U of Washington elective

[stuckinmemphis]

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Hey all-

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I'm applying for a 2 week elective at University of Washington this Fall (would love 4 weeks, but my home school schedule doesn't sync up). The following are my options:
Neonatology, Endocrinology, Developmental disabilities, Genetics, Heme/Onc, Cardiology

Anyone know of a particularly strong attending/service there? I'm interested in everything so I could be swayed to do any of the above. Any advice is appreciated! 🙂

 

[twilightdoc]

I'm applying for a 2 week elective at University of Washington this Fall (would love 4 weeks, but my home school schedule doesn't sync up). The following are my options: Neonatology, Endocrinology, Developmental disabilities, Genetics, Heme/Onc, Cardiology. Anyone know of a particularly strong attending/service there? I'm interested in everything so I could be swayed to do any of the above. Any advice is appreciated! 🙂

U. of Washington has an excellent Pediatrics department, and I would expect that any of those would give you a good experience. Having said that, I would caution you against doing a 2 week inpatient away elective (in this case, neonatology). It is too difficult to familiarize yourself with the hospital, computer system, etc. and still have time left to perform at your best. Remember that most residency programs spend a week or two orienting their new house staff, and you would be jumping in with virtually no orientation. So I think that an elective that is primarily outpatient and consult-based would be a safer investment of your time.

 

[settingshadow]

Hey all-

Long time lurker, first time poster.

I'm applying for a 2 week elective at University of Washington this Fall (would love 4 weeks, but my home school schedule doesn't sync up). The following are my options:
Neonatology, Endocrinology, Developmental disabilities, Genetics, Heme/Onc, Cardiology

Anyone know of a particularly strong attending/service there? I'm interested in everything so I could be swayed to do any of the above. Any advice is appreciated! 🙂

UW has a very good national reputation for their Genetics department. They are especially known for work in ethics. I haven't work with them personally, so I can't comment on the details of how the service is run.

I did my away elective in Genetics (I'm entering a combined peds/genetics residency) and here are some things I'd keep in mind when choosing Genetics as the specialty to do an away elective in:

Pros
-Lots of time to read
-Can usually contribute to the team by reading in the evening on cases you saw during the day & therefore look really smart
-Good mix of consults & inpatient exposure at most places
-The particular attendings at UW have a reputation for being great teachers
-Usually, attendings are really understanding about how esoteric genetics can be and are mostly looking for you to take a good history, a good physical and show intellectual curiosity. In my experience, if you're great at these three things, genetics attendings will notice.
-Med students are rare in genetics, so if you're fantastic, you're attending will pull for you that much more than if they'd precepted 100 fantastic externs.

Cons
-It's really hard to prepare in advance for Genetics clinic. You can read about Trisomy 21, NF1 & 2, Craniosynostoses and whatever your attending specializes in, but at the end of the day, almost every day, a kid is going to walk in and you're going to have no clue what they have. It makes it hard to look smart and looking smart is what an away rotation is all about.
-It's not just the diagnoses that are esoteric -- the dysmorphology exam is unusual, and may not be something you've gotten a lot of in med school. Attendings will not expect you to notice every detail, but the most angry attending I have ever seen was a geneticist after a trainee simply stated that the patient was "dysmorphic looking." You are expected to tell them HOW the patient is dysmorphic looking.

 

[stuckinmemphis]

Thanks for the responses. I think genetics is so intriguing. I'm glad to know they have a strong department. I think I will go for that one if I can get it.

Thanks again!