Starting 3rd yr with elective... WHAT SHOULD I DO?

[NightSwim]

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4 weeks of electives and then medicine. The elective time can be split into 2 weeks of 2. I would appreciate advice on what rotation to choose. Pretend like I could do any specialty outside of the core ones I'll be doing anyway. I realize this decision will primary be based on my interests. Should I consider doing an IM subspeciality to help prepare for medicine? Things I'm considering:
- Rads (zero career interest, but I figure it might be useful??)
- Anesthesiology (haven't much exposure)
- GI (some interest)

 

[turkeyjerky]

I would go for gas and rads.

 

[partydoc]

4 weeks of electives and then medicine. The elective time can be split into 2 weeks of 2. I would appreciate advice on what rotation to choose. Pretend like I could do any specialty outside of the core ones I'll be doing anyway. I realize this decision will primary be based on my interests. Should I consider doing an IM subspeciality to help prepare for medicine? Things I'm considering:
- Rads (zero career interest, but I figure it might be useful??)
- Anesthesiology (haven't much exposure)
- GI (some interest)

What do you think you want to go into? Do something you think you might have an interest in but won't get to do during your 3rd yr, like gas/rads, or if you're interested in surgery maybe urology/ent. I would do 2 weeks just so you can get exposure to more fields.

If you are thinking IM, cards and gi are probably the most helpful.

 

[jcu]

I would go for gas and rads.

This .

 

[cabinbuilder]

I would not do GI as the first rotation. GI you have to know tons of medicine and you WILL be doing tons of rectal exams.

I would do derm as a first rotation, the hours are good, you should get some surgery skills, derm covers all fields (everyone has skin, right) and its nice to know some basic derm since they are impossible to get into so the rest of us end up treating it anyway.

I wish I had been able to get into a derm rotation, but it was really popular.

Pathology is a nice early rotation too, learning disease and histology, good hours.

 

[Bacchus]

I'd do anesthesia. It might spark an interest. It did for me but I fell away from it. You get comfortable with some pharmacology, get patient exposure and learn good skills like IVs and intubations. Its a fun rotation with a lot of hands on. Don't act like an idiot or uninterested and you'll probably get to do some cool things.

 

[DocEspana]

Gas or rads. Is really recommend rads because you will be a superstar on nearly every other rotation with some real rads experience. It cannot be stated enough how impressive rads knowledge is on the wards.

Gas is always available though, so its a choice too.

 

[FSU2013]

Do a combination of the following:
1 - something you may be interested in, but won't not see until 4th year (derm, ophtho, radonc, whatever)
2 - something that will help all other rotations - I have yet to be pimped on some mundane radiology finding that I didn't pick up from the first two years. I would go with something like cards, pulm/critical care, some general medicine rotation (in or out pt)
3 - something that has a lot of time off where you can spend time at the beach (or skiing, or whatever your free time activity of choice is) - easy rotations are school dependent, so talk to the upperclassmen. usually derm, ophtho, path, radiology are pretty laid back.

 

[NightSwim]

Thanks for all the input guys!