Good 4th year electives for FM?

[Frijolero]

Hi all,
I'm in the process of trying to figure out my 4th year schedule and I'm finding it more difficult than I expected. Some vacation is nice, and they give us some time for that, but I don't want to throw all this cash I'm paying down the drain. What are some good electives to prep for intern year, or, more importantly, clinical practice? I'm already going to do several FM rotations, but what else is good? Derm? Outpatient psych? OB/Gyn? Please say anything but IM, if I spend that much time again rounding, I'll die. I'd seriously rather dig my eyes out with a rusty spoon. Thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[McDoctor]

I always feel like I can never get enough Peds exposure or derm exposure. I'd say do outpatient Peds, its laid back, rewarding, and you get to wear funny ties (if you're a guy).

 

[drwatson]

I'm also thinking of 4th year courses. Derm for sure. Then probably Cardiology. ICU, Palliative Care, Integrative Medicine,Sports Medicine, Child Psych and more OB experience are on the "maybe" list. A required SubI in Medicine and 1 month of Outpatient Clinic, 1 month of EM will probably round it out. Also looking to do a month on an Indian reservation and hopefully the illusive month in another country. This is all assuming, of course, that my fourth year lasts 18 months.

A similar question was posed a few months back and the following article was referenced. Definitely worth the read when considering electives/4th year courses for a career in family.
http://www.stfm.org/fmhub/fm2004/February/William118.pdf

 

[ghettomama]

I think 4th year should be a time for you to try things that you won't have an opportunity to do later on or do rotations in areas that you are weak in. For me, our curriculum is weak in radiology, derm and rheum so I did rotations in those areas. Also, I like peds and most FP programs are weak in peds so I did a rotation in adolescent medicine and outpt peds. The rotations that are useful for FP are ortho/sports medicine, derm, outpt clinic and ER. Whatever you choose, just remember to have fun

 

[deleted87716]

The other recent thread is here. It also references yet another thread on this subject, which is here.

There's a lot of good stuff on this forum, and the search engine works really well.

 

[Frijolero]

Alright, I see how you roll Kent...point taken. Like all things, though, I find I get more out of it if I'm an active participant. And the forum's kinda slow anyway. To the person who wanted to do radiology, why? You plan on reading some of your own when in practice? I knew a heme/onc guy who did that; he thought the radiologist sucked.

 

[deleted87716]

Alright, I see how you roll Kent...point taken. Like all things, though, I find I get more out of it if I'm an active participant. And the forum's kinda slow anyway.

The main issue is that you probably won't get as much participation if there was another thread on the topic recently. Most people get tired of repeating themselves.

 

[Frijolero]

Alright, I see how you roll Kent...point taken.