important electives for psychiatry?

[raspberry swirl]

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hi all . . . i am finishing up my second year of medical school and i am supposed to be setting up my electives for next year. im about 95% sure i want to do psych at this point. i was just wondering what rotations (in addition to psych electives) people who are already in psych would recommend as far as making me a more competitive applicant or giving me good experience. for example, i have heard to do an extra ER, an extra peds, and/or a neurology if you can squeeze it in. or is it better to just do all of one's electives in psych? just wondering what opinions people have. thanks : )

 

[meisteckhart]

hi all . . . i am finishing up my second year of medical school and i am supposed to be setting up my electives for next year. im about 95% sure i want to do psych at this point. i was just wondering what rotations (in addition to psych electives) people who are already in psych would recommend as far as making me a more competitive applicant or giving me good experience. for example, i have heard to do an extra ER, an extra peds, and/or a neurology if you can squeeze it in. or is it better to just do all of one's electives in psych? just wondering what opinions people have. thanks : )

If you know you want to go into psych, you will be doing it the rest of your life. So I recommend 1 or 2 psych electives for interest and letter of recommendation reasons, and the rest should be in things you are interested in or that are weaknesses. Neurology would be great to do extra time in if you are interested. I did a month of ER and I loved it. I also feel much more comfortable with triage and emergency situations should I ever need to help out in an emergency or a crisis. Peds would be great too, especially if you want to do child psych. Other than that, I say do you what you want. That's why they call them electives. 🙂

 

[OldPsychDoc]

If you know you want to go into psych, you will be doing it the rest of your life. So I recommend 1 or 2 psych electives for interest and letter of recommendation reasons, and the rest should be in things you are interested in or that are weaknesses. Neurology would be great to do extra time in if you are interested. I did a month of ER and I loved it. I also feel much more comfortable with triage and emergency situations should I ever need to help out in an emergency or a crisis. Peds would be great too, especially if you want to do child psych. Other than that, I say do you what you want. That's why they call them electives. 🙂

Agree with the sentiment of the first 2 sentences especially.
ER is a great idea as well.
The most important elective I chose was an extra month of child & adolescent psych--it does get short shrift in most MS clerkships, so it was good to get that extra exposure around applications time. (Ended up not doing child--but it was still great exposure...)

 

[Anasazi23]

I agree. I did a few rotations in psychiatry in total, and found the comparison ability and various modes of practice and approach both interesting and very helpful. A rotation in psychiatry research and child/adolescent can be very helpful. Some even find electives in Psych ER, forensics and the like.

Not sure I'd bother too much with another pediatrics rotation. I also did two neurology rotations, adult and child...both of which were very helpful.

Good luck.

 

[nortomaso]

I'll pass on the advice I was recently given when I asked the PD at my school what electives I should take in 4th year. His stance was that much of residency is filled with obligatory training modules, that I would get to do more IM/ neuro/inpt psych during residency; whereas 4th year of medical school is a unique opportunity to develop and demonstrate specific interests. So if there's something you think that you would like to do, do it; don't worry about what you should do, you'll do it at some point anyway, and you'll adapt just fine.

 

[Koko]

I agree. I did a few rotations in psychiatry in total, and found the comparison ability and various modes of practice and approach both interesting and very helpful. A rotation in psychiatry research and child/adolescent can be very helpful. Some even find electives in Psych ER, forensics and the like.

Not sure I'd bother too much with another pediatrics rotation. I also did two neurology rotations, adult and child...both of which were very helpful.

Good luck.

I'd second this and add that a PHP experience could be fun, "hands on", and very enriching. A part of the psych continuum of care not often seen on the typical 3rd yr rotations.

 

[raspberry swirl]

I'd second this and add that a PHP experience could be fun, "hands on", and very enriching. A part of the psych continuum of care not often seen on the typical 3rd yr rotations.

thanks everyone = )
not to sound like a total idiot, but what does PHP stand for?

and i have another question- its about away rotations. i know that generally speaking, one should attempt to rotate at the facility where one would like to do her residency . . . i know that in psych, being less competitive than some fields, that this is not as necessary. but i was wondering just how necessary people think it is? did most of you do a psych rotation where you are going to do your residency? is there anyone out there who didnt, and got one of his or her top choices?

i apologize for asking the typical annoying MSII questions .. . but there is no one at my school, faculty or otherwise, that know anything about psych. the guy who sets up our psych module is a psychologist . . .

 

[Koko]

thanks everyone = )
not to sound like a total idiot, but what does PHP stand for?

and i have another question- its about away rotations. i know that generally speaking, one should attempt to rotate at the facility where one would like to do her residency . . . i know that in psych, being less competitive than some fields, that this is not as necessary. but i was wondering just how necessary people think it is? did most of you do a psych rotation where you are going to do your residency? is there anyone out there who didnt, and got one of his or her top choices?

i apologize for asking the typical annoying MSII questions .. . but there is no one at my school, faculty or otherwise, that know anything about psych. the guy who sets up our psych module is a psychologist . . .

Sorry about that - PHP = partial hospitalization program. This is the intermediate aspect of the psych treatment continuum between inpt and outpt. Pts come in and generally spend the day at the hosp, but go home at the end of the day. There are usually opportunities to do individual and group sessions, work with various members of the healthcare team, deal with meds, and possibly do research. We saw inpt and oupt during our 3rd year, but no PHP, which I believe is not uncommon.

Regarding away electives, others can probably speak from a more experienced perspective. What I have gathered from speaking to students, residents and attendings is that it is not necessary in order to match at a student's #1. Of course, should you have the time to do it and perform well, it will only help you in your chances of matching, but just as important, it will help you size them up.

BTW, your text color is burning my retina. 🙂

 

[Anasazi23]

thanks everyone = )
not to sound like a total idiot, but what does PHP stand for?

and i have another question- its about away rotations. i know that generally speaking, one should attempt to rotate at the facility where one would like to do her residency . . . i know that in psych, being less competitive than some fields, that this is not as necessary. but i was wondering just how necessary people think it is? did most of you do a psych rotation where you are going to do your residency? is there anyone out there who didnt, and got one of his or her top choices?

i apologize for asking the typical annoying MSII questions .. . but there is no one at my school, faculty or otherwise, that know anything about psych. the guy who sets up our psych module is a psychologist . . .

Generally speaking, it helps to do a rotation (and do well + impress) at the place you want to do residency. That said, I was offered spots at a few institutions where I never set foot...only based on interview and application. I'm doing residency now at a place I didn't rotate. Likewise, I ruled-out places that I didn't want to go by doing rotations there as well. It's supposed to be a two way street. Doing a rotation at the hosp will almost always net you an interview in the least.

Good luck.

 

[raspberry swirl]

not to change the subject mid-thread, but, are any of you DOs? i know psych isn't always that popular in general, but it's even less so in the osteopathic world. i would be interested to know what places DO psychiatrists ranked/matched at, simply for curiousity's sake. i feel a little like a fish out of water sometimes. 😳