MS4 scheduling advice for Anesthesiology

[rage_of_halone]

Hi all,

I'm a soon-to-be 4th year D.O. student with above average USMLE scores (low 230s) and COMLEX scores (600+). Anesthesiology is what I really would like to do, and I am currently trying to plan out my 4th year rotations. My 3rd year core rotations end in June, and I am taking June off to take Step 2.

I currently have one letter of recommendation to be provided from an anesthesiologist from a non-university hospital. My plan is to do 1-2 anesthesiology audition rotations from July to September to try to get more letters of rec in time for ERAS in September.

Will it hurt me for my application/interviews if I have not completed my 4th year medicine rotations? My thinking is institutions may want to see that I have done well in my 4th year medicine rotations before I apply since anesthesia residencies requires 1 prelim/intern year of medicine or surgery. If this is not the case, I plan to do my "required" 4th year medicine rotations after interview season (i.e. January and onward).

Thank you for all your advice.

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[thethethe]

do your required 4th years whenever you want. do the anesthesia rotations first to get LORS.

 

[scudrunner]

Agreed, timing of your 4th year medicine rotations has no impact on your application. Get your anesthesiology letter/s early if possible.

 

[partydoc]

Agree with everyone else, do your anes rotations early. I did my medicine Sub I in Feb.

 

[rage_of_halone]

thank you for all your advice!

also curious as to how many LORs you obtained from anesthesiologists, and if they were all from acgme programs?

 

[partydoc]

I had letters from the 2 program directors at the places I rotated (home and nearby program) plus the chair of my home program.

 

[kazuma]

thank you for all your advice!

also curious as to how many LORs you obtained from anesthesiologists, and if they were all from acgme programs?

Agree with the above posts. Do your anesthesia sub-I's early. While it would be good to get a letter from the Sub-I's, I would plan on using those as backup letters. Try to get at least 3-4 letters total with 1-2 being from anesthesiologists. I had my application complete going into my Sub-I's so I didn't bother asking for letters later on. I had 2 private practice anesthesia letters, 1 gen surgery, and 1 FP letter. Obtaining a letter from a well known anesthesiologist/program could be beneficial. But it can be difficult to spend enough time with an attending at a big program since most of your time is spent with residents. Make sure you have everything ready to submit the first day that ERAS opens up to programs.

 

[rage_of_halone]

right now i currently have 1 letter from a community anesthesiologist. my scheduling is a bit tight for early summer and as i am planning my 4th year auditions, i was also wondering if it's acceptable to do a 2 week audition and still ask for a letter of recommendation, or if that's only expected if you do a 4 week audition rotation at a given program?

thanks in advance! i appreciate all the advice.

 

[GABAergic]

right now i currently have 1 letter from a community anesthesiologist. my scheduling is a bit tight for early summer and as i am planning my 4th year auditions, i was also wondering if it's acceptable to do a 2 week audition and still ask for a letter of recommendation, or if that's only expected if you do a 4 week audition rotation at a given program?

thanks in advance! i appreciate all the advice.

That's fine if you think you can get enough time with a person you want a letter from. You'd need to target somebody you know writes letters and then try to work with that person a bunch during those two weeks.

 

[IkeBoy18]

Due to not having a real family medicine rotation 3rd year, Im thinking about doing a family medicine sub I instead of a MICU one, which will leave me with no ICU experience 4th year, should I just bit the bullet and do a MICU rotation? Unfortunately SICU is not an option.

 

[partydoc]

I thinks that a MICU rotation would be far beneficial than a FP.

 

[Dwindlin]

me thinks that a MICU rotation would be far beneficial than a FP.

This.


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[rage_of_halone]

Is it worth scheduling a rotation at a place that is a "reach" in terms of matching for residency? There is a place I wanted to rotate at, and although based on my stats I'm pretty sure I won't match there for residency, I believe a LOR from this particular institution would definitely beef up my ERAS app.

Thanks for all your input!

 

[MaximusD]

Hi all,

I'm a soon-to-be 4th year D.O. student with above average USMLE scores (low 230s) and COMLEX scores (600+). Anesthesiology is what I really would like to do, and I am currently trying to plan out my 4th year rotations. My 3rd year core rotations end in June, and I am taking June off to take Step 2.

I currently have one letter of recommendation to be provided from an anesthesiologist from a non-university hospital. My plan is to do 1-2 anesthesiology audition rotations from July to September to try to get more letters of rec in time for ERAS in September.

Will it hurt me for my application/interviews if I have not completed my 4th year medicine rotations? My thinking is institutions may want to see that I have done well in my 4th year medicine rotations before I apply since anesthesia residencies requires 1 prelim/intern year of medicine or surgery. If this is not the case, I plan to do my "required" 4th year medicine rotations after interview season (i.e. January and onward).

Thank you for all your advice.

