No ER department at my school

[Gleevec]

My med school unfortunately does not have an ER dept. However, it is in the same medical center as another school that does have an ER department (less than a mile apart).

Since I pretty much lack the "home-field" advantages in terms of applying (ie... not having a home program, not having a big-wig in the field at my med school to make calls for me, etc), how does one go about compensating for this?

The only thing I can really think of is an away rotation. How many away rotations would you recommend for someone without a home ER dept?

Thanks!

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[beyond all hope]

My med school unfortunately does not have an ER dept. However, it is in the same medical center as another school that does have an ER department (less than a mile apart).

Since I pretty much lack the "home-field" advantages in terms of applying (ie... not having a home program, not having a big-wig in the field at my med school to make calls for me, etc), how does one go about compensating for this?

The only thing I can really think of is an away rotation. How many away rotations would you recommend for someone without a home ER dept?

Thanks!

I didn't have a home program either. You're right, you need to choose good away rotations that will give you quality clinical experience but will also be good for finding advisors and getting a great LOR.

Also, you can try to horn in on the other med school's advisors. I don't think they'd care if you weren't from their med school if they really cared about advising students.

 

[southerndoc]

My school doesn't have an EM residency (although somehow one night we mysterically got an emergency medicine department - we still haven't figured that one out). I did an away rotation, but did it pretty late in the game. So the only LOR's I got were from my clerkship attendings (surgery, IM) and 3 EM attendings (one director of the ED, 2 from regular attendings).

Didn't hinder me in the match process at all. I still matched where I wanted to go.

 

[aliraja]

I'm willing to bet that the EPs at the neighboring school would be more than happy to have you for a rotation and would also love to give you advice. For years before Duke had a EM residency, we used to go over to UNC for our rotation and get rec letters, etc... from them. They treated us just like their own students and we've had a great relationship ever since. EM is such a tight-knit community that the folks at the other school will probably take you in pretty readily...

 

[FoughtFyr]

My med school unfortunately does not have an ER dept. However, it is in the same medical center as another school that does have an ER department (less than a mile apart).

Since I pretty much lack the "home-field" advantages in terms of applying (ie... not having a home program, not having a big-wig in the field at my med school to make calls for me, etc), how does one go about compensating for this?

The only thing I can really think of is an away rotation. How many away rotations would you recommend for someone without a home ER dept?

Thanks!

Join SAEM and use the virtual advisor service. I did and the pairing was great. My VA was very helpful. I also did two away rotations, and got both letters of rec. and advice from both.

Good luck,

- H

 

[Dr. Cowboy]

I agree with the above postings about away rotations and the Virtual Advisor. My school didn't have an EM program, this limits some of the info that you just happen to hear. It also is an opportunity to search out people and have an excuse to pick their brain (which can be much better info than you might get at your own school). It also shows your willingness and interest in going the extra mile to find out about EM.

 

[kungfufishing]

dr. cowboy has a great point - it certainly would give you something more to talk about than "...uh, gee, you guys sure have a net looking program..."