qszwdxefc Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 I was reading a thread regarding clerkship electives and someone mentioned that it would be wise to select a few electives with limited spots as they may be harder to get during residency. This got me thinking... how do residency electives differ from clerkship electives? Is it still done through the AFMC student portal? Is the selection process different? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Residency programs often include a certain amount of elective time, which may be designated as rotations of interest within one's own department, or rotations in other fields related to one's home specialty (hence the term 'off-service'). The off-service rotations that are part of your program generally happen locally, and are arranged at the PGME level. There may be agreements between programs about how many off-service residents they can accommodate. Away electives are possible too, but would be arranged on your own. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 Residency programs often include a certain amount of elective time, which may be designated as rotations of interest within one's own department, or rotations in other fields related to one's home specialty (hence the term 'off-service'). The off-service rotations that are part of your program generally happen locally, and are arranged at the PGME level. There may be agreements between programs about how many off-service residents they can accommodate. Away electives are possible too, but would be arranged on your own. and you wouldn't want to do those prior to residency - I mean part of the point of the electives is to potentially impress at some place you want to work, gain experience in something you will do a fellowship or work in later, networking....etc. Totally different sort of elective from what you would be doing during clerkship (where you probably also trying to impress but more for getting a residency position.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 I wonder if the poster is referring to things like dermatology or ophthalmology electives. Not sure how difficult those are for family medicine residents to get. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qszwdxefc Posted January 27, 2016 Author Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 I wonder if the poster is referring to things like dermatology or ophthalmology electives. Not sure how difficult those are for family medicine residents to get. Yes a post referring to this is what got me thinking about the topic! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katakari Posted January 27, 2016 Report Share Posted January 27, 2016 I have also heard derm, ophtho, ent etc. are harder to get as an FM resident. Although that was only a post through this forum. I did an ophtho elective after reading that, although I really enjoy ophtho and wanted to learn more about it anyway. I also did it in a city a few hours away just for the hell of seeing somewhere new. If you're applying FM, and you have FM electives already, why not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lactic Folly Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 Ha, this is probably where I read it too. Though it would stand to reason, as such programs are quite small and I cannot imagine how they would be able to accommodate the sheer number of family medicine residents at a given school (presumably all of whom would find the elective quite useful) in addition to their own residents and medical students - not to mention that not every university has a derm program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ploughboy Posted January 28, 2016 Report Share Posted January 28, 2016 This got me thinking... how do residency electives differ from clerkship electives? Is it still done through the AFMC student portal? Is the selection process different? Like many things in residency, it depends on the discipline and the program. A lot of my electives have been booked by writing an email to somebody I know or who my mentors have connected me with, saying: "Hey dude, can I do an elective with you?" Usual reply: "Ya sure, love to have you, man". It may be different in other fields... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sangria Posted June 8, 2020 Report Share Posted June 8, 2020 Sorry for the bump, but are there electives/rotations that people wished they had done/had more exposure to in FM residency? I have an elective coming up soon after residency starts, and I'm not really sure what to expect at this point. I have no interest in a +1 at this point. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MD2015:) Posted July 12, 2020 Report Share Posted July 12, 2020 On 6/8/2020 at 7:54 AM, sangria said: Sorry for the bump, but are there electives/rotations that people wished they had done/had more exposure to in FM residency? I have an elective coming up soon after residency starts, and I'm not really sure what to expect at this point. I have no interest in a +1 at this point. Thanks. My friends found derm and optho to be useful. They also found electives in their areas of interest useful (IM for hospitalist, addictions medicine, etc) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms_Sunshine Posted July 17, 2020 Report Share Posted July 17, 2020 Depending on your program, you may have a lot or very few electives. I would say use a couple of electives to supplement your learning, save one for doing something that interests you (and see if your program will let you "split" a block, i.e. I did a split block between derm and plastics; doing a split ENT/Ophthalm would also be a good idea). And if you want to join a practice straight out of residency, considering using an elective in second year as a "job finding" elective to try out a practice or location. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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