Pediatric clerkships: Both outpatient and hospital experience?

[pianola]

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Hi everyone,

I know this is a rather specific question and perhaps it should be asked in the pediatrics forum instead of pre-allo (mods please feel free to move as you see fit).

In reading about one of the med schools to which I'm applying, I noticed that the school offered a pediatric clerkship both in a hospital setting and in a separate outpatient facility (~ half of the clerkship is in one location and the other half is in another location). Is this common? Or are most pediatric clerkships in hospital settings only? I'm asking because I think I'd really appreciate some experience in an outpatient facility.

Thanks for any help or advice.

pianola

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Hi everyone,

I know this is a rather specific question and perhaps it should be asked in the pediatrics forum instead of pre-allo (mods please feel free to move as you see fit).

In reading about one of the med schools to which I'm applying, I noticed that the school offered a pediatric clerkship both in a hospital setting and in a separate outpatient facility (~ half of the clerkship is in one location and the other half is in another location). Is this common? Or are most pediatric clerkships in hospital settings only? I'm asking because I think I'd really appreciate some experience in an outpatient facility.

Definitely better off in pedi- it will get moved for you.

Pedi core clinical rotations usually include both in-patient and out-patient experiences. Outpatient experiences can be in a clinic attached to the hospital or at a completely separate location. Those who have a strong interest in getting a "hands on" primary care pedi experience are best off doing a community pediatric elective after their core rotation - they'll get more one on one teaching and get to do more than during the core rotation.

 

[pianola]

Definitely better off in pedi- it will get moved for you.

Pedi core clinical rotations usually include both in-patient and out-patient experiences. Outpatient experiences can be in a clinic attached to the hospital or at a completely separate location. Those who have a strong interest in getting a "hands on" primary care pedi experience are best off doing a community pediatric elective after their core rotation - they'll get more one on one teaching and get to do more than during the core rotation.

Thank you for your response/advice! I really appreciate it.

 

[riverie]

I agree with OBP. During my pedi clerkship, we had one month of inpatient medicine at either The Big Children's Hospital or The County Hospital. Then two weeks of neonatology at a community hospital, TBCH or TCountyH, followed by another two weeks of outpatient pedi in either TBCH or TCountyH. I thought the 6 weeks of inpatient pedi and neonatology were pretty representative of the fields respectively, but the outpatient pedi experience was not representative of community primary care peds at all. I did mine at the county hospital, which was largely a underprivileged, spanish-speaking population. And from what I heard, TBCH's outpatient clinics are comprised of very complicated, tertiary care patients. To make up for the deficit and because I am interested in general peds, I arranged an elective through the school, in concert with the Texas Pediatric Society's Outpatient Pediatric Preceptorship, where I followed an extremely experienced general pediatrician for 4 weeks in his community clinic. I gained a lot of hands-on experience and found out just what general peds in the community entails. I also got a lot of one-on-one teaching, as OBP intimated. Try to see what your school offers in terms of this.

 

[pianola]

As a brief followup, are pediatrics clerkships generally around 8 weeks long? Is that considered a long or short clerkship?

(Thanks for sharing your perspectives with me -- it's a little difficult to guess what a clerkship is like without actually having experienced one, unfortunately.)

 

[pianola]

I agree with OBP. During my pedi clerkship, we had one month of inpatient medicine at either The Big Children's Hospital or The County Hospital. Then two weeks of neonatology at a community hospital, TBCH or TCountyH, followed by another two weeks of outpatient pedi in either TBCH or TCountyH. I thought the 6 weeks of inpatient pedi and neonatology were pretty representative of the fields respectively, but the outpatient pedi experience was not representative of community primary care peds at all. I did mine at the county hospital, which was largely a underprivileged, spanish-speaking population. And from what I heard, TBCH's outpatient clinics are comprised of very complicated, tertiary care patients. To make up for the deficit and because I am interested in general peds, I arranged an elective through the school, in concert with the Texas Pediatric Society's Outpatient Pediatric Preceptorship, where I followed an extremely experienced general pediatrician for 4 weeks in his community clinic. I gained a lot of hands-on experience and found out just what general peds in the community entails. I also got a lot of one-on-one teaching, as OBP intimated. Try to see what your school offers in terms of this.

Wow. That sounds like a great variety of experiences! I'll try to find out what options each school offers regarding general pediatric experience. The websites have been helpful, but they're no substitute for an actual visit. I might post more questions in the future when I have an idea of where I might end up.

I still have a long way to go in the application process, unfortunately, before I'll have the opportunity to visit schools. (If I have the opportunity to visit schools 😛).

 

[MonkeyRalph]

As a brief followup, are pediatrics clerkships generally around 8 weeks long? Is that considered a long or short clerkship?

Most pediatrics clerkships range from 6-8 weeks usually with half of the time on inpatient and the other half on outpatient.

Where I went to school we had 3 weeks of outpatient at a Children's Hospital or Underprivileged Pediatrics Clinic and 3 weeks of inpatient at a Children's Hospital or County Medical Center.
Where I'm doing my residency, the students have a month of outpatient rotating at both public and private peds clinics and a month of inpatient in either the County or University hospital.
It seems that the model is pretty much universal with just a few differences in specific details.

 

[pianola]

Most pediatrics clerkships range from 6-8 weeks usually with half of the time on inpatient and the other half on outpatient.

Where I went to school we had 3 weeks of outpatient at a Children's Hospital or Underprivileged Pediatrics Clinic and 3 weeks of inpatient at a Children's Hospital or County Medical Center.
Where I'm doing my residency, the students have a month of outpatient rotating at both public and private peds clinics and a month of inpatient in either the County or University hospital.
It seems that the model is pretty much universal with just a few differences in specific details.

Thanks, that's definitely good to know.