can somebody give me details as far as hours and what you do all day?
do you just pull teeth all day?
how long is a regular day?
is it limited to weekdays or does it include weekends?
You will usually come in for rounds in the morning at 6:30. We almost always have breakfast, then start clinic at 8. The work day is done when we see the last patient in the clinic, which vary from 3 to 6. Usually only the people on call will do afternoon rounds.
In the clinic pulling teeth will be the most common procedure for an extern to do, but depending on when you're there and who you're working with you can do other procedures. This summer I had an extern help me with excision of lipomas or ear lobe repair, etc.
You will probably want to take call a couple of times a week, and usually the "face call" nights are best. When you're on call you pretty much shadow the interns, go to the ER, see/care for inpatients, sew up lacs, help with pre-rounding, etc. Some nights you'll get a good night's sleep, but usually you're up most of the night.
OR time is dependent on you and how many residents are on service. In July, there are so many people on service, it's hard for even the interns to get OR time, but if nothing else you're always welcome to at least go in and observe.
As an extern you're also expected to go to weekly conferences and any other events that maybe going on (Journal club, etc).
Weekends are off unless you decide to take call, and if you're off I'd recommend checking out the city to figure out if you would want to live in Dallas.
Overall, it's a great experience. I did 2 weeks here and loved it.
