Whoa... isn't that sort of a lot?QUOTE]
Yeah, I guess double shot and I did a ton of away rotations. We definitely wanted to do at least 2 EM rotations and since there is not an EM residency at UTMB, we wanted to do them all away. I wanted to do as much EM as possible and we were required to do a senior EM core rotation, an acting internship in whatever field we wanted, and some electives. I scheduled the Dallas rotation as my core EM, Louisville EM as my "elective," and Sacramento EM as my acting internship. When I saw that there was an EM ultrasound elective, I thought that would be a good elective that was related to EM and I could get credit for it since it was different from the other EM "elective" I scheduled.
In Dallas, I was very happy with the number of procedures I got to do. We did 12 12hr shifts from 7 to 7 (evenly split btwn days&nights and split btwn "medicine" and "surgery" sides). I went to a tox grand rounds and couple of tox morning rounds which were really good. The student rotation directors were great about offering to write SLORs. I asked other faculty for letters also. We stayed at my friend's apt so I don't know much about assistance with housing.
While double shot rotated in the pedi EM rotation at Louisville, I did the regular adult EM rotation at the University Hospital ED. They definitely allowed students to do a lot with the frequent traumas that come in which was my favorite part. The 8hr shifts on weekdays are from 8a-4p, 4p-12a, and 12a-8a (although I think I may be a little off since they had some overlap btwn shifts). Sat and Sun had 12 hr shifts from 8 to 8. We did 12 8hr shifts and 4 12hr shifts which was a total of 144 hrs (the same total as Dallas). I enjoyed the journal club which was at a faculty member's home. The PD offered to write me a SLOR so I was glad to let him do it. The student rotation director had mentioned on the first day that he would be happy to write a SLOR but I didn't work many shifts with him. We stayed at double shot's aunt/uncle's house so I don't know about whether they help with housing there either.
UC-Davis had 4 sections to their ED and we rotated through all of them (acute, pedi, subacute, fast track). I signed up for the "Acting Internship in EM" and double shot did the core EM there. The only difference was that those doing the AI had a few more shifts scheduled and we didn't have to show up to certain lectures (although there were only four that I could remember... 3 were the first day following orientation so I stayed anyway and the other was later on which I also decided to go to). I can't remember how many shifts I did, but it wasn't too bad but perhaps more than the previous two? Anyway, I found the pedi shifts to be very important for me b/c Dallas and Louisville have separate children's hospitals which have their own ED's so I did not get to treat kids during those rotations (although I could have asked to do a shift or 2 there had I thought about it). Also, most of us probably prefer trauma bays to the fast track, I got to learn more about rashes and other minor things that will prove useful. We only did 2 fast track shifts (10 or 12 hrs shifts I think), maybe 4 pedi shifts (I think those were 8 hr shifts), and several acute and subacute shifts (12 hr shifts?). The rotation director was a really cool guy (and all the chicks were in love w/ him) and he offered to write everyone a SLOR using a composite of the evals from the various faculty you worked with. They had an extensive housing list that we used, and we ended up living 2 blocks away for $350 that month with a really nice nurse.
UC-Irvine ultrasound is a nice laid back rotation with a high yield of learning. There is some good path that you will get to see. When things are slow, you can always scan somebody for educational purposes and there are plenty of pts with abdominal pain or vaginal bleeding and after a few days, you feel confident knowing what normal looks like and how to handle the probe and the various features of the machine. Every Friday afternoon you hang out with Fox and the fellow to review the scans from that week. They are good about pointing out things so that you start hearing them in your head the next time you scan so that you look for certain things or don't make the same mistakes. You just schedule some shifts with Dr. Fox and he's cool about letting you have days off for interviews and stuff. We had ultrasound journal club at Dr. Fox's house and had a journal club for the EM dept at the PD's house. They had a shorter list of housing available and the 2 people I called asked for $900 that month so I was fortunate to have a cousin who lived 30 mins away. There were some long commutes but I found that it was okay since I wasn't really exhausted after shifts (as compared to the usual EM core rotations).
Yeah, we did a ton of away rotations, but it was a lot fun. I mentioned all the major points but I put all my thoughts at
http://geocities.com/andy_kahn_em/MS4.html
We learned a lot, made friends around the country, and it was a good way of seeing new places while rotating out there (pics at
http://www.geocities.com/andykahn/MS4.html)
Good luck on where ever you end up doing your externships!
-ak