What order should I choose for my rotations?

[Ceveelg]

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I need help deciding which order I should do my 3rd year rotations in (I'm currently finishing up 2nd year). My school allows us to choose, and I've heard that quite a few people end up getting their first choice.

Anyway, we have 6 rotations. 2 are long rotations (10 wks. each, IM and Surgery) and 4 are short rotations (6 wks. each, Family Medicine, OB/GYN, Peds, and Psych). I have two big choices to make:

1. Most importantly, do I do the shorts or longs first? I was thinking of doing shorts first, so I don't have IM and Surgery until the end when I'm more used to the rotation process, because apparently these are the most important to honor. On the other hand, I've also heard that IM is important for basically every other rotation, so it might make sense to try to do it early.

2. After I decide about whether to do shorts/longs first, what order should I actually do the individual rotations in? IM before Surgery, or vice versa? And how about for the shorts, any preferences for the order of these (I think OB might be a tough one to start with, so I was thinking of doing psych or peds first)?

Maybe I shouldn't even worry about this, but I would be really interested in everyone's opinions. Thanks!

 

[scube]

I am in the exact same boat.(do you go to school with me, my location should give it away) I tried to get my surgery last. I like surgery and have a feeling I need something to look forward to . Another consideration. If you put surg first or last you may actually see the sun. and at least at our school psych gets done early so it being first will give you good weather when get off early.

 

[BigRedBeta]

In the grand scheme of things it doesn't really matter.

If you have an idea of what specialty you'd like to do, I think it's a bad idea to put that field first or last. Bad to put it first, because even though the expectations are low, you're still going to suck and you won't be used to shelf exams, etc. Bad to put it last because on the off chance you end up hating it, you don't know that until the very end of third year and your 4th year schedule is likely already decided which will mean nothing but headaches.

I think most people will agree that medicine is more helpful to surgery than the other way around. I also think most will agree that it sounds like a really bad idea to have medicine and surgery back to back if you can avoid it.

Bottom line, the order really doesn't matter that much.

 

[houstoncfh]

It always works out, and most people don't have complaints about their schedule. In addition to what the previous poster said (which I agree with), you could also make an argument for doing surgery first, mostly because the hours are by far the worst. It took my about 2-3 weeks into my surgery rotation before I realized that not everyone else worked 13 hour days before reporting to overnight call in the ED. After that, everything will seem a breeze.

If you're interested in surgery, you might want to wait until after 4th years get their Sub-I's out of the way (probably by mid-fall, definitely after christmas) so they don't hog all the good cases.

 

[Droopy Snoopy]

Is there any way you can slide in say Psych or some other relatively easy 6 wk rotation between IM and surgery? I guess it varies by school, but here at least doing those two two back-to-back would make for a pretty rough 5 months.

 

[Clemson Doc]

My advice is to do the hardest stuff at the start of the year and leave easier things for the end of the year. Starting out, you're excited about being a third year, have more energy, etc. So go ahead and do surgery, OB-GYN, internal medicine, family medicine, etc. and get them out of the way.

The only exception to the above is the specialty you are leaning toward doing. For example, I want to do medicine, so I purposely saved it for the rotation immediately following winter break. The logic there is that I would be well-rested and somewhat refreshed after the winter break, have some experience under my belt in order to shine, but not be so far along in the year that I would be tired and/or have "you're almost a fourth-year" expectations placed on me.

I did surgery, OB-GYN, family medicine, and pediatrics prior to the winter break, then did internal medicine, and have done psychiatry since. This has been a nice progression from:

stuff I know I don't want to do and just want to get over with --> specialty of choice --> easy stuff

If you have any elective time, save those rotations for the end of the year too. The first 2/3 of your year will be intense, but you will have so much to look forward to when the end of the year rolls around and you don't have to worry about shelf exams, OSCEs, weekend coverage, etc. By this time of year, you will be tired regardless. So why not be able to enjoy it, relax a bit, start studying for Step 2, etc.?

The above is exactly what I have done, and I am so glad. I hear people talk about dreading upcoming surgery or OB or medicine rotations, and I can smile on the inside knowing that I have 12 weeks of 8-5 days, no call, and no weekends. 🙂