Unique rotation schedule. Advice appreciated =)

[downtherabbithole]

Hello everyone! I wanted to get some input as I am doing a slightly different rotation schedule for my M3. I will be doing all rotations at the same time instead of a dedicated 6 weeks (Mondays = psych, Tuesday = Peds, ect...) so no matter what order I decide to take my shelf exams, my clinical experience will be the same. At the end of every 12 weeks I will be taking 2 shelf exams in two consecutive days. My question is what two shelf exams would you recommend taking first? I want the easiest ones first so Im thinking psych, but what else would you recommend? I've ob/gyn is among the easier ones, but would neuro make more sense to study if im doing psych at the same time anyways?

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[GUH]

That's pretty interesting. How does overnight call work for you then?
Also, which shelf exams do you have to take? Different schools have different requirements.
I agree that it makes sense to take Neuro with Psych though.

 

[Unico]

IM + surgery (crazy hard, but read stipulation below)
ObGyn + Peds
Psych + neuro

The surgery shelf is 40 to 60% internal med. Suck it up and do that first if possible because ...

ObGyn is part surgery (for the OB portion). Gyn is easy if your a women.

My psych shelf had 4 questions on neurotransmitters, which was not covered in UWorld, OME, or UWorld. Would have been useful to have the neuro in there.

Good luck!

One last thing -- unless you're interested in that specialty (which all of them might be interesting at the time), make sure to focus on the shelf. Residents and attendings will pimp you on stuff that you're not expected to know for the shelf, so don't get into a tizzy trying to people please. Focus on you and the shelves.

 

[Ismet]

That setup sounds horrible, what's the reasoning/appeal? Sounds like you'd actually have less continuity than doing one specialty all at once.

My med school puts neuro and psych in the same block, they pair well together.

I agree with the above, doing IM and surgery together. It will suck as they're both difficult shelf exams, but the surgery shelf is basically the IM shelf so you'll kill 2 birds with one stone.

OB/Gyn and neuro were definitely the easiest shelf exams. Psych wasn't too bad either but I took it before neuro and I wish it had been the other way around.

Family medicine last. It incorporates info from IM, surgery, peds, and OB/Gyn.

 

[downtherabbithole]

That's pretty interesting. How does overnight call work for you then?
Also, which shelf exams do you have to take? Different schools have different requirements.
I agree that it makes sense to take Neuro with Psych though.

Im not terribly sure since im starting in one week. Just wanted to know what resources I should look into getting first.

 

[downtherabbithole]

That setup sounds horrible, what's the reasoning/appeal? Sounds like you'd actually have less continuity than doing one specialty all at once.

My med school puts neuro and psych in the same block, they pair well together.

I agree with the above, doing IM and surgery together. It will suck as they're both difficult shelf exams, but the surgery shelf is basically the IM shelf so you'll kill 2 birds with one stone.

OB/Gyn and neuro were definitely the easiest shelf exams. Psych wasn't too bad either but I took it before neuro and I wish it had been the other way around.

Family medicine last. It incorporates info from IM, surgery, peds, and OB/Gyn.

Theres more to it than just the set up obviously. I only described the part of my program that is relevant to my question. The part of the reasoning is to get a better idea of what the patient process is through the whole process is instead of just focusing on one specialty for a little bit at a time. I get to know the patients better personally and that kinda thing tends to stick in my mind a little bit better. But thanks for the advice!

 

[byaaaaaaah23]

How do you get to know the patients better if you switch services literally every day?

 

[wholeheartedly]

A nearby state school does something like this for interested students, both for those intereted in rural or metro/underserved. I actually thought it sounded pretty neat when I read about it (first link) though it seems the logistics would get tricky.

https://www.med.umn.edu/news-events/medical-bulletin/valuable-lessons

https://www.med.umn.edu/md-students/rural-physician-associate-program-rpap/about

https://www.med.umn.edu/md-students/metropolitan-physician-associate-program-metropap

 

[MediCane2006]

Hello everyone! I wanted to get some input as I am doing a slightly different rotation schedule for my M3. I will be doing all rotations at the same time instead of a dedicated 6 weeks (Mondays = psych, Tuesday = Peds, ect...) so no matter what order I decide to take my shelf exams, my clinical experience will be the same. At the end of every 12 weeks I will be taking 2 shelf exams in two consecutive days. My question is what two shelf exams would you recommend taking first? I want the easiest ones first so Im thinking psych, but what else would you recommend? I've ob/gyn is among the easier ones, but would neuro make more sense to study if im doing psych at the same time anyways?

This sounds horrible. How are you supposed to get any patient continuity? Or study the core concepts for each rotation?

I guess I would start with obgyn or psych, but definitely take IM and surgery together as others have said. Peds was a pretty tough one, maybe do that with Family toward the end of the year?

 

[Gastrapathy]

I hope you wanted this because it seems like a terrible idea to me.

 

[Jabbed]

The only way this sounds reasonable is as a pathway for those specifically interested in family medicine. Even then, it's gonna be hella tough getting your reading schedule in.

 

[BeddingfieldMD]

Interesting. Was unaware that my alma mater is offering this at the VA. Thanks for the links!

Agree with the general advice regarding the shelf exams as above. Medicine and surgery are virtually the same exams--and the most difficult. Take them together, I'd advise. Either get them out of the way or save them for last. As I recall, OBGYN and Peds were the next most difficult. Then neuro: lots of long question stems and "find the lesion" questions. Psychiatry is the easiest, but it also is kind of its own exam and definitely requires knowing a lot about psych-specific conditions, drugs, and drug side effects.

 

[evilbooyaa]

Honestly, I wouldn't start out with IM and Surgery like others are saying. They're the hardest shelf exams and the most important for their respective fields. Figure out what fields you KNOW you don't want to do, and do those shelf exams first. First shelf exam is frequently a kick in the teeth to the level of difficulty and depth of question asking.

I would recommend neuro and psych together. Psych is relatively straightforward (as long as FA for psych is still the bible). Then, I'd pair Ob/Gyn and Peds if possible. I do agree that whenever you take IM you should just take Surgery as well, just making sure to cover all the relevant surgery topics that aren't in IM. I do recommend ending with FM; I did, and despite me studying the least, I had a bunch of knowledge from the rest of MS3 that helped get the best score out of all of my shelf exams.

I would recommend psych and neuro together, and take them first as long as you're confident you're not going to go into either of those specialties.

 

[Unico]

Honestly, I wouldn't start out with IM and Surgery like others are saying. They're the hardest shelf exams and the most important for their respective fields.

^this. When I said IM/surgery together I did not mean to imply to take those two first, but I can see how listing them first in the list would be misleading. Do them last and closest to your board date (CK or COMLEX).



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