Good teaching electives?

[DocLala]

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Hello everyone...I'm a 3rd year med student, interested in neuro...looking for a neuro elective that is student-friendly and has awesome teaching. Any suggestions? Thanx in advance!!

 

[Cephalorectus]

I set up an outpatient elective--rotating with a different subspecialty clinic each day of the week. I got a lot out of it--not just in terms of knowledge base but getting a better sense of what neurology as a whole field is like.

It was a nice balance to the inpatient month I did for the required neuro clerkship.

(I also did neuroradiology--which I thought was of limited usefulness as a student, but maybe the neuroradiologists at your school are better teachers?)

 

[Methyldopa]

(I also did neuroradiology--which I thought was of limited usefulness as a student, but maybe the neuroradiologists at your school are better teachers?)

Outpt is probably a good idea since neurology is really headed in that direction. As for neuroradiology, I'd stay away. I don't know but most radiologist suck at teaching at least at my old school. It'd be better to pick up a neurorads book than go through a rotation.

 

[Nerdoscience]

Outpt is probably a good idea since neurology is really headed in that direction. As for neuroradiology, I'd stay away. I don't know but most radiologist suck at teaching at least at my old school. It'd be better to pick up a neurorads book than go through a rotation.

I disagree. I would do a mix of inpt and outpt. Also, I found my neurorads rotation to be VERY helpful.

I really liked the visiting med student electives at Iowa, which is why I am now a resident there. Teaching is a huge priority.

 

[hawaiigirl]

i did an away rotation in general neuro at U of Utah, absolutely loved it. the utah program is strong, has great pathology, pro-education patients, incredibly friendly faculty, an enthusiastic program director, wonderful program coordinator, and great website to boot ( http://www.utahneurology.org ). oh yeah, and ALL the residents i worked with were happy to be there (including the IM, psych, and neurosurg residents who were on their neuro rotation). the rotation is required for utah med students (i think) and consists of of 2 weeks inpt (no call), 2 weeks outpt (separated into half-days of sub-specialty and general neuro clinics). the teaching is great. the clinic is great -- divided into half-days of MS, ALS, movement disorders, headache, EEG, EMG, neuro-ophth, and more. salt lake city is a wonderful place to spend 4 weeks -- great public transportation, cheap rent, pretty easy to find short-term housing, very safe, less than 50% LDS (mormon). i was surprised at how much i liked salt lake city (and this is coming from a liberal non-caucasian from hawaii). i highly recommend the Utah neuro rotation if you want something that will give you broad exposure, a little taste of everything neuro, in a great learning environment. one more thing... the handbook that they give the rotating med students and residents is an AWESOME resource!

 

[typhoonegator]

DocLaLa, I assume you're on the west coast, and so there are myriad options for decent away rotations that are likely fairly close by. If you are interested in branching out even further, then you can really go just about anywhere you want. I happen to be in Boston, and we regularly have a number of away rotators on our services, and they seem to be quite well cared-for and happy with the rotation.

As for the structure of your rotation, I agree with some of the above comments that you should try to get both inpatient and outpatient experience if possible. In- and outpatient neurology are vastly different animals, and you may be surprised to find that you are intrinsically drawn to one or the other.