Scheduling hypothetical for you?

[colforbinMD]

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Hello all! I am faced with a decision that I could use some input on. Suppose for a moment please you were a 4th year medical student who is dead set on EM and have two four week elective blocks to fill. Your choices are the following:
1) Trauma surgery at hospital A which you did one of your 2 EM rotations at and which is one of the sites affiliated with an area EM residency (Big deal for you as you went to a caribean school and EM residencies in your area usually don't take students from these schools for rotations.
2) Ortho surgery at hospital B where you did your surgery core rotation to gain more exposure in fracture managment and repair though you did receive some exposure during your surgical core.
3) Anesthesia at hospital B where you are fairly certain you will get some good practice with intubations and maybe a few LPs

Again you have to pick 2. My thoughts now are probably Trauma surgery due to the chance at getting more face time with the faculty of that local EM residency and then Anesthesia since I have little experience with intubations but do have some experience with splinting/casting and reductions. Any and all thoughts are greatly appreciated. 🙂

 

[roja]

sounds like a good plan.

 

[aliraja]

If you're dead set on doing the trauma rotation, go for it... the face time (probably) can't hurt, especially if the program isn't known for taking caribbean students and you want more exposure.

But after that, IMHO, take it easy... you'll get plenty of tubes and splints come residency and you won't get many other chances to do alternative medicine/sub-saharan ID clinics/or alaskan wilderness medicine as a young wide-eyed medical student who everyone will look after, coddle, and try to teach. After the MD they actually expect you to DO stuff...

 

[Jeff698]

Is the face time with the trauma rotation going to come before Feb 23 when program lists are due? If not, it isn't going to help you match there.

Not that that's a reason not to do it, of course. I'm doing anesthesia right now and am having a blast. I usually leave early after a tube or two. Not a bad day's "work".

Take care,
Jeff

 

[colforbinMD]

Aliraja, Interesting thought about going abroad for a rotation but personal obligations coupled with how difficult I imagine it would be to set up with my school make me shy away from it.
Jeff
I am on an off schedule in compared to US grads as I started in January. As such I will not be done in time to match this year and have scatered a few weeks here and there between rotations so as to fill this year out till approx. November. From Nov. on I will have to find a way to occupy my time between then and July of next year. So hopefully if I schedule that trauma in July or Aug. that face time will come in handy come interview season. Glad you are enjoying gas and thanks for weighing in.