PM&R Clubs

[fozzy40]

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Does your medical school have a PM&R Interest Club?

 

[zwasfeli]

Does your medical school have a PM&R Interest Club?

No.
But we did start a chapter of SIGN (Student Interest Group for Neurology) and Orthopaedic Scholars while I was a medical student (that is they didn't exist prior).

 

[DOctorJay]

here at UMDNJ-SOM we have a small PM&R club that we've been trying to build for a while. we've had a couple of attendings come and do talks for us as well as one excellent resident from Jeff (who happens to frequent this board).

any specific questions?

 

[fozzy40]

Any ideas for fundraising?

 

[DOctorJay]

best one so far was generic hooded sweatshirts from the med school that we made up. everyone bought one since it was unique to the school without looking like anything else that was available plus it was a really good deal. it just said "umdnj-som medicine" on it so any student would wear it.

i'd ask other clubs what their most profitable fund raising event was and see if you can come up with some ideas from that.

our surgery club sold gloves and dissection kits, another club sold those book stands you see people in the library using, the list goes on

 

[njdevil]

thanks Jay...hope third year is going well.

 

[rehab_sports_dr]

Any suggestions for what makes for a good PM+R club for medical students? If you design the perfect student group, what would you want? What kind of attending involvement would you want?

 

[Taus]

thanks Jay...hope third year is going well.

We don't have an official club here, but I had 2 residents from a local program (including njdevil...thanks again btw) come speak at a Sports Med club meeting. They did a great job and there was definitely some interest sparked in PM&R.

 

[Taus]

Any suggestions for what makes for a good PM+R club for medical students? If you design the perfect student group, what would you want? What kind of attending involvement would you want?

Having good free food meeting is usually the #1 determinant of a good student group.

On a serious note, besides giving informational talks about the field, students really seem to appreciate candid advice from residents and attendings on what they can do to help make themselves a strong applicant for their desired specialty. Specific advice regarding elective rotations, the match, the application process, etc is all very valuable info and even more so when it is tailored to a specific specialty.

Beyond that, and especially for PM&R, I think that doing an interactive case presentation w/ the group would really allow for students to view how Physiatrists approach a case. Until I spent a significant amount of time at a medical student externship in PM&R this past summer, I couldn't really grasp the concept of exactly what Physiatrists do and how the interaction works w/ the other healthcare personel on the team. Even in the outpatient/msk setting, I think many medical students can't really picture what goes on in caring for MSK issues b/w the lines of PT-->pills-->surgery. Another option could be to host somewhat of a clinic helping the students w/ their neuro/musculoskeletal exam skills. Getting exposure to that in the pre-clinical years and getting tips/critiques from some experienced folks could be pretty helpful (ie beyond the "by the book" exam skills taught in most pre-clinical physical exam classes)

 

[fozzy40]

Reason why I posted this was because I am trying to help the underclassman start a PM&R club at our school. We just had a meeting this past weekend and we are trying brainstorm for the year. Clubs that offer a specific skill workshop always seem to draw attention, in my opinion. When I was president of our sports med club, I had 3M come in and sponsor a free casting workshop which was a hit! So, maybe we could sponsor a neuro exam workshop or something along those lines...any other ideas?

 

[Karaoke]

How about something related to sports medicine? Bring in a star athlete from
a college or professional team as a special guest, along with their PM&R doc,
and they can talk about their experience rehabilitating. I would attend that.

 

[JEB4]

My school has one. I agree that free food and workshops were usually the best attended. Specifically, we had a reflex testing workshop where several residents came in to help. It started with basic science background and then we broke into groups and practiced. We were also able to buy reflex hammers to give to everyone....I'm sure that drew some people in as well. The other two things we did every year were: brachial plexus review before the upper extremity anatomy exam (an attending came in to help with that) and a Q&A session about what physiatry is. We got four or five attendings (including the residency program director) to come in, give an overview of the field, and then open it up to questions. I got pretty good feedback on that. I also like the idea of working through a case because I agree that most people have a hard time understanding what a physiatrist does all day, even if they understand the philosophy of the specialty. Hope that helps.

 

[fozzy40]

Definitely, we would have some case studies to work through.

What do you guys think about showing "Murderball" as a fundraiser? I've seen the movie and absolutely loved it. I thought the movie did a good job of showing each athlete's "struggle." Perhaps it would get some wheels churning...

 

[Taus]

Definitely, we would have some case studies to work through.

What do you guys think about showing "Murderball" as a fundraiser? I've seen the movie and absolutely loved it. I thought the movie did a good job of showing each athlete's "struggle." Perhaps it would get some wheels churning...

To be honest I think fundraisers that don't physically give the donors something (be it a t-shirt or a cookie..) don't seem to attract that much interest among students. While it is an awesome movie, I think it might be better for a club activity w/ food then for a fundraiser.