I have two more rotations before I am done with medical school. I think this would be a good time to write a comprehensive review of my clinical experience at SGU. Here it goes.
T minus a few months to day ONE: I was beginning to think about where I would want to go. Other students began to talk about their preferences. There wasn't much information about the different rotation sites and Dr. Weitzman's lecture was not helpful. I decided that I wanted to spend as much time with my family in Florida as possible so, I chose the NY/FL route. I made sure all my paperwork was done, took my step 1 in June, got my results by July and got my placement 1 WEEK before the rotations began. I had to move from Florida to NY which involved buying an expensive ticket, seeing which of my friends would be in the same hospital, and finding short term housing - the most difficult task of them all - within 3-4 business days. Changing my placement after the fact was impossible especially since they tell you to "not pursue the matter any further."
Day One of SURGERY- I still didn't have a place to live, I was in a motel and renting a car. Day one was thankfully only an orientation day. I saw a number of familiar faces and felt much more at ease. I got my living situation sorted out. Day two - I find out I am on call that day. I was scared poopless. The hospital seemed enormous. I had no clue where I was going. People used terms that I had never heard. I did my rotation at Lutheran Medical Center. We came in at 5.30 am and stayed until 3pm. In the beginning, I hated the rotation, hated waking up this early everyday, hated having to scrub in to surgeries, pretty much felt nervous all the time. Towards the end of the rotation, I didn't want to move on to a different rotation. I completely loved it. The hours were good, we got food money, on-call rooms were nice, the residents were pretty cool, most of the attendings were great (except for Holtkamp). You get plenty of OR experience and at the same time can back out of doing surgeries. I understand things have changed now and students get much more study time because there are too many students to have the all in the hospital at the same time. All in all, good rotation.
PSYCH: Queens hospital. Dr. Mukherjee and Dr. Rahman. Awesome rotation. Low stress. You see a 1-2 patients, take all day to write notes, discuss stuff, round with the attending (30 mins for the entire floor), attend different lectures everyday for a few hours and hten go home at 3pm unless told to return by your attending. You meet with Dr. Rahman every week and she quizzes you on topics. She does mock oral exams which were a lifesaver for the real thing. Learned a lot of psych patients and the work psychiatrists do. Great rotation.
OB/GYN: Queens hospital. I hated this rotation and couldn't wait to be done with it. I did as little as possible without being delinquent or derelict of duty. I loved the clinic and gynecology but couldn't handle the birthing process, specifically, the crowning. It always put a grimace on my face. There were many opportunities to learn but I didn't take advantage of them because honestly I wasn't interested. The call schedule (24 hours) was decided on by students so you got what you wanted - pick Thursdays. There is an ATU where you can sleep if nothing is going on. You have to ask the residents for the keys. The residents didn't wake me up a few nights even though my patients delivered/had C-sections while I was snoring. Most of the residents were really helpful and chill but some were the prototypical nasty biaches. I would name names if I remembered. Most of the attendings are cool. Dr. Fuks, Dr. Seaman are nice. Avoid Rothschild like the HIV. Suzzane, one of the PAs you will work with in the clinic is really nice and she will steer you away from Rothchild. The nurses in L&D are criminal. They demanded all the students introduce themselves to all the nurses on the floor and greet them each morning - they weren't kidding. That department has had numerous problems with students in the past and recently; it may not be available for any more rotations - it was pretty hostile.
IM: Cleveland Clinic - this was the promised land. I had heard that I would come out knowing a lot. Again I hated the rotation while I was going through it. I was always tired but then I was always on call over the weekends and 3 out of the eight weekends of my floor duty I spent the entire weekend in the hospital. I was exhausted and didn't have time to study on my own. having said that, you get 3-4 hours of didactics. We had to follow our residents schedule and I got screwed over. most of the other students did not and when we tried to change our schedule, we were basically told to man up. I got a really smart but really demanding resident - Randall Schwartz. I sucked at presenting histories and collecting the minute details of each patient's medical record. Randall pointed out all my shortcomings. Although he was really nice and helpful and was always willing to teach, I hated having to work with him because he didn't miss a thing. This rotation and my interaction with Randall helped me decide IM wasn't for me. If you are interested in IM, 4th year here is great and they take a lot of IMGs.
Pediatrics: Miami Childrens Hospital: awesomeness. Incredible rotation. Do as many rotations as you can.
Few lines for each of my electives:
FM at Doctors Hospital of Michigan: 90hr work week. Difficult in-patient rotation of 2 weeks. Have to pay for your own food now.
Radiology at Monmouth: I gunned my buns off. You rotate through each sub-specialty. 7 am to 5pm for me. If you are not gunning then you get to leave around noon.
Radiology at JCMC: I gunned again. But other students who didn't care literally showed up for 30 mintues a day to talk to the attending after going through a few studies on their own.
GI at JCMC: Good rotation. Chill residents. Nice hospital. Attendings teach well. Mixed patient population.
EM at JCMC: Dr. Cespedes is pretty rude. Try to work with other attendings if you can who are all very, very nice. I would see and manage 2-4 patients per day but honestly no one would notice if you did 1 patient a day.
Geriatrics at JCMC: Got off on the wrong foot with the Dr. Reisner because I had to attend interviews. She remained pissed off at me throughout the rotation. I didn't learn anything but it was a pretty chill rotation - would have been better if I wasn't being chewed out on a weekly basis.
Pulmonary at Danbury Hospital: some of the best teaching I have ever received. I know more pulmonary than some of the residents. this is the first time I have been complemented on my clinical skills. excellent teaching. They do charge $1600 for housing and food which burns a serious hole in my budget.
Medicine Sub-I at Danbury Hospital: residents are pretty nice. 3-4 patients and you are expected to do everything. Resident relies on your assessment and plan, you put in orders, you do everything for the patient. Great teaching.
I was told there was a lot of travel involved and you would be on your own for 4th year. Indeed, that was the truth. Went to two different hospitals in New York and two different hospitals in Florida. I had to look for housing at each place and each time it cost me time and money.
No comments:
Post a Comment