. Basically everyone advises people to do that on OB at my institution. Obviously check with the OB chief to make sure it’s cool with them, and make sure you’re seeing triage patients to get them out

 

[Gilakend]

Show up, be normal and likeable, act interested. Those are the 3 most important things in order. You can also do all of them from day 1. Then as you learn more about the rotation, try to be useful.

 

[stickgirl390]

Pro tip for OB specifically: enter rooms of pregnant/post partum patients quietly, speak softly, and adjust your demeanor after your read the room for a moment or two. For me, this was a noticeably quieter entrance than other patients, even ICU or oncology patients. Also be prepared for parents snuggled up in the one hospital bed with their newborn; it happens quite often and it can seem awkward to interview the new mom in that environment, but just be prepared to expect that and you’ll do fine.

Adding: lactating nipples look very different. You will see a mom breastfeeding while you’re on L&D. If you haven’t seen how breasts change with pregnancy, look it up ahead of time so you aren’t caught staring/off guard when you’re in front of a patient.

 

[mrbreakfast]

How to not fail: don't show up late/leave early/disappear, don't be rude to patients or to the staff, at least pretend to case.

Since your clerkships are pass/fail, I'm going to assume almost everyone passes, so other than studying for the shelf I would try to learn things that you think will improve your overall medical knowledge, especially if focused on your interests.

For example, I do neurology. Even if you aren't that interested in neurology, there are neurological aspects in every specialty, so you can try to learn those (and your preceptor will likely be more than happy to teach you). Don't be afraid to ask; just be interested in learning something, even if it isn't the bread-and-butter for the specialty.

 

[Med Ed]

I start rotations in a week, specifically Ob. I honestly have no idea what to expect. I still remember nearly all of my ob pathology since I've been consistent with Anking since the start of MS1. However, any advice pertaining to the ob rotation or rotations in general would be very much appreciated.

Also, my school has P/F clerkships if that changes any advice.

The most important thing you need to find out is the schedule. Specifically when you don't have to be there: the latest you can show up, the earliest you can leave, and how to skirt around night/weekend/holiday hours. Tell them you're being proactive about avoiding burnout.

 

[Chillbo Baggins]

Have situational awareness! Don't be taking up a seat if it causes a resident to have to stand.

You'd think this would be common sense, but the last group of med students who took up all the chairs/couches for sign out would beg to differ. Even with us passively aggressively calling them out, lol

 

[esob]

A pro tip is to realize that there is no standardization in the expectations of attendings, residents, and fellows. You will encounter some that, despite your numerous failures will act as if you are the best medical student ever. Others will critique you and act as though you are the most incompetent person they have ever met. You will learn to present a patient in 18 different ways, write notes in 22 different ways, and each version will be justified solely on the basis of "that's how I want it." Just temper your expectations, slog through it and don't let your studying from Step 2 take a backseat to attempting to impress some attending, unless you really want a letter from them.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

A pro tip is to realize that there is no standardization in the expectations of attendings, residents, and fellows.

This. The faster you realize this, the less painful third year will be.

 

[ArteryStudyPainting]

https://www.reddit.com/r/medicalschool/comments/hsj6qe/****post_does_your_obgyn_rotation_put_you/

Get pumped to get through the worst block lmao. Speak softly, be polite, try your best to answer things, stream of consciousness your answers out loud and ppl go "ooo they're trying, nice though process".

 

[Lawpy]

Just finished the first week of my obgyn rotation. I was on night shifts and honestly it was super fun. I think people's experience depend on their programs. The residents at my program definitely don't meet the typical obgyn stereotype. They're taking the time to teach me things like how to ultrasound, suture, read heart tones, etc. It also helps that my program is P/F for clerkships which definitely takes all the stress off. We also get to pick out who writes our evals in the end, so I can pick those who clearly take a liking for me.

SDN and Reddit can be pretty detached from reality so i’m glad you’re having a positive experience

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Just finished the first week of my obgyn rotation. I was on night shifts and honestly it was super fun. I think people's experience depend on their programs. The residents at my program definitely don't meet the typical obgyn stereotype. They're taking the time to teach me things like how to ultrasound, suture, read heart tones, etc. It also helps that my program is P/F for clerkships which definitely takes all the stress off. We also get to pick out who writes our evals in the end, so I can pick those who clearly take a liking for me.

Yeah. It’s become a meme that obgyn is the worst and that you are going to have a terrible experience. So I think people just go into it expecting it to be horrible and anything that happens that’s negative just confirms that. I’m sure some people have a bad experience, but I’m also sure people have terrible experiences on every rotation. Glad you’re having a great time. Obgyn is amazing.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

One thing that always stood out for me with students, is that they went around and introduced themselves to every laboring patient when on L&D. One dude did that 10 years ago and made such an impression that everyone tried to get him to do OBgyn. He correctly chose radiology. Basically everyone advises people to do that on OB at my institution. Obviously check with the OB chief to make sure it’s cool with them, and make sure you’re seeing triage patients to get them out

I’ll second this. I did nights for L&D and because of timing + culture of the site, nobody really cared that the Med students were there, no one gave us this advice, and no one would tell you if anything was getting ready to happen. The nights where I was able to go around and meet all the patients at the start of shift were the ones where I got to see and do way more things, because I’d already built that bridge to the patients and they were comfortable with me checking in on them and being involved in the birth. Sometimes I just tagged along with the midwife who was also coming on shift at the same time, so we could introduce ourselves together and minimize disruption for the patients.

 

[Lawpy]

I'm about to change my opinion regarding this block. This rotation has sucked lately ever since night shift ended. I haven't been able to see a patient for the past 3 days and today, just to top it all off, I got forced to get a midwife her breakfast. Going to complain to my school about this hospital once this rotation ends. I'm not paying 30k a year to do nothing for 3 days.

This just goes to show there’s garbage everywhere, even in schools with P/F grading for clinicals

 

[Redpancreas]

My post-medical school experience is a bit different than most and I’m a bit removed from medical school and all the new updates like P/F Step 1, etc. but here’s what I would advise in this new era. I’d also like to note some medical schools I’ve been at will let students leave around noon after rounds on main rotations. Not all medical schools are like this, but that’s where my perspective and this advice is coming from.

1.) Start looking ahead to clinical application in your pre clerkship years and don’t sweat the basic science minutiae. Talk to M3/M4s to get an idea of what that is because it’s hard to have that perspective if you don’t have much of a background in medicine before starting.

2.) Come clinical years, I would say don’t be that person who sits around and does UWorld all day. I did this a lot. Yes, Step 2 is critical but I think there comes a point of diminishing returns. I personally feel clinical education (at least at a few mid low tier MD schools I’ve worked or been at) is pretty poor to begin with very low expectations for medical students. Diluting it down even more by leaving early when there’s no work will put you behind when transitioning to residency. Be aggressive on rotations and demand an education because if you don’t advocate for yourself, you will be scutted out and used by residents and graduate without any clinical skills. If you master these skills early, residency will be more enjoyable. It’s far better to struggle a bit and get corrective feedback in medical school than to look dumb in residency.

Overall try to make friends with people ahead of you in the process and gain perspective from them.