Need advice on post-M1 summer plans (shadowing, volunteering, publishing?)

[PrinceAli]

I’m about 4 weeks away from finishing M1 year, and would really appreciate any advice that others have for me on the details of my summer plans.

I underlined my important comments/questions for ease of reading.

Overall, I would like to...

1. Shadow a bunch of different specialists throughout my entire summer. Hopefully this helps narrow down the large list of potential fields I’m considering. I’ve made a word doc of nearby physicians I could cold-call and nicely ask to shadow. I would love feedback on this idea though, I don’t know how helpful this will be or how much I should spend my time doing this.
   
   
2. Have at least 1 case report in the process of publication. I don’t have any papers to my name and feel having anything out there would be helpful. I was thinking of politely asking the physicians I shadow if they (or any colleagues they know) have any unique cases that they would like help writing up. I would do the majority of the work and wouldn’t mind being last author as long as my name is out there. Of course this is definitely not the only reason I’m shadowing them, and I hope it doesn’t come off that way. What are your thoughts on this? Does anyone have any experience publishing case reports this way? Would this seem rude, or would it even be an effective way to find unique cases to write about?
   
   
3. Volunteer in either an ED or in a free health clinic. I’m torn between which of the two I should spend my time with (or if it’d be most beneficial to volunteer at both). I’m leaning towards the ED because:
   1. I haven’t ever volunteered in an ED and it seems like an interesting environment to experience.
   2. It would make a great segue into shadowing an ER doc, and give me more insight into the profession since that is one of the specialties on my list to explore.
   3. It seems like I might see more clinical events and procedures in an ED.

(Of course I'll also be spending most of my free time with friends/family, doing some light leisure reading, and definitely hitting the gym heavily while I can!)

I definitely appreciate any and all advice or feedback you guys have, thanks!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[J ROD]

just rest....unless you want something competitive. Or go on a mission

 

[PrinceAli]

I'll just be at home for the 8 weeks so I'll be doing a lot of resting and relaxing I'll have a lot of free time though so I'd love to explore different fields (which doesn't really seem like work to me, I'm actually excited to do this).

The only "work" I think I'd be doing is for the case report, but if I manage to even have 1 in the publication process I'd be incredibly happy.

I'm not sure what field I want to go into so I won't know how competitive it is yet. I'm kind of into cardiology but I've barely explored any other options.

 

[dyspareunia]

You can finish a bajillion case reports over the summer.

 

[J ROD]

shadow bc you will not get to see it all before 3rd and 4th yr. i shadowed 14 different fields before med school. so i had mine narrowed down. Besides getting through med school, your main job is picky a field for yourself and getting into it.

Med school is a means to an end. Not the end. That's why I get so annoyed when I see everyone so excited and adding MD to their name. Yes, you are halfway there and got initials now. But, the real work comes now when you really earn that MD.

Med school has not been that are hard for me thus far academically bc I do average. I want Psy. Not competitive.

Step 1 still worries me though. I would like to be at least average.

 

[JJMrK]

I’m about 4 weeks away from finishing M1 year, and would really appreciate any advice that others have for me on the details of my summer plans.

I underlined my important comments/questions for ease of reading.

Overall, I would like to...

1. Shadow a bunch of different specialists throughout my entire summer. Hopefully this helps narrow down the large list of potential fields I’m considering. I’ve made a word doc of nearby physicians I could cold-call and nicely ask to shadow. I would love feedback on this idea though, I don’t know how helpful this will be or how much I should spend my time doing this.
   
   
2. Have at least 1 case report in the process of publication. I don’t have any papers to my name and feel having anything out there would be helpful. I was thinking of politely asking the physicians I shadow if they (or any colleagues they know) have any unique cases that they would like help writing up. I would do the majority of the work and wouldn’t mind being last author as long as my name is out there. Of course this is definitely not the only reason I’m shadowing them, and I hope it doesn’t come off that way. What are your thoughts on this? Does anyone have any experience publishing case reports this way? Would this seem rude, or would it even be an effective way to find unique cases to write about?
   
