Radiology elective - is 4 weeks too much?

[IlianaSedai]

There's a 6 week gap in November-December of my MS3 year, during which I was not assigned any core clerkships. I am currently signed up during this time to take 4 weeks of radiology and 2 weeks of anesthesia.

But... even people who are applying to rads residencies think 4 weeks in radiology elective will get really long and boring. I would like to learn to read images a LOT better than I do now (heh, right now I just read the dictations and that's it), but I don't want to be bored out of my mind. Should I cut two weeks off radiology and add them onto the anaesthesia elective?

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[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

There is so much variety in radiology, that you should not get bored in a 4 week rotation. Be sure to see a wide variety of imaging. Chest radiology, GI radiology (abdominal x-rays), abdominal CT, and neuroradiology are some topics most medical students should be exposed to at some point. The main reason that some students don't enjoy their rotation is because there are no prescribed duties for med students in radiology. We do not treat you as scut monkeys.

 

[Al Pacino]

I have to respectfully disagree with Whisker's post; a 4 week rotation in radiology can be excruciatingly long. The goals of a radiology rotation is twofold: one is to gain an appreciation of the field; the other, recommendations.

Some might argue that a rads rotation is similar to identical suitcases: they are all the same size, but some people can pack more into them than others. Radiology is arotation where priorities run to watching an attending dictate films over getting to do things yourself, to sitting in the dark over getting out in the floors, to being comfortable over pushing youself.

The boredom of the rotation and the exhaustion of sitting like a trained monkey can cripple one's soul unless you have something within you that can sustain you.

The best rotations are like the herbs in special vinegars-- thyme and basil, rosemary and garlic, hot pepper and chive-- that float in beautifully deisgned bottles.

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

I would hope that part of the reason for the rotation wouuld be to learn how to do a basic interpretation of chest x-rays and abdominal imaging. Due to the lack of required radiology rotations and inadequate education in the field at many schools, most clinical residents are terribly ignorant when it comes to even basic chest x-ray or abdominal x-ray interpretation.

 

[Seaglass]

We do not treat you as scut monkeys.

At my school we had to load the alternators. Now we have PACS of course.

 

[Seaglass]

More to the point - I took a month of radiology and I really liked it. I spent a lot of time in ultrasound and Peds radiology learning films and abdominal CT. It was definitely helpful to my future practice of EM and helped me to know what info the radiologists need to avoid that "clinical correlation required" on the dictation.

C