Suggestions for fun/useful 4th year electives

[Freddie Mercury]

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Hello,

Current MS3 here, planning out my 4th year electives right now. I have a couple months of Psych electives to begin the year which should get me some LORs, and then my medicine Sub-I right after. Once that's done (along with some off time for Step 2+interviews), I have pretty much the entire year to do whatever electives I want. Was wondering if you guys had some tips on what you thought was useful in your 4th years, what you wished you did/didn't do, fun suggestions etc.

I did want to throw in some fun electives that I probably won't get much exposure to once I'm in residency, like plastic surgery and derm (unless I practice psych in Los Angeles am I right?) Some useful ones as well like an inpatient neuro rotation and neuroradiology. Most of my MS3 clerkships were at suburban hospitals and the VA, so I signed up for an HIV clinic in the inner city for a couple weeks also, to get exposure (hopefully not the needlestick kind) to a patient population I have limited experience with.

 

[chris pe bacon]

My best electives were the electives where I had a lot of time off.... Haha.
Seriously though, I did a PM&R rotation and that was cool. I was able to see a lot of stroke and brain injury patients. It had some neuro, medicine, pain management, and a tad bit of psych mixed in. Totally depends on your potential attending, but it was a neat elective for me.

One of my OB attendings said she did an elective at a fertility clinic and that was cool.

I also talked to an attending that suggested doing an elective with the Medical Examiner in my town. They had chill hours and saw interesting stuff

 

[Armadillos]

There have been some good posts on this in he last 6 months if you search back. I did an EM rotation that I thought was a good review of medschool in general. Try to do a rotation or two in a private practice or hospital, we all get lots of academic experience but not much of the "real world" the majority of docs work in.

 

[heyjack70]

Outpatient Neuro. Especially if you can rotate at a clinic with multiple subspecialists, eg movement disorders, epilepsy, neuromuscular disorders, multiple sclerosis.

 

[Shikima]

TBI clinics with Neuro and PM&R. Very useful...

 

[J ROD]

i would suggest neuro and im wards, em

 

[clausewitz2]

I will be doing a pain management elective, as well as one on hospice. I am sure the first will probably be more useful ultimately, but I spent a good chunk of my IM rotation this year on hospice and really enjoyed myself, so that is more for my own edification.

 

[NickNaylor]

If EM isn't required I would highly recommend it. I've found the rotation to be extremely useful from a learning perspective - great review of just about every rotation given the breadth of what you might see. It's a required rotation for us but I think it's a great way to use a month.

 

[hamstergang]

In my 4th year, I had to do EM, PM&R, and my sub-I (in peds, and one in psych). I also did peds neuro (because I was considering it), developmental peds (because I knew I liked peds neuro and child psych), and neuropathology (figured it was interesting, easy, and almost relevant to psychiatry). I don't regret any of my choices.

 

[DuskPhilosophy]

In my 4th year, I had to do EM, PM&R, and my sub-I (in peds, and one in psych). I also did peds neuro (because I was considering it), developmental peds (because I knew I liked peds neuro and child psych), and neuropathology (figured it was interesting, easy, and almost relevant to psychiatry). I don't regret any of my choices.

Did you end up doing child psych?? Because you're 4th year schedule sounds exactly like mine, but with an added elective in child abuse.

 

[hamstergang]

Did you end up doing child psych?? Because you're 4th year schedule sounds exactly like mine, but with an added elective in child abuse.

Yep, nearing the end of my first year of fellowship now. I don't know how much those electives really matter now, but I enjoyed them at the time, at least.