What is needed to ACE an elective and have the attending say WOW ?

[ayanjoe]

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Hi everyone,

I will be doing visiting electives at some med schools (mainly I.M) , and I need advice from you on how to ace the electives and impress the attendings !

Additionally, what is needed to impress attendings at top tier hospitals like Mayo and Cleveland Clinic?

Any thoughts !

 

[fakin' the funk]

Attendings aren't the type of people who say "WOW."

I would recommend not having an ALL-CAPS type of attitude.

Hmm, maybe I just coined a new phrase! 🙄

 

[domer621]

Just don't act like a complete tool like almost every other visiting med student.

 

[AmoryBlaine]

Just don't act like a complete tool like almost every other visiting med student.

Agreed. Be cool, helpful, and funny.

 

[Blade28]

If you did great on your home rotations, just keep it up.

 

[Ypo.]

I have no idea. It would give me a split personality to figure out how to win the admiration of every attending I work with. Today is a perfect example. The attending this morning tells me that he thinks I could be "more compassionate" to the patients (I can only assume this is due to the fibromyalgia patient I saw last Friday who was coming in for sinus congestion-he thought I should have been doing counseling rather than trying to rule out sinusitis.😕. Ironically, I was trying to not completely disbelieve everything she said -something I have seen other people do with fibromyalgia patients.) Then a different attending I have this afternoon tells me he hopes I'll choose to go into his specialty and offers to write a letter of recommendation for me for residency applications.

Three rules:
1) Show up on time
2) look enthused (which can be exhausting if you are in reality bored by the subject matter)
3) Read up on your patients, especially questions the attending pimps you on.

And even then, there are no guarantees.

I've heard it said that away rotations at places you really want to do residency at are a gamble. If it goes well, it will be helpful, but if not then you may have been better off before.

 

[BlackNDecker]

Attendings at major academic centers have seen every type of personality/med student under the sun. Think of people you meet that make you say "WOW." Generally, this would be someone with an outgoing personality, eclectic interests, and not overly impressed with him/herself. World traveling makes for great conversations...though not everyone did this during undergrad, then again that's what makes these individuals unique.

If all else fails, wear a gold bracelet...

 

[Doowai]

Three rules:
1) Show up on time
2) look enthused (which can be exhausting if you are in reality bored by the subject matter)
3) Read up on your patients, especially questions the attending pimps you on.

And even then, there are no guarantees.

I've heard it said that away rotations at places you really want to do residency at are a gamble. If it goes well, it will be helpful, but if not then you may have been better off before.

Very good rules, but in my opinion I would say:
1) Show up early
2) prove you are actually enthused by writing some research papers on the specialty. I did this in every rotation I did - it helped me get ALOT of very strong LOR's (which help my poor USMLE's) and I have given copies of one or two to PD's during interview time and they have said they were impressed by doing extra work. Most of my papers have been 3-6 pages in length. Many of my LOR's mention specifically the extra literature searches I did during rotations.
3) Don't talk about yourself. Ask your attending questions about themselves and their specialty. Don't act interesting , act interested.

 

[Ypo.]

Very good rules, but in my opinion I would say:
1) Show up early

Yeah, you're right.

 

[Ypo.]

2) prove you are actually enthused by writing some research papers on the specialty. I did this in every rotation I did - it helped me get ALOT of very strong LOR's (which help my poor USMLE's) and I have given copies of one or two to PD's during interview time and they have said they were impressed by doing extra work. Most of my papers have been 3-6 pages in length. Many of my LOR's mention specifically the extra literature searches I did during rotations.

I have no idea how you managed to do this, but I don't think it's realistic for most of us.

 

[lord_jeebus]

Same as is needed to ACE a core clerkship at your own school.

 

[ayanjoe]

Thanks everyone, but first of all you should know that I am a foreign medical student and I know that attendings almost never say "WOW" or even say "that's impressive" in front of you.

Anyways, my plan is to do the following:

1- Be the first one to arrive to the hospital and the last one to go home.

2- Be interested and enthused by the specialty.

3- Offer to stay on call with my supervising resident (if he/she is willing to let me do so).

4- Know when my patients last peed and when was the last time they ate jello.

4- Do 1-2 presentations during the electives (preferrably at the end of week 2 and/or 4).

5- Do research papers (at least one during every elective) and here I am a bit confused, what are those papers going to be about? Should I review patients' data base and come up with something? or just dig on a subject and prepare a paper about it?

6- Smile at all times, and agree with everything the attending says !

Doing the above really helped me ace my rotations back home, but is this going to do the same in the U.S ?

 

[treasurefull2]

Thanks everyone, but first of all you should know that I am a foreign medical student and I know that attendings almost never say "WOW" or even say "that's impressive" in front of you.

Anyways, my plan is to do the following:

1- Be the first one to arrive to the hospital and the last one to go home.

2- Be interested and enthused by the specialty.

3- Offer to stay on call with my supervising resident (if he/she is willing to let me do so).

4- Know when my patients last peed and when was the last time they ate jello.

4- Do 1-2 presentations during the electives (preferrably at the end of week 2 and/or 4).

5- Do research papers (at least one during every elective) and here I am a bit confused, what are those papers going to be about? Should I review patients' data base and come up with something? or just dig on a subject and prepare a paper about it?

6- Smile at all times, and agree with everything the attending says !

Doing the above really helped me ace my rotations back home, but is this going to do the same in the U.S ?

NO, OF COURSE NOT, this is AMERICA. Things are different here!

 

[LuckyBambooGirl]

About doing extra research papers--isn't that just showing off that you are reading? I wouldn't do it...