What is expected of visiting medical students?

Depends on what part of PM&R you'll be doing.

Inpt - CVA - causes, prevention, acute treatment, brain functional anatomy.
Amputees - skin care, cardiovascular understanding, diabetes management.
TBI - brain anatomy, Rancho scale
SCI - spine anatomy, pathways, ASIA scale, dermatomes, myotomes

Outpt - muscles, innervations, joint anatomy, sports med stuff.
EMG - nerves and muscles

Find out who you'll be with, what they do and we can tailor it more for you.

 

Thanks a lot for the advice...much appreciated

I've got 3 months of PM&R coming up (SCI, MSK and TBI)....have mostly been trying to hammer home my anatomy and read some of the basic chapters in Secrets

 

Another thing that is important of visiting medical students that may be as important in PM&R as your knowledge base as a medical student is your personality. As most of us will tell you, most Physiatrists are laid back and have pretty chill personalities. Don't go into your rotation trying to show off, we're pretty good at spotting that. Ask questions, show your interest, work hard, and build your knowledge base as the rotation goes on. Treat the staff with respect b/c we definitely rely on the nurses and therapists so a good relationship is helpful.

Taus, doing an SCI, TBI, and MSK rotation will definitely give you a good idea about what Physiatrists do.

Good Luck.

 

Completely agree with the above. Get into the "team approach" mentality. Try to solidify your neuro and your musculoskeletal anatomy knowledge. The physical exam skills you will be taught (or should be) during your rotation. Show enthusiasm and interest, but don't overdo it. Fair game, in my opinion, to ask your attendings what made them attracted to PM&R. It may give you some additional perspective, and perhaps provide you with an answer when you are inevitably asked this on residency interviews.

Oh - and bring us coffee.

 

No offense, MSK, but speaking as a brain injury attending physician, I would not expect my medical students to know the Rancho Scale. (Candidly, I think the Rancho is a piece of trivia-info with use perpetuated by nurse case-managers and clinicians who know little about brain injury. It purports to provide a simple schema for staging cognitive-behavioral recovery after TBI, but does so poorly. I know of it, don't use it, and discourage others from using it too. Nevertheless, its use is likely to persist, at least for a while, since those who do not to like it [mostly brain injury professionals] are far outnumbered by individuals who haven't used it enough to share the dislike.)

I do agree that it is helpful to know some brain anatomy, to know the difference between the specific types of brain disorders (SDH vs. ICH vs. SAH vs HIE vs TBI vs Tumor), and the types of complications (dvt, sz, HC, etc.) one might see in each of these. I would also quickly add, however, that I don't EXPECT the medical student to know these things, particularly at the beginning of the rotation. I like the medical students to show interest, be knowledgeable about the patients they are assigned to work with (patient history, current exam/lab findings, pending medical issues), read about their patients/patient diagnoses, and try to understand the roles of the different team members as we work together to achieve varied functional goals for a remarkably heterogenous patient population, particularly my role (the physiatrist). If they can get an idea about these concepts (the forest) by the time the rotation is over, they are likely to have learned a lot.

 

To be honest, I didn't know diddly-squat when I
did my PMR rotations as a student. Now as a
resident, I don't really expect students to know
any more than the basics they learned in the
first two years of med school. Anatomy.
Pathophysiology. Pharmacology. Biochemistry.
Actually, I expect them to know biochem way
better than me ... I can't remember that at *all*.
Did I really pass that class?

Here's my personal advice on impressing during
your PMR rotations (and this is in order):

1. Look interested. The more excited your
resident or attending gets about a particular
topic, the more excited you should look too.
This is a niche field, and we want to see that
you fit in this niche.

2. Be nice. The more residents/nurses/clerks
who comment on how nice you are, the more
points you score and the more memorable you
become. Make friends with everyone. It pays.
Most of us are very nice and/or chill, so show
us that you fit in.

3. But be hard-working. Know your own patients
inside out (I guess that applies to every rotation),
and read up on whatever pathologies they have
so you're ready when you're pimped. I mean ...
*if* you're pimped. Heh. Offer to make phone
calls, look up labs, take out staples, whatever.
Make it so your resident feels like they don't
have to worry about the patients they gave you.
We all want dependable colleagues, so show us
how dependable you are. Don't be late.

4. Know the stuff you're supposed to know. Know
your anatomy and physiology, your pathology and
your pharmacology. I'm more impressed by a
student who knows the differential diagnosis for
CHF than a student who can recite the ASIA scale.
If you don't know a rehab-related topic, I don't
really mind. I'm happy to teach it to you.

So there you go.

 

Show-up,
On time,
Dressed to play.

 

short and to the point