IM Rotation

[razza1]

Starting IM rotation

I already know its going to be brutal

any tips on how to make it manageable

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[Taxonomy]

Starting IM rotation

I already know its going to be brutal

any tips on how to make it manageable

Sorry that no one responded to your question. I'm in the same shoes right now. Still same question. I'm sure we are not the first and won't be last to ask this same question. So maybe someone can give some tips pertinent to IM rotation? Thank you.

 

[Black Coffee 24/7]

What’s wrong with 0600-2000 six days a week for 8 weeks? Sound awesome to me.

 

[Taxonomy]

What’s wrong with 0600-2000 six days a week for 8 weeks? Sound awesome to me.

I did 3 days so far and while it's a bit tiring (transition from 2 years of sedentary lifestyle to 12 hour shift is not easy for me), I can't complain. I learn a lot. I was inquiring more about helpful tips, little things that can help make it a better experience.

 

[Black Coffee 24/7]

I did 3 days so far and while it's a bit tiring (transition from 2 years of sedentary lifestyle to 12 hour shift is not easy for me), I can't complain. I learn a lot. I was inquiring more about helpful tips, little things that can help make it a better experience.

Read up on high yield cases on IM, and get your residents to run you through diagnostic workup, follow-up, and discharge protocols for high yield typical IM problems at least once a day.

 

[Taxonomy]

Read up on high yield cases on IM, and get your residents to run you through diagnostic workup, follow-up, and discharge protocols for high yield typical IM problems at least once a day.

Thanks! My first IM rotation is preceptor based, no residents unfortunately.

 

[ciestar]

Thanks! My first IM rotation is preceptor based, no residents unfortunately.

You can still do this with a preceptor! I left my preceptor-based IM days asking my preceptor what i should read up and prepare on for the next day.

 

[Taxonomy]

You can still do this with a preceptor! I left my preceptor-based IM days asking my preceptor what i should read up and prepare on for the next day.

My schedule looks like this, I wake up at 5:50am. Then shower, quick breakfast, full business casual with tie and whitecoat dress up (I really hate working in that outfit - it's really not ideal for fast paced and 12 hour shifts IM rotations) and drive to Hospital. 40min drive with city morning traffic. 7:30-7:45 I'm at the IM floor. I follow all day preceptor - I'm only given 35-40min lunch break - which I actually have to use for something to snack, use washroom lol (it sounds silly, but there's literally no time for washroom during the rest of rotation day lol). I go home at 7:30pm. I get home at 8:20pm and need to wash clothes, grab something to eat on the go, prep launch for tomorrow and other chores. I sit down at about 9pm and have only like 2 hours of study until bed to wake up on 5:50am again. Even those 2 hours are best case scenario as some extra-curriculum stuff always comes up and eats up time from whatever is left at the end of the day. Exhausted I just fall on the bed and don't even bother to find comfortable position - just close my eyes, only to be awaken by alarm in what seems like just 7 minutes of sleep, but nope - alarm says 5:50am lol.
Now the fun part is that our school still gives us extra things to do: case oral presentations with deadline, graded quizzes and most importantly IM shelf exam (which is probably a lot more work and materials compared to other shelf exams). Add to that constant OSCE (patient encounters graded exams we have to do). So far I was unable to study for anything other than shelf. If I ask preceptor to give me extra read up to do at home - I'll won't be able to write shelf exam. Simple as that. This may be just my opinion, but IM rotation is one of the most time consuming and exhausting vs other rotations (with a few exceptions).
I do admire those who can still find time to do more, like keep shelf step-up book in their hand and read it every moment preceptor is speaking on his phone lol or sleep only 3 hours etc. I just can't do that. Nope.

 

[ciestar]

My schedule looks like this, I wake up at 5:50am. Then shower, quick breakfast, full business casual with tie and whitecoat dress up (I really hate working in that outfit - it's really not ideal for fast paced and 12 hour shifts IM rotations) and drive to Hospital. 40min drive with city morning traffic. 7:30-7:45 I'm at the IM floor. I follow all day preceptor - I'm only given 35-40min lunch break - which I actually have to use for something to snack, use washroom lol (it sounds silly, but there's literally no time for washroom during the rest of rotation day lol). I go home at 7:30pm. I get home at 8:20pm and need to wash clothes, grab something to eat on the go, prep launch for tomorrow and other chores. I sit down at about 9pm and have only like 2 hours of study until bed to wake up on 5:50am again. Even those 2 hours are best case scenario as some extra-curriculum stuff always comes up and eats up time from whatever is left at the end of the day. Exhausted I just fall on the bed and don't even bother to find comfortable position - just close my eyes, only to be awaken by alarm in what seems like just 7 minutes of sleep, but nope - alarm says 5:50am lol.
Now the fun part is that our school still gives us extra things to do: case oral presentations with deadline, graded quizzes and most importantly IM shelf exam (which is probably a lot more work and materials compared to other shelf exams). Add to that constant OSCE (patient encounters graded exams we have to do). So far I was unable to study for anything other than shelf. If I ask preceptor to give me extra read up to do at home - I'll won't be able to write shelf exam. Simple as that. This may be just my opinion, but IM rotation is one of the most time consuming and exhausting vs other rotations (with a few exceptions).
I do admire those who can still find time to do more, like keep shelf step-up book in their hand during patient h&p and read it in between h&p questions lol or sleep only 3 hours etc. I just can't do that. Nope.

Well, this was part of our required ambulatory/outpatient portion of IM. I havent done inpatient yet. Im sure my tune will change lol (thankfully, my day won’t be as long as your’s with the exception of the few call days i have to do until 8 or 9 pm)

 

[Merely]

Those sound like horrible hours! Most IM rotation are like 7-5, 7-8 sounds very bad

 

[Cute_Boy_4_u_69]

if by brutal you mean boring you are spot on

 

[Taxonomy]

if by brutal you mean boring you are spot on

You call a IM rotation boring, but I like it a lot more than some other rotations. In IM you can see patients with various disease presentations, you can do labs, tests, imaging - you can actually treat them and see them get better before discharge - IMHO this is what real medicine is about.

On the other hand I saw your thread about "rocking a stache on rotations" and I think it's the dumbest thread so far on sdn, but I restrained from posting in it.

 

[razza1]

starting my sixth week now, any tips for the shelf?

 

[073116]

starting my sixth week now, any tips for the shelf?

UW questions are key to IM shelf. Do not save them for step2 like some say (really silly advise to not learn right now and save something to learn later lol).