I am interested in rads...does the order of my 3rd yr clerkships matter?

[triniman]

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I am interested in rads and I was thinking of taking med, surg then a radiology elective before my other core rotations...good idea or bad?
Also, does anyone have any general advice about scheduling 3rd yr clerkships?
thanks😀

 

[wahoo2009]

I personally took Medicine in my fourth block.

Since Radiology is pretty competitive, it becomes quite important to honor as many 3rd year clerkships as possible. Honors in Medicine and Surgery are particularly important. That being said, I think it would be better for you to "warm up" with something else. I personally started out with OB, then FM. I followed that up with Surgery and then later Medicine. You can hone your presentation skills, your differential diagnosis skills and get comfortable with getting things done in the hospital (getting path slides read, talking with the social worker, et cetera) and comfortable in the OR ( via OBGYN).

Being helpful, enthusiastic and having a good attitude goes a long way when coming to 3rd year clerkship evaluations. It's pretty hard to be helpful during your Medicine or Surgery clerkship if you don't know up from down in the hospital.

My 2 cents.

 

[Labslave]

I am interested in rads and I was thinking of taking med, surg then a radiology elective before my other core rotations...good idea or bad?
Also, does anyone have any general advice about scheduling 3rd yr clerkships?
thanks😀

For the most part, it doesn't matter. I would recommend trying to not schedule something you're potentially interested in as your first rotation, seeing as you will not only be trying to figure out the system and actually get comfortable talking to patients, but you'll also not know your way around the hospital. This means you won't get as much out of your first rotation as you otherwise would.

Medicine and surgery grades are by far the most important in third year, so you might not want to take those first either. Otherwise, it really doesn't matter.