Summers/Breaks during OMS-1&2?

[Spectreman]

I've been trying to look at productive things to do during breaks and summers while in DO school. One of the things I see suggested is an "observership" does anyone know what that is? It sounds like shadowing to me. Is that a good move between OMS-1 & 2? Anyone have good suggestions for how to spend breaks in order to be more competitive down the line?

Thanks!


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[Spectreman]

I think I answered my own question. It looks like Observerships basically are shadowing experiences, but for IMG's, or at least it's highly recommended for IMG's.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Research.

 

[samac]

AnatomyGrey is absolutely right. Research is the best thing you can do to be more competitive.
I've never heard of an observership but we were told to stay out of hospitals in situations that weren't university sanctioned because if a law suit is hit we're not covered under their malpractice insurance.

 

[Spectreman]

So I'm at LMU-DCOM in rural TN. I'll be working in the anatomy lab as a TA for the PA school over the summer, but the school doesn't have very good research opportunities. Are their "research programs" you can apply to for just the summer or anything like that?

Similar question, I did an SMP here and part of it was a research design class where we did a proposal and presented a poster, but it was just to the class. Then we did an actual mentored research class where we assist a professor and present results/progress at the end, but again just to a class. It's just studying an atomic variation on the cadavers, like the length of tortuous splenic arteries. Would you claim that in the future as research experience? Nothing was "published" so it just feels kind of weak, but I often wonder how serious the research really is for these ultra-competitive SDN members. I asked faculty about doing my own research and they said it's not realistic to try and do something from scratch on my own. By the time anything got approved I'd be a third year and off to clinicals. I would love insight on this stuff if anyone's available to share.


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[68PGunner]

Anything else other than research is a waste of time.

If you are not doing research, you better travel the world and have fun.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

Research is the only thing that can give you an edge on your residency app, but if you want an edge in general, I'd recommend finishing up any sketchpharm/micro that was not covered in your first year. It will definitely give you a leg up for the rest of courses and step.

 

[IslandStyle808]

So I'm at LMU-DCOM in rural TN. I'll be working in the anatomy lab as a TA for the PA school over the summer, but the school doesn't have very good research opportunities. Are their "research programs" you can apply to for just the summer or anything like that?

Similar question, I did an SMP here and part of it was a research design class where we did a proposal and presented a poster, but it was just to the class. Then we did an actual mentored research class where we assist a professor and present results/progress at the end, but again just to a class. It's just studying an atomic variation on the cadavers, like the length of tortuous splenic arteries. Would you claim that in the future as research experience? Nothing was "published" so it just feels kind of weak, but I often wonder how serious the research really is for these ultra-competitive SDN members. I asked faculty about doing my own research and they said it's not realistic to try and do something from scratch on my own. By the time anything got approved I'd be a third year and off to clinicals. I would love insight on this stuff if anyone's available to share.


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If you want something that is rather quick and doesn't need IRB approval, then I suggest the review article route. You can work at your own pace and hopefully it should be published before you apply for residency ( one year or two at most, but you can still work at your own pace even during clinicals). However, I cannot comment on the speed of getting a publication out in medical school. When I was a pre-medical student it took me a 1 years and 4 months to publish my review article, it would have been faster if the first journal peer reviews weren't as tough (we submitted to a second journal and it was a way more relaxed peer review process). There was one medical student in another thread who finished two review articles in one summer. So I think this is something feasible and I believe you could find someone who will over see the project rather easily (**make sure they know their stuff though and are familiar with publication**).

 

[Spectreman]

That's a great idea, thanks! I've been browsing summer research programs and there are some pretty great opportunities out there. Gonna keep digging.


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[IslandStyle808]

That's a great idea, thanks! I've been browsing summer research programs and there are some pretty great opportunities out there. Gonna keep digging.


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I'm pretty much in the same position. I am trying to find some summer fellowships to do research, but am also starting on a review article this year. However, if the whole research gig fails, I can fall back on the review article. It pretty much like writing a 8-10 page term paper the only difference is that you will have a ton of citations (my previous paper has over 140). Just make sure it is a topic that isn't well documented on.

 

[shadowlightfox]

I'm pretty much in the same position. I am trying to find some summer fellowships to do research, but am also starting on a review article this year. However, if the whole research gig fails, I can fall back on the review article. It pretty much like writing a 8-10 page term paper the only difference is that you will have a ton of citations (my previous paper has over 140). Just make sure it is a topic that isn't well documented on.

How do you start getting into doing review articles?

 

[IslandStyle808]

How do you start getting into doing review articles?

I'll start with what a review article is first. It is basically an analysis of current studies done about a certain topic. So lets say you are interested in pancreatic cancer and wanted to look at recent diagnosis and treatment. So you look up everything about the topic. This can include "what is pancreatic cancer?," "what are the stages and mortality of this cancer?," "has diagnosis and treatment improved within the last 5 years?" Your goal is to add knowledge and thought about a topic to the science community.

Make sure before you start your topic that no one has written an article about it. This is to make sure you are not writing about the same topic and thus just repeating what has already been put into literature. However, the exception to this is if there hasn't been any updates within the last 5 years or more. You want to make sure you are adding in new thoughts and new studies that haven't been analyzed yet to your article.

Before you start writing, you will need to find a mentor who can guide you through the process of writing this article. You need an expert to help guide you in your writing. So if this were pancreatic cancer, try to find an oncologist or someone in a field that has dealt with this particular cancer or has a good amount of knowledge about it (ex. even internal medicine or pediatric doctors are okay). This person will help you in understanding whether the topic idea needs to be changed or further refined.

Once your idea gets the green light by your mentor, you start making an outline of what you are going to write. This will help guide your research and writing. You will go into databases and look into a ton of journal articles. You will take these articles and summarize the main details relevant to your topic. This will take a lot of time, but the best part is that you are not in a lab or hospital and can move at your own pace. Best of all no IRB approval needed!

You will go through tons of drafts, but it will be a happy moment when you are done. For the bibliography, there are programs out there that will help with citation of the articles, such as bookends (its free for 50 citation, but beyond that you will need to pay). If you need such programs, try to ask and see if your mentor can give you access to his or try to see if the school can pay for it.

Sorry I could not condense this more, but I feel the details are important when getting started. However, if you want the whole complete process or have further questions. Feel free to PM me. Hope this helps.