Peds Acting Internships

[Stitch]

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Which ones do you think are most useful to someone going into peds?

I usually adivse people to try for a peds ED elective. There is a ton of general pediatrics mixed in with some very sick patients, and gives you a wide exposure to many things. Plus a number of institutions treat you like an intern, where you will see a patient by yourself, then report to an attending and give you plan. If you're on an away rotation, you'll get exposure to how things work at that hospital, and see how the residents are treated both on the ED side and the admitting site. You'll also see what the consulting services are like such as ID or surgery. It works best in a dedicated peds ED however.

What other suggestions do you all have?

 

[elr1983]

Which ones do you think are most useful to someone going into peds?

I usually adivse people to try for a peds ED elective. There is a ton of general pediatrics mixed in with some very sick patients, and gives you a wide exposure to many things. Plus a number of institutions treat you like an intern, where you will see a patient by yourself, then report to an attending and give you plan. If you're on an away rotation, you'll get exposure to how things work at that hospital, and see how the residents are treated both on the ED side and the admitting site. You'll also see what the consulting services are like such as ID or surgery. It works best in a dedicated peds ED however.

What other suggestions do you all have?

I think ID is also a good one to do. I enjoyed cardiology as well, although I think ID was more helpful during intern year. I didn't do peds ER as a med student so can't comment but you make a good case!

 

[oldbearprofessor]

Neonatology, of course.

Seriously, for an elective, nothing beats ID for seeing a lot. I think that at a big hospital, GI is a good alternative.

For in-patient sub-I (or equivalent), well, nothing beats neonatology, but if that's not your thing or you can't arrange it, then I'd go with a general inpatient ward.

But then, I never liked my time in the ER at any level of training.😉

 

[J-Rad]

I think for true AI/SubI type rotations, if I had it to do over again, I would have made time for a NICU AI. I think those can go a long way in alleviating the anxiety a NICU rotation evokes from a fresh intern.

As for non-AI rotations: a lot is going to be based on preference, but I found my cardiology (duh!) and neurology rotations to be the highest yield. The former most for getting comfortable with benign murmurs and getting my head around some complex stuff they don't teach in med school and the latter because knowing how to do an efficient and thorough neuro exam on children is invaluable (and, truthfully, I find both fields generally interesting). I never did one as an MS, but a peds ortho rotation might be fun and useful as well.

 

[elr1983]

Neonatology, of course.

Seriously, for an elective, nothing beats ID for seeing a lot. I think that at a big hospital, GI is a good alternative.

For in-patient sub-I (or equivalent), well, nothing beats neonatology, but if that's not your thing or you can't arrange it, then I'd go with a general inpatient ward.

But then, I never liked my time in the ER at any level of training.😉

I did a neonatoloy sub-I and a ward sub-I. In the NICU, both during my sub-I and now as an intern, things are very fellow driven and attending dependent. I think it's good for getting to know vents, some pressors, TPN, sick kids, and some procedures. My ward sub-I allowed more gen peds type knowledge and the turn over was much, much higher (obviously), so I saw many more patients in a 4 week span. I also had some (or at least the illusion of some) relatively independent decision making on the floor, whereas in the NICU I had absolutely zero. So, I actually think they're both valuable, but for different reasons.

 

[twilightdoc]

So, I actually think they're both valuable, but for different reasons.

My personal opinion about acting internships, sub-Is, or whatever your institution calls them is that what you learn about yourself during that rotation is far more important than the specific medical knowledge and skills that you acquire. How do you react to stress (fatigue, emotional stress, intellectual stress)? How do you deal with disappointment and with success? How well do you work within a medical team? Can you work collaboratively with other health professionals (nurses, respiratory therapists, etc.)? How organized are you, and how well can you "multitask"? While you will surely add to your medical knowledge and skills during an acting internship, you may end up doing your residency at a different institution, where certain problems are handled in a very different manner (NICUs are quite well-known for this- it can vary among attendings in the same NICU). So whatever you do, work hard, learn as much as you can, and try to be the best doctor-in-training possible