Outstanding M4 EM rotations? Where to go?

[Daiphon]

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hey all...

i originally posted this in the clerkship forum, but at the urging of our fearless leader, quinn, thought it'd be a good idea to cross-post here... any help is appreciated.

i'm an m3 who's decided on emergency medicine as my specialty... however, i pretty much only have the time on med/surg spent in the ER under my belt... so i'm hunting for m4 clerkship programs that anyone's gone to that teach the specialty well, and evaluate the students primarily on improvement and competence rather than on "could this student start working here tomorrow."

so y'all know, my school doesn't have a good EM clerkship, so i'm looking for the aforementioned program to both a) get my SLOR and b) learn how to do this stuff much better than i do currently so that I can rock rotation #2's world.

any thoughts?

-dai

 

[beyond all hope]

I only know where I went.

Jacobi in NYC is a good rotation for autonomy and pathology. They pretty much let you see patients by yourself. It's also a well-known place and LORs from Jacobi are worth a lot. Not much teaching, though.

I would recommend University of Chicago or UIC since you're from there, but I only know about the programs from interviewing there. They both seem like good places to rotate (and train).

Consider doing electives at places you'd like to train. That gives you an entire month to analyze their strengths/weaknesses and gives the faculty a chance to know you.

 

[gimmedog]

I agree that you should not prep at some arbitrary program and plan to "rock" just one program. Just read and do a little soul searching to figure out where you might like to be and rotate at the top 2. EM is competitive enough that you can't bank on one program, generally speaking. Most programs will favor people that rotate there (shows interest, you know them well, they know you..) so figure out where you want that home court advantage. Intern class at Highland: 9 of 10 rotated there! Heard it's similar at Harbor UCLA.

Good luck.

 

[Seaglass]

Adittionally, it would help to pick a program you like that would give you some good contacts through attendings at other programs you like. In that case your LOR's may carry a little more weight than a LOR from faculty that aren't as well known to programs you are interested in.

Casey

 

[Daiphon]

thanks for the thoughts, guys... if you think of any more, please put 'em down.

-tim

 

[Seaglass]

I rotated at two programs: York and Wake Forest.

York has a well known PD, lots of great teaching, and more hands-on than Wake withyou functioning like an intern but on less acute patients. You could see more acute patients if you wanted. Formal teaching for medical students was somewhat lacking.

I chose Wake because it is a great program in an area I was geographically interested in. Oldest program in the south, solid faculty, etc. The teaching was more formalized and less at the bedside than at York, and there were more students since it is a required rotation for Wake students. I didn't see as many patients and the patients I did see weren't as acute. It was still a great rotation though and I liked Wake a lot.

Hope that helps.

Casey

 

[GCS:3]

I did 2 away EM rotations...

1) Community EM at a small residency-affiliated hospital.

BIG MISTAKE... No formal and little bedside teaching, the only resident interaction was with FP residents who knew NOTHING, and in the end what did I get? A useless SLOR. The best part about this month was the free $75 they put on my cafeteria card. I brought home like 3 free frappucinos every day.

2) Allegheny:

A much better month. I did 14 shifts, had other students around, but not so many you tripped over each other. Knowledgable residents everywhere. Great bedside teaching, and 5-7 hour long didactic sessions throughout the month in addition to weekly rounds, M+M's, and Rosen Rounds. They loan you a copy of the textbook they recommend. Lots of autonomy, I did an LP on my first patient, and lots of procedures throughout the month. Sick patients are there if you want them, but traumas were usually blunt with the exception of the few GSW's I saw. The ultrasound teaching is there if you want it, just grab a staff and the machine and go. If it's slow they'll let you practice on the nurses and techs. EMS exposure is great, you have lots of time off to schedule ride-alongs or heli rides with LifeFlight (You can't fly if you're over 200 pounds though) 😡


One of my classmates rotated at denver, and LOVED it. Sounds like you have any kind of exposure you want, and LOTS of teaching. Also recommended.

 

[DrQuinn]

I posted this in the other thread, but I cannot say enough about the Univ of Maryland. They had separate lectures, JUST for the rotating students! They also had splint labs, and cadaver labs. It is you presenting to either the senior resident or the attenidng, and you can see whatever acuity patients you want. I can't tell you how many spetic HIV+ patietns I had.

My program, USF, has a decent student rotation. Since there are so few residents (6 this year, 12 next), there are still tons of patients in the ED that need to be seen and need to have procedures performed on them. You have a lot of liberty in the patients that you wish to see, and a lot of hands on training.

www.scutwork.com has decent reviews that sometimes outline the EM clerkships.

Q, DO