Taking a year off and traveling internationally good idea for EM?

[JBlue]

I am new to this forum though I read it often. I am a third year medical student interested in EM and am thinking very strongly about taking next year 'off' so to speak and spending it in several spanish speaking countries doing medical spanish programs and then clincal electives. Would there be any downsides to this from a residency application perspective? I would finish a year late but I am hoping to be fluent (or at least very proficient) in spanish when I return. Would it be necessary to account for that year more by doing research or is clinical work enough? This would mark a huge life upheavel for my husband and I (quitting his job, cashing in on the equity in our house) and I am wondering if I am crazy for even thinking about it. So, I am trying to make sure that at least from a residency perspective it won't matter or may even help my application (the rest of my application so far is fine...no research but good Step 1 scores, and grades to date). Thanks for any advice or comments!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[beyond all hope]

Certainly could be considered worthwhile, especially if you sign up for some volunteer work along the way. Not everything has to be research or in the hospital, and I think EM docs realize this.

As a guy who will likely be on the admissions committee this year, I can say for myself that I like to hear about diverse backgrounds. It could definately work in your favor if you spin it right.

Realize that you will need to come back to the U.S. during interview season between October and January. Don't think you'll just be able to fly back for interviews: it's more involved than that. Also will have to do paperwork between April and June: training licensure and hospital priviledges and whatnot.

Also realize that you're still very early on in your training and during your year off you'll forget a lot of your four years of med school.

 

[BKN]

Realize that you will need to come back to the U.S. during interview season between October and January. Don't think you'll just be able to fly back for interviews: it's more involved than that. Also will have to do paperwork between April and June: training licensure and hospital priviledges and whatnot.

I think she was talking about between ms3 and ms4, thus won't have to worry about interviews and licensure.

JBlue, at my place additional maturing experiences are positives on an app. I don't think your plan would be any worse than neutral at any program.

If your Hubby and you can swing this, I think it would be an experience you'd always treasure. Extended travel becomes much harder after residency and during practice.

 

[JBlue]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I am getting EXCITED!!! I know this will be a postive thing if we can manage to pull it all together. Someone made a good comment about doing my EM elective/away rotation before I left and I think I will try to do that so that my skills aren't too rusty. Should I take Step II before I leave as well? I did well on Step 1 (>240) and was a little bit worried about doing worse on Step II. So, originally I was going to wait until Nov. or so of my last year to take it. Any thoughts on this?
BKN, I was kind of thinking that travel after residency and during practice would be harder so it is good to have it confirmed by someone who is actually in that position. Now all we have to do is sell our house before the bubble bursts, find a temporary home for our dog and convince my in-laws that we aren't crazy!

 

[BKN]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I am getting EXCITED!!! I know this will be a postive thing if we can manage to pull it all together. Someone made a good comment about doing my EM elective/away rotation before I left and I think I will try to do that so that my skills aren't too rusty. Should I take Step II before I leave as well? I did well on Step 1 (>240) and was a little bit worried about doing worse on Step II. So, originally I was going to wait until Nov. or so of my last year to take it. Any thoughts on this?
BKN, I was kind of thinking that travel after residency and during practice would be harder so it is good to have it confirmed by someone who is actually in that position. Now all we have to do is sell our house before the bubble bursts, find a temporary home for our dog and convince my in-laws that we aren't crazy!

Well, you're fresh on step 2 material at the end of year 3. Why not delay your trip for 1 month, study up, take the test and go?

 

[turtle md]

I took a year btw 3rd and 4th year for similar reasons, although I didn't limit myself to Spanish speaking countries - I wanted to get a feel for other health care systems around the world. It was at the least a conversation piece for most of my interviews. There might have been a few programs that didn't offer me an interview for this reason (I will never know), but then again, if they aren't cool w/ my choice, then I don't think I would have been happy at their program. If you can swing it, do it! For your own sake, it will be an experience to remember...

 

[JBlue]

Turtle,MD, how did you arrange your clinical experiences while abroad? My school has no real programs in place and I have just been looking on the internet at different electives and medical spanish programs. Did you arrange everything through your school or by yourself?

 

[medicality]

I took a year off from med school to work overseas and it was an amazing experience. In fact, it was so great that I am now in the midst of my second year off and again working abroad with medical development projects. I consulted my advisors from my own school and a variety of other EM folks before I did this and they unanimously agreed that it was a great opportunity. I accept that my nontraditional route through med school may not be appealing to all residencies, but, like Turtle, I wouldn't want to end up at a program that didn't appreciate the value of these experiences.

That said, I have also seen a few fellow students take a year for "international experiences" that did not really have much to show for their time at the end of it. If you want to make the most of your time, thoroughly research and plan your activities for the year. I have also found it helpful to take time to list out my own learning objectives for the year and a few products that I would like to have to show for it-- things like learning a language, completing x number of clinical hours, improving my knowledge of tropical diseases, writing my thoughts on my experiences in a weekly journal, writing up five interesting cases, writing a brief comparative paper on the differences in the health care systems of the countries etc.

As for the pre-departure stuff: I would highly recommend both completing your EM rotation and Step 2 before you go. It will be so nice not to have one of these big events to come back to and will make the conclusion of your time abroad much more relaxed!

Best of luck. PM me if you have any questions!

 

[turtle md]

Turtle,MD, how did you arrange your clinical experiences while abroad? My school has no real programs in place and I have just been looking on the internet at different electives and medical spanish programs. Did you arrange everything through your school or by yourself?

I arranged it entirely on my own - mostly via the internet. Took me about 9 months to set up, get the appropriate visas, etc. If you pm me, I can give you a list of the med spanish contacts I made.