Second Look

[EBKame]

I'm planning on doing second looks at all of my top four programs in the next couple of weeks. I want to get a better feel for the resident-attending interactions, see how sign offs are run, and what the patients are like. My question is how long should you generally stay in the ED to allow for enough time to observe this, but not get in the way of people. Are you expected to observe silently in a corner or should you sit near the attending and ask questions. Will you ever see patients and be expected to present? Thanks!

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[crewmaster1]

I think it varies. At Cinci I have seen people generally come down to the ED for anything from a couple of hours to a full 8-12 hrs. They generally don't see patients, but will hang out with the different residents, ask more questions, watch traumas, talk with the attendings, etc.

 

[pdiddy4EM]

I'm planning on doing second looks at all of my top four programs in the next couple of weeks. I want to get a better feel for the resident-attending interactions, see how sign offs are run, and what the patients are like. My question is how long should you generally stay in the ED to allow for enough time to observe this, but not get in the way of people. Are you expected to observe silently in a corner or should you sit near the attending and ask questions. Will you ever see patients and be expected to present? Thanks!

You plan on doing 4 second looks? I thought you should do one or maybe two or am i completely wrong. Some residents were like you should do it at your top choice if you can, but if you start going to a few then it may be negative. I could definitely do 4 which would help distinguish out the top 4 on the ROL.

 

[lucky_deadman]

Will you ever see patients and be expected to present? Thanks!

No. You are not covered by insurance (either health or malpractice). So you should not be allowed to see patients. If you do, you might want to rethink that program if they are that wreckless with your future.

 

[EBKame]

I agree four sounds like a lot of second looks, but this is the next three to four years of your life. Also, I've had a series of great interviews and I can't imagine discerning one program from the next without actually seeing what their ED is like outside of the well orchestrated interview day.
I actually did my first second look today and I saw patients with a couple of the residents/attendings, got a chance to ask some followup questions, and got a better sense of how the interns are coping with some of their first ED shifts. Overall I don't think it changed how I would rank the program because my first impression was pretty accurate, but at least I can rest assured that I am making an informed decision.

 

[Snelgrave]

I don't see a problem with 4 second looks. Why would the other programs know if you do other second looks unless you tell them? I plan to do 3 second looks. At the very least, it will increase the chances of landing one of your top programs. A couple of my interviews are clearly backups, and I am doing everything I can to match my top half.