3. Volunteer in either an ED or in a free health clinic. I’m torn between which of the two I should spend my time with (or if it’d be most beneficial to volunteer at both). I’m leaning towards the ED because:
   1. I haven’t ever volunteered in an ED and it seems like an interesting environment to experience.
   2. It would make a great segue into shadowing an ER doc, and give me more insight into the profession since that is one of the specialties on my list to explore.
   3. It seems like I might see more clinical events and procedures in an ED.

(Of course I'll also be spending most of my free time with friends/family, doing some light leisure reading, and definitely hitting the gym heavily while I can!)

I definitely appreciate any and all advice or feedback you guys have, thanks!

Your plan sounds great. Pump some iron, go to the beach(or lake, or river, or whatever you've got), enjoy your last summer, and get involved in some research. A case report is good, a chart review would be even better. The best way to do this is to email an MS4 who has matched into the specialty of your choice (or the most competitive one you're interested in) and ask them which attendings or residents are best to approach for research projects. The decision you'll need to make is how you will split your time. Most people probably do something like 70:30 fun:work, which should get you 1 case report submitted or a chart review nearly completed. If you do 50:50 you can probably double that, and if you find the right PI and go all out you should be able to line up multiple research projects or get involving in something harder-hitting like a prospective or basic science project. Good luck and enjoy, I felt like the summer after MS1 year were the most productive and enjoyable months of medical school, excluding 4th year.

 

[operaman]

Sounds good. Might cut the ED volunteering if anything. Shadowing is a great thing to do, especially for specialties you won't rotate through during 3rd year. Probably not worth it to shadow a general surgeon or internist since you'll see tons of that later, but definitely hit up the subspecialists.

Case reports are easy to do, though with the time you may want to aim a little higher. Ask around about which attendings are good to approach and then find out who has a project you can take over and knock out. You should have no trouble banging out some retrospective chart review thing or something similar.

 

[H Y F R]

Dude. Chill. Do absolutely nothing during summer. You have no idea what is ahead of you during M2. Don't pull some gunner stuff. Don't try to get into plastic surgery in 1 summer. Chill. Relax. Tried to get laid. Get drunk. Go dancing. Be with family. Hang with friends. Anything, but what you are thinking of doing.

 

[PrinceAli]

This is great advice, thank you everyone!

Volunteering in an ED was my lowest priority, so given all this recent input I'm now strongly considering dropping that and putting the time towards publishing. I'm extremely new to the process since I haven't gotten anything published or done any clinical research previously, so I may try to ease into it by getting a case report going first. If all goes well, I can have that in the process and spend the rest of my time finding and working on a retrospective chart review (which I never considered before). That would be the dream.

I'm nowhere near gunner status, especially considering what some of my other classmates are doing with their summer. I'm a strong proponent of avoiding burnout (which is one of the reasons I took a year off), so I'll be spending a lot of time relaxing, but I wanted to do a little something productive too so I could be more at-ease during M2.

 

[atomi]

This was a long time ago for me now, but I remember having a lot of angst over what to do M1 summer. The party line was that you needed to do "research." I resented being made to feel like i had to do it for the sake of doing it, but more importantly I had the opportunity to make a lot of money in something unrelated to medicine. I chose the later and made a ton of money in a few months and got some good R&R away from medicine. This sounds like a sweet deal probably, but looking back it sure would have been nice to have a basic science publication when applying for residency.

My advice is to find a basic science research position involving cancer in some way shape or form. It's a pretty broad topic that will apply to well to a whole host of competitive specialties (derm, surgery, neurosurg, int med, rad onc, rads, and others). There will be almost no opportunities to do this at any other point during med school unless you are doing a PhD (where it's pretty much expected and won't benefit you that much as going above and beyond) or if you take a year off.

Chilling and doing nothing WILL NOT HURT YOU when it comes time to apply to residency (this was one of the big things I struggled to find an answer to). You do not "have to do research." Nobody will hold it against you or ask you what you did M1 summer (well, highly unlikely. I never got asked). But it could definitely help you. If you smoke your boards and wards, then it won't make a difference. But if you don't, then you're going to need every little bump you can get.

 

[PrinceAli]

I'd love to have any more feedback that people have, your advice is definitely appreciated.

Especially towards the idea of potentially dropping volunteering and aiming for a chart review. Just getting one case report out there was a lofty goal for me, but if getting a chart review can be done along the same lines (by asking around while shadowing) then I'd love to go for it. Any tips on doing this?