got a craptastic home EM rotation- strategies anyone?

[that dr. jack]

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so we get our required EM rotations by a lottery after ranking available places, and i lucked out and got it at my 6th (out of 7) choice. it will be at a very small community hospital with no residency. so far, no one in my class is willing to switch because of it's crappiness. on top of it, it's my third rotation, from the middle of august to the middle of september.

so i'm at a loss as what to do in regards to audition rotations. should i schedule auditions before my required month and risk looking like an idiot because of inexperience, or after and risk rotating too late to make an impression?

 

[Arsenic]

so we get our required EM rotations by a lottery after ranking available places, and i lucked out and got it at my 6th (out of 7) choice. it will be at a very small community hospital with no residency. so far, no one in my class is willing to switch because of it's crappiness. on top of it, it's my third rotation, from the middle of august to the middle of september.

so i'm at a loss as what to do in regards to audition rotations. should i schedule auditions before my required month and risk looking like an idiot because of inexperience, or after and risk rotating too late to make an impression?

great question jack, ive got the same kind of situation going on with me and was gonna start a thread about it too. 😀

 

[Emergen-C]

if u do away auditions first, the programs take that into account. also, if you get a slor from a program you rotated at, it says what # EM month it was for you. it makes the grade more interpretable. in my opinion, doing ok and trying really hard on your 1st EM rotation at an audition is MUCH better than doing ok on your 3rd em month...

 

[EctopicFetus]

Why not switch out some other rotation where you are at a "sweet site"? That would be the only way. I will say if people know and like you they would do this if this is a true career thing.

 

[that dr. jack]

Why not switch out some other rotation where you are at a "sweet site"? That would be the only way. I will say if people know and like you they would do this if this is a true career thing.

unfortunately this is the only rotation i have set right now. tomorrow is the first day we can submit our requests for the other rotations in 4th year. i have sent out e-mails to my class and so far no love, and i would like to think people like me ok but i doubt anyone will help me out because there are so many people applying to EM in our class and the relative lack of good EM sites. but thank you so much for your advice! 🙂

 

[darunc]

Another possibility is to schedule 2 aways and not the one at home---

if you go to some place like UF-JAX you'd have an awesome month with mad procedures

 

[GRchief]

Jack,
Your attitude is setting you up for failure, not your "craptastic home EM rotation." As with all med school rotations, you'll get out of it what you put into it. You should take advantage of working closer with the attendings at the small ED. They may not be the esteemed EM researchers or knife-and-gun club jockeys that you aspire to be, but they have experience working with med students, and will probably take a greater personal interest in you. You might also find that they have connections within the EM community and are quite willing to help you out.

As for which to schedule first, it probably doesn't make that much of a difference. Personally, I'd recommend doing your home rotation first to gain the basic knowledge, skills and confidence that will help you shine once you do your away rotation. And October/November is by no means too late to make an impression.

Good Luck!

 

[nocallaochicas]

if you are seriously considering EM, your the home faculty might be able to pull some unknown strings...or at least give some school-specific advice you can't get here
ncc

 

[GeneralVeers]

so we get our required EM rotations by a lottery after ranking available places, and i lucked out and got it at my 6th (out of 7) choice. it will be at a very small community hospital with no residency. so far, no one in my class is willing to switch because of it's crappiness. on top of it, it's my third rotation, from the middle of august to the middle of september.

so i'm at a loss as what to do in regards to audition rotations. should i schedule auditions before my required month and risk looking like an idiot because of inexperience, or after and risk rotating too late to make an impression?

Sounds like you're a student in Indy and got placed at St. Francis, St. Vincent's or Community.

You can make the best of it, as the attendings at these places typically have fewer letters to write, and will give you a better recommendation. The ED director at St. Francis gave me a recommendation that was 100X better than the form letter from IU/Methodist.

 

[that dr. jack]

Jack,
Your attitude is setting you up for failure, not your "craptastic home EM rotation." As with all med school rotations, you'll get out of it what you put into it. You should take advantage of working closer with the attendings at the small ED. They may not be the esteemed EM researchers or knife-and-gun club jockeys that you aspire to be, but they have experience working with med students, and will probably take a greater personal interest in you. You might also find that they have connections within the EM community and are quite willing to help you out.

As for which to schedule first, it probably doesn't make that much of a difference. Personally, I'd recommend doing your home rotation first to gain the basic knowledge, skills and confidence that will help you shine once you do your away rotation. And October/November is by no means too late to make an impression.

Good Luck!

although i was just able to get a trade for our residency site, your words really stuck with me today - you have an excellent point about making the best of what you have, and it did make me think about seeing if i can set up a smaller site for an elective because i do enjoy the (relatively) quieter side of EM. my post was the usual med student hissy fit vent, and after sleeping on it, things didn't seem as bleak as they did last night. i'm not a hardcore trauma junkie type, and would appreciate getting exposure as a student to the side of EM that i will most likely spend my days practicing.

i appreciate your words of advice and am glad there are people on SDN who tell it like it is.

 

[that dr. jack]

Sounds like you're a student in Indy and got placed at St. Francis, St. Vincent's or Community.

You can make the best of it, as the attendings at these places typically have fewer letters to write, and will give you a better recommendation. The ED director at St. Francis gave me a recommendation that was 100X better than the form letter from IU/Methodist.

i'm in cali baby, just a couple of miles from you at the moment!

 

[GeneralVeers]

i'm in cali baby, just a couple of miles from you at the moment!

Nice. Well what I said is still applicable. If you work well with the community docs they can give you a great letter of recommendation.