MGH/Brigham Path clerkship

[BiopsyThis]

Anyone have any advice or comments about 4th yr path clerkships at either MGH or Brigham? I'll be there for a summer away rotation and am trying to figure out what to expect in terms of hours, expectations, etc.

Thanks!

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[gbwillner]

Anyone have any advice or comments about 4th yr path clerkships at either MGH or Brigham? I'll be there for a summer away rotation and am trying to figure out what to expect in terms of hours, expectations, etc.

Thanks!

It may difficult to schedule this late in the game, unless you have already processed all the visiting student paperwork/immunization crap, etc.

Otherwise, depends on what you want to do with your month. If Surgpath,
MGH and Brigham are VERY different in the way they operate. I did not do a clerkship at either but I did spend time with residents on Surgpath at both places. Both have days that start around 8AM, but the similarities end there. Brigham has a 3 day cycle, so you "tuck" for a day, Then gross, then preview. MGH is much more hectic with all of those things happening every day. The hours are also longer as residents spend the time after the processors load to preview... and they can be there until 10PM-midnight.
I personally think you would probably get a better feel and have more time to absorb at Brigham, although MGH is sub-specialized sign-out so you will learn something more focused.

 

[Mindy]

Hi:

At MGH you will be given a weekly curriculum that has you working with a resident on a given pathology service (which, as mentioned, are all subspecialized.) You will also have individual lectures scheduled with attendings. Finally you will be expected to present a topic of your choice to the department (one-half hour medical student lecture, usually the last week of your rotation.)

Your day will be somewhat as follows:

8:00 am = sign-out with resident and attending
12:00 pm = preview "OUTS" unknown conference cases / lunch
12:30 pm = OUTS conference
Afternoon = lectures and/or grossing with resident
After grossing = GO HOME!!!! You will not be expected to, nor lets face it, will the resident really want you to stick around and preview. Thats not to say that you couldn't if you really wanted to.

Also, you may have a frozen section week, where you'll see all of the (SIXTY!) operating room action. You can probably learn to cut frozen sections as well. I believe that this is combined with covering autopsies as well (for the students---not the residents who could not possibly do an autopsy and cover frozens).


Mindy
Former AP/CP MGH Chief Resident who would help in the scheduling of such rotations...

By the way, MGH is simply amazing in my most biased opinion.

 

[BierstiefelAndy]

Anyone have any advice or comments about 4th yr path clerkships at either MGH or Brigham? I'll be there for a summer away rotation and am trying to figure out what to expect in terms of hours, expectations, etc.

Thanks!

Damn...you made me come out of retirement on this forum. I just caught this post of yours.

Let me first start out by saying that I don't think you can go wrong by doing a rotation at either place. Both departments have a heavy case volume and you will certainly see a ton at both places.

I will not speak for MGH since I don't know how things really operate there. The rotation at BWH is structured and you won't feel lost here. Residents here are happy to work with rotating folks whether they are med students or residents who are visiting and spending a month here. We are accustomed to working with visiting folks and you won't feel unwelcomed by any means.

Here, you will certainly have the opportunity to work with residents as they work through cases and you are welcome to sit in on any signouts. I encourage you to hang out with residents when they gross in cases and spend time in the frozen section room where the operations are quite dynamic. A lot of things are going on in our department and hopefully you can absorb as much as you can during your experience should you spend some time with us. In addition, one strength about the rotation we take some pride in at BWH...there is a set schedule of didactics where you sit with attendings who will familiarize you with the entities commonly encountered in various subspecialties. Other than that, the rotation is what you make of it. Some people do more, some people do less...you have the freedom to suit the rotation to your needs.

 

[BiopsyThis]

Thanks for all the responses. Right now I'm waiting for HMS to finish processing my application and tell me what my assignment is, although they have given me a preliminary acceptance. I'm definitely looking forward to it!