What To Talk About While On An Anesthesia Elective

[fugacity]

Hi All,

 

I have a question regarding what to do in the OR.  A bit about myself, I am a 3rd year student aiming for anesthesia and I am doing anesthesia electives.  However, so often I run out of things to talk about.  There's the typical what drew you to anesthesia, how this patient's PMHX affects anesthesia etc.  But so many times I run out of questions and there's a moment of silence, and the staff pulls his phone out and we are pretty much done for the rest of the day.  It isn't good for my learning, it for sure isn't good to get a reference letter this way.

 

What are some good things to ask about in the OR?  How do I sound smart when I ask questions?  I know these seem like basic questions that MS3's should know, but I am not the most eloquent med student.

 

Any help would be appreciated!

 

 

Best,

 

fugacity

[LittleDaisy]

Lol I am not aiming for anesthsia myself.

Having done general surgery and obs & gyn, basically, if you run out of theoretical questions to ask your stuff. You could always chat with them, I meant past time hobbies and your favorite T.V shows...If you want to look motivated, you could always observe the surgery and ask some questions regarding the surgery to your anesthesia stuff. DON'T ANNOY THE SURGEONS AND SPEAK SOFTLY, OTHERWISE YOU WILL GET SHOUTED AT!

Also, I haven't done anesthesia yet, but I find that the anesthesists are very approchable, very kind and great sense of humour.

After all, it is a great speciality with good hours and nice income as a stuff.

If your personality doesn't fit with the stuff and if they look tired, I think that it is better to not ask too many questions and rather focussing on the patient's vital signs or obseve the surgery. Everyone could have a tiring day, especially after a 24 hour call in obstetrics. 

Hi All,

 

I have a question regarding what to do in the OR.  A bit about myself, I am a 3rd year student aiming for anesthesia and I am doing anesthesia electives.  However, so often I run out of things to talk about.  There's the typical what drew you to anesthesia, how this patient's PMHX affects anesthesia etc.  But so many times I run out of questions and there's a moment of silence, and the staff pulls his phone out and we are pretty much done for the rest of the day.  It isn't good for my learning, it for sure isn't good to get a reference letter this way.

 

What are some good things to ask about in the OR?  How do I sound smart when I ask questions?  I know these seem like basic questions that MS3's should know, but I am not the most eloquent med student.

 

Any help would be appreciated!

 

 

Best,

 

fugacity

[Bambi]

https://www.med.uottawa.ca/anesthesia/assets/documents/ugme/anesthesia_manual-accessible.pdf

 

www.pnwu.edu/files/9914/4546/7402/ANESTHESIOLOGY_SURG_703_ELECTIVE_ROTATION_SYLLABUS_SURG_703.pdf​

 

www.tulaneanesthesiology.com/web/data/documents/090711%20ClinAnesClerkship%20AnesPrimer.pdf

[hkmedic]

Hi All,

 

I have a question regarding what to do in the OR.  A bit about myself, I am a 3rd year student aiming for anesthesia and I am doing anesthesia electives.  However, so often I run out of things to talk about.  There's the typical what drew you to anesthesia, how this patient's PMHX affects anesthesia etc.  But so many times I run out of questions and there's a moment of silence, and the staff pulls his phone out and we are pretty much done for the rest of the day.  It isn't good for my learning, it for sure isn't good to get a reference letter this way.

 

What are some good things to ask about in the OR?  How do I sound smart when I ask questions?  I know these seem like basic questions that MS3's should know, but I am not the most eloquent med student.

 

Any help would be appreciated!

 

 

Best,

 

fugacity

 

Come prepared to the OR. Read around common anesthesia topics like vent settings, hypoxemia, oxygenation/ventilation, airway management, etc. Then when they ask you what do you want to talk about, you tell them about a topic you had already read (but of course you don't tell them that you had read about it already), then when they start teaching / asking you questions about it, you sound like a superstar...