Need some help regarding 4th year electives...

[DaSein77]

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Hi everyone,
I'm a 3rd year med student, long time reader. How many months worth of electives is it typical to do during 4th year? Reason I'm asking, is because I'm at a new medical school and I'm only allowed to do 2 months worth of Path. We get 5 months worth of electives, 2 of those months have to be done "in house," the other 3 can be done anywhere. The stipulation is that 3 of those 5 have to involve patients...hence, I only get 2 months worth of pathology electives. Here are my questions...

1. How many months of electives in Path is normal/necessary?

2. Should I use both to do auditions? Or should I still do one "practice" month with my school and then only do one audition?

3. What should I do my other 3 in? I was thinking Hem/Onc, is this a good idea? Any other suggestions on other electives that supplement Path?

4. Are there any unique Path electives out there that involve patient care on a day-to-day basis?

Hmm....now that I'm thinking, I wonder if a Forensic elective would count as patient care
Thanks!

 

[yaah]

I was only allowed two also - had the same restrictions. Although I had done a PSF. I did rotations in things I thought I wanted to learn about - heme onc, derm, cardiology, ID. Heme onc is helpful to do but everything else is kind of up to you and what you are interested in. Almost everything will have relevance.

 

[mlw03]

Good questions. I'll reply below:

Hi everyone,
I'm a 3rd year med student, long time reader. How many months worth of electives is it typical to do during 4th year? Reason I'm asking, is because I'm at a new medical school and I'm only allowed to do 2 months worth of Path. We get 5 months worth of electives, 2 of those months have to be done "in house," the other 3 can be done anywhere. The stipulation is that 3 of those 5 have to involve patients...hence, I only get 2 months worth of pathology electives. Here are my questions...

1. How many months of electives in Path is normal/necessary? min of 1 necessary, 2-4 is normal
2. Should I use both to do auditions? Or should I still do one "practice" month with my school and then only do one audition? Up to you. Either is reasonable.

3. What should I do my other 3 in? I was thinking Hem/Onc, is this a good idea? Any other suggestions on other electives that supplement Path? Hem/onc is a good choice, as would be rad onc.

4. Are there any unique Path electives out there that involve patient care on a day-to-day basis? Transfusion medicine is the closest thing.

Hmm....now that I'm thinking, I wonder if a Forensic elective would count as patient care Doubt it, but not a bad idea if you can go somewhere where they let med students do cases. Doing some natural and/or drug deaths will help prep you for autopsies as a path resident. Plus, forensic path is the awesomest subspecialty within pathology.
Thanks!

 

[DaSein77]

Thanks for the info, very much appreciated. Has anyone done a Transfusion rotation? Is there generally daily patient contact?

 

[BU Pathology]

Hi everyone,
I'm a 3rd year med student, long time reader. How many months worth of electives is it typical to do during 4th year? Reason I'm asking, is because I'm at a new medical school and I'm only allowed to do 2 months worth of Path. We get 5 months worth of electives, 2 of those months have to be done "in house," the other 3 can be done anywhere. The stipulation is that 3 of those 5 have to involve patients...hence, I only get 2 months worth of pathology electives. Here are my questions...

1. How many months of electives in Path is normal/necessary?

2. Should I use both to do auditions? Or should I still do one "practice" month with my school and then only do one audition?

3. What should I do my other 3 in? I was thinking Hem/Onc, is this a good idea? Any other suggestions on other electives that supplement Path?

4. Are there any unique Path electives out there that involve patient care on a day-to-day basis?

Hmm....now that I'm thinking, I wonder if a Forensic elective would count as patient care
Thanks!

In my years of interviewing, most students have 1 or 2 months. I strongly recommend no more than 2 months. You will spend 4 years training to be a pathologist, use the 4th year to finish learning to be a doctor.

Audition rotations are problematic. If you do one, then other programs may wonder why you did not audition for their program and question your real level of interest in their program.

For other electives I recommend rounding out your medical education as a priority, and not merely enhancing your pathology training. Dermatology is great for any doctor, since people will be showing you skin things all the time. Other electives, that match your interests are another option.

Good luck with your choices, and welcome to patholgy.

Daniel Remick, M.D.
Chair and Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Boston University School of Medicine and Boston Medical Center

 

[DaSein77]

Ok, thanks for the info. Its good to know that auditions aren't such a big deal.

 

[KCShaw]

I don't know of anything that says pathology is uninvolved with patients. Quite the contrary. Try spending one -day- in any specialty without ordering, interpreting, or referring to a pathology report or result (clinical or anatomic).

That said, I agree you still really don't need to do more than a couple of 1 month pathology rotations -- any quality places where you can see and do a fair bit and have some people you can ask for a recommendation from. If you've got a local path residency I think it's useful to do one rotation there as they will be your best local contacts and advisors. I also agree that since you'll be spending the rest of your career doing pathology, this is the last time you'll really get to explore the other fields. I don't know anyone who really mourns having not done just one more pathology rotation while in med school, while I know many people who still refer to some of their other electives (especially outside electives) not in their specialty of practice.

 

[Autopsy101]

I thought infectious disease was an elective which was helpful for pathology residency (CP aspect).