(1) I have to commend you on obtaining excellent board scores. You WILL get into anesthesia with those scores if you can get some support from your admin and from letter writers. I would recommend foregoing the AOA (NMS) match to anyone with scores like that.

(2) Try to rotate at an academic center early. Charm the hell out of one of the top dog anesthesiologists there -- this will only happen if you know your stuff. There are 5-6 KEY chapters to know frontwards and backwards in Baby Miller. Read those, take notes and learn them well. If they have an in-house examination for the rotation, KILL IT.

(3) Look for research opportunities -- when you get to an academic program make it known early-on that you are looking to get involved in clinical research. Utilize an elective month for it if you can. It will strengthen your application and you can possibly get a letter from this if its with an anesthesiologist doing research.

(4) Programs probably won't care about your medicine rotations so long as your other rotations have good grades.

That is all. Thanks for representing the DO community well, and good luck.

 

[rage_of_halone]

Thanks for your lengthy reply and advice, MaximusD.

Also, is there a certain "season" for when Anesthesiology interview invites tend to go out? Right now I will have December off for interviews, and I am trying to choose between November or January for another fully-dedicated month off for interviews.

Thanks for all your input everyone. This thread has been one of the most helpful ones I've been involved with on SDN lol.

 

[Stellar Clouds]

Thanks for your lengthy reply and advice, MaximusD.

Also, is there a certain "season" for when Anesthesiology interview invites tend to go out? Right now I will have December off for interviews, and I am trying to choose between November or January for another fully-dedicated month off for interviews.

Thanks for all your input everyone. This thread has been one of the most helpful ones I've been involved with on SDN lol.

Interviews run from October through January (some places even have a few dates at the beginning of February). You could take off either January or November and be fine. I personally had more interviews in January than in November, but I know plenty of people that were just the opposite.

 

[partydoc]

I only had 1 interview in Jan. You will probably have more interviews in November.

 

[CCDoc]

What are those 5-6 chapters in Miller?

Thanx!

 

[@JackShephard]

What are those 5-6 chapters in Miller?

Thanx!

I was going to ask the same.

 

[Laryngophed]

I was going to ask the same.

I'd guess 8-12 inclusive, but I don't see why someone can't just read all of section II.

 

[@JackShephard]

I'd guess 8-12 inclusive, but I don't see why someone can't just read all of section II.

What is section II? Sorry, the online formats of the books just list chapters.

 

[Laryngophed]

What is section II? Sorry, the online formats of the books just list chapters.

Section II starts with Chapter 5: Basic Pharmacologic Principles and goes through Chapter 12. It's basically all of the basic pharmacology and physiology in the text.

 

[CCDoc]

Baby Miller = Basics of Anesthesia?

If it is, the chapters in section II are 5 through 12.

 

[MaximusD]

Section II starts with Chapter 5: Basic Pharmacologic Principles and goes through Chapter 12. It's basically all of the basic pharmacology and physiology in the text.

Yeah 5-6 was probably an underestimation. I agree with this statement.

*Powers up the kindle app...*

Ch 5 to Ch 12 are key. The whole book is, of course, necessary as it is already a truncated text. But rotations will typically have you focus on those 8 chapters initially

I would *know* those chapters then make sure you review Ch 13-24 as well. I basically had two in-house exams on two of my rotations as a student and now that I'm reviewing the book, it's evident that I had one test on Section II and the second was on Section III, pretty much.

Here is the book information:

Basics of Anesthesia, Sixth Edition. Miller, Pardo. c. 2011

Another great text to teeth on --

Morgan & Mikhail's Clinical Anesthesiology, 5th edition. Butterworth, Mackey, Wasnick. c.2013.

Again, best of luck.

 

[rage_of_halone]

Again, great info in this thread! Much appreciated!

At this point, I am getting everything ready to apply to just about any DO-friendly residency program for my audition rotations (July--November is when I plan to do at least 1-2 auditions).

Many of these places have just started allowing applications to be received through VSAS but most will not process any rotation applications until May or June, and I am currently unsure of what I can do in the meantime, aside from the usual study for step 2 ck, reading for anesthesia, etc.

thanks again for all the great tips.

 

[medOstudent13]

I'm a DO student who just matched anesthesia with similar numbers.

Do the away rotations early. I did 4 and got a letter from a guy who is pretty well known and multiple programs remarked on it. You can never have too many letters written on your behalf but you can only submit 4 to each program and they can be different for each program. Pick a person that you want a letter from and go after it. Apply broadly as some programs are still anti-DO it seems. Let me know if you have questions.

 

[rage_of_halone]

What if I theoretically cannot score any away rotations on VSAS?

If I don't get any away rotations, I will have one letter from a community anesthesiologist... is it a crapshoot to get into an anesthesia residency if that's the case? Would they want to see more letters of rec for anesthesia?