Supervisors

[gotrumpet]

Hi Andrew,

I have a couple questions for you.

During electives, what should we do to impress our supervisors?
You've gone through it, so I was wondering what your opinion was. I've heard work your butt off, or be keen and read up on each day's work.

Also, when should we ask for letters of recommendation, right after the elective or a couple months before the match? If it's after the elective, it'll be a fresh opinion, but then it will also be strange (just my impression) having them write one for something that won't happen tlll 1.5 years later

And so is 3 weeks enough to get to know a supervisor well?

Thanks

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[Andrew_Doan]

Originally posted by gotrumpet

During electives, what should we do to impress our supervisors?


These are the things I did as a medical student and look for when I work with medical students:

1) Work hard.
2) Show enthusiasm for the field.
3) Demonstrate sound fund of knowledge (read up so you can answer questions when pimped).
4) Contribute to patient care when possible, i.e. help in ordering imaging studies, request to work-up patients, and be helpful when possible.
5) Show compassion.
6) If going to the OR, then read up on the procedure and anatomy.
7) Ask questions about your patients. (ideally interesting ones)
8) Be punctual.
9) Be professional.


Also, when should we ask for letters of recommendation, right after the elective or a couple months before the match?

The best time to ask for letters is right after the rotation. If I finished a rotation in a field that I thought I might pursue later, then I requested the supervisor to write me a favorable letter of recommendation and placed it into my file. When I was ready to apply, I asked the author if he/she would kindly update the letter with my current CV before sending it.


And so is 3 weeks enough to get to know a supervisor well?

Yes, 3 weeks is enough depending on how much contact you had. Some of my 4 week rotations were 1-on-1 interactions in an outpatient clinic setting. These were my best letters.

 

[gotrumpet]

thanks