need intern year elective rotation advice

[bkell101]

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what are your thoughts on choices for elective rotations during intern year....

some have said do electives that you won't get to ever do again...

some say do something that translates well and will help prepare me to be a better resident/anesthesiologist in the future

leaning towards electives that will help me throughout my PGY2-4/attending years...what electives have you found to be most useful? (I realize this is very attending/hospital dependent)

My program is super flexible and will allow me to do 4 months elective. I can do 4 months of anything and repeat those months. (I could potentially do 4 months of anesthesia)

I already have mandatory 4 months of MICU/SICU. Run by pulm-critical care docs. The CVICU is not an option for residents.

I plan on doing cardiology.

Any opinions on what interns should be exposed to prior to entering to OR?

I would probably really enjoy 3 months of anesthesia in addition to my cardiology month, but considering I will be doing it for the rest of my life should I be learning from other subspecialties? Or should I take advantage of the flexibility of my program and learn as much anesthesia as possible?

 

[amyl]

anesthesia. everything else sucks.

 

[vector2]

If I had a choice it would be pulm, cards, ENT, anesthesia. Granted this is only my second month of internship, but I'm relatively certain that getting to know the people (and the way things are done on other services) will come in handy when CA-1 starts.

 

[BobBarker]

Do CV anesthesia.

 

[Dwindlin]

Aren't there rules against doing more than one anesthesia month during CBY (if you aren't going to make it up in CA-1 al la Duke)?

 

[Mr Wizard]

Aren't there rules against doing more than one anesthesia month during CBY (if you aren't going to make it up in CA-1 al la Duke)?

You are correct. ACGME accrediation stipulates that you may do 1 month of anesthesia in your clinical base year. This is from anesthesia program accreditation, not TY

At least six months of the Clinical Base Year rotations must
include experience in caring for inpatients in internal
medicine, pediatrics, surgery, or any of the surgical
specialties, obstetrics and gynecology, neurology, family
medicine, or any combination of these. In addition, there
should be rotations in critical care and emergency
medicine, with at least one month, but no more than two
months, devoted to each. Up to one month may be taken
in anesthesiology. Rotations should ensure continuity of
teaching and clinical experience. Each month of training
may be counted only once. For example, a rotation in a
pediatric intensive care unit may count as either a month in
pediatrics or a month in critical care medicine.

​

Cardiology can be good, especially if you can spend more of your time with TTE/TEE procedures and readings. You could even learn TTE exams pretty well if the techs are friendly and like teaching. This skill can be huge in the ICU if cardiology holds sway over dropping a TEE. I think ENT (airway anatomy, trach placement) is another reasonable rotation.

Extra anesthesia rotations would only be beneficial if you actually were 1 on 1 with an attending without resident involvement. Everything you do in the first couple months of your CA-1 year are going to blow most intern rotations out of the water.