COVID-19 Impact on Electives and Clerkships

[bellejolie]

mcgill is until may 4th (for now), and it seems most quebec schools have the same date (for now). 

[Snowmen]

Sherbrooke really outdoing themselves again. They've decided to base their criteria for wether or not 4th years would have to do their last elective (originally planned for may) on the result of ONE written exam done last september that covered all specialties of clerkship even though every student hadn't completed rotations in 2 (sometimes even 3) of the 5 "base" specialties (IM/Surgery/Psych/Ob-Gyn/Peds). Also, half the students had to prepare an additional PHPM exam which adds to how unrepresentative that exam was. They've completely discarded practical rotations outside of a requirement to have had a pass. They've also completely discarded everyother exam result.

That rotation will have to be completed as soon as the current situation allows it.

Ridiculous.

(Remember, we have grades so it's not just a matter of passing that exam, which everyone did)

[medaesthetics95]

On 3/28/2020 at 10:56 AM, bellejolie said:

mcgill is until may 4th (for now), and it seems most quebec schools have the same date (for now). 

fingers crossed that it all subsides by then!!

[VivaColombia]

4 minutes ago, medaesthetics95 said:

fingers crossed that it all subsides by then!!

Looks like things are going to be shut down till July...I wouldn't bank on things getting normalish by May

[X Æ A-12]

Schools are cancelling early August visiting electives. I wonder if fall visiting electives will even happen. The impact? I feel like students will match to their home institutions more than ever before with electives being restricted to home programs (imagine spending 8 weeks doing ophthalmology or something at your home school)

[divinecomedy]

U of T has cancelled all visiting electives up to September 25th. Looks like they don't anticipate this being over for a long time. I honestly think away electives will play less of a role in this upcoming cycle. They can't penalize students for not having as many (or any) away electives or else they're not going to have many students to choose from. Everyone's in the same boat here.

[LittleDaisy]

For anyone who is interested: https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2020/04/02/some-canadian-medical-residents-on-pandemic-front-lines-now-but-exams-to-become-licensed-doctors-in-limbo.html?fbclid=IwAR3P98-1TwGvctUy0AB1TObc8kxbTXjNoN6gK1rUk39gXzYhl4XjPql1M0s

Canada works backwards in terms of licensing its final year Canadian residents to work in the front line during the pandemic, specifically Ontario and Manitoba who give restricted license which require supervision. 

[divinecomedy]

In addition to Toronto, UBC has cancelled all electives until September 27th and Western until August 23rd. Looks like fall electives are effectively cancelled.

[X Æ A-12]

12 minutes ago, divinecomedy said:

In addition to Toronto, UBC has cancelled all electives until September 27th and Western until August 23rd. Looks like fall electives are effectively cancelled.

Autumn 2020 in Northern Hemisphere will begin on Tuesday, September 22 and ends on Monday, December 21

[divinecomedy]

What is the cut-off date for pre-CaRMS electives?

[X Æ A-12]

Ottawa has cancelled all electives that were confirmed on AFMC (somewhere within 26 weeks of when all hell broke loose). McMaster early August 2 week block electives are in jeopardy. 

[X Æ A-12]

1 minute ago, divinecomedy said:

What is the cut-off date for pre-CaRMS electives?

Letters of reference are due on 25 November 2020. How long beforehand, at the end of your rotation, should you ask your preceptor to give them ample notice? 2 weeks? 4 weeks? 

Sometime mid=November is how I think of it

[divinecomedy]

Keep in mind though that we need to make up for lost core time through July, August, and September, leaving only October and part of November for away rotations. Some institutions will likely reserve spots for their own students (I know my school is doing this). It's possible that quite a few medical students won't have any away rotations at all.

[Snowmen]

7 minutes ago, swoman said:

Letters of reference are due on 25 November 2020. How long beforehand, at the end of your rotation, should you ask your preceptor to give them ample notice? 2 weeks? 4 weeks? 

Sometime mid=November is how I think of it

One attending wrote me a letter a week before the deadline but they were the ones offering it. I wouldn't ask for one less than 2 weeks before and ideally 4 weeks or so.

[X Æ A-12]

4 minutes ago, Snowmen said:

One attending wrote me a letter a week before the deadline but they were the ones offering it. I wouldn't ask for one less than 2 weeks before and ideally 4 weeks or so.

By this timeline, students have from end of September to beginning of October (i.e. 6 weeks?) for visiting electives that can produce letters. So much for the 8 week cap giving everyone an opportunity to explore eh

[frenchpress]

11 minutes ago, swoman said:

By this timeline, students have from end of September to beginning of October (i.e. 6 weeks?) for visiting electives that can produce letters. So much for the 8 week cap giving everyone an opportunity to explore eh

If it goes on that long I think the deadline is going to have to be pushed back, don’t you think? There’s precedent from SARS and that was a much shorter time period than we’re looking at AND limited to Ontario.

[whatisgoingon]

19 minutes ago, divinecomedy said:

Keep in mind though that we need to make up for lost core time through July, August, and September, leaving only October and part of November for away rotations. Some institutions will likely reserve spots for their own students (I know my school is doing this). It's possible that quite a few medical students won't have any away rotations at all.

1. I don't think the timeline re: makeup of lost core has been determined yet. It's not yet clear which elective periods will be cancelled or moved around as far as I know. Have you been given different information?

2. Has your school officially communicated to your class that they will be prioritizing their own re: electives? This makes sense of course, but I wasn't aware that there had been any official communication to that effect. Are you in Ontario?

[Haribo7173]

Just received an email stating that Sherbrooke clerkship is suspended until June citing the 2 following reasons:

1) the presence of COVID-19 units in several clinical sites and 2) the almost non-existent clinical exposure in ambulatory settings or other elective practices.

The email said that the other 3 Quebec universities have come to a similar decision as well. 

 

[divinecomedy]

Visiting Electives suspended until September 26, 2020

Visiting electives are suspended until September 26, 2020. Currently, students are unable to submit applications on the AFMC Student Portal. No decision has been made on when the portal will re-open. It will reopen 16 weeks before visiting electives are offered by the faculties. We understand the concern these disruptions may cause, and we ask that students regularly check the AFMC Student Portal for updates as they become available.

[bellejolie]

Just some updates I’ve heard through the grapevine - CaRMS will absolutely be postponed (I’ve heard january for start date but it may even be later to help students maximize exposure to electives), visiting electives still on the table for fall, all schools prioritizing core rotations first. CaRMS will be virtual interviews most likely, and the whole process is getting squished into half the time (again to maximize electives, so this means shorter length of time for file review, interviews, etc). However WHO came out today and said the worst is yet to come. So who knows. McGill extended our absence until May 31st for now. No clue if June 1 start date will be possible. 

[omentum]

Looks like CARMS is delayed until February/March based on: https://med.uottawa.ca/family/news/departmental-updates-april-2020

CaRMS 2021 – delay: CaRMS 2021 has been tentatively moved to February/March 2021 (instead of the usual December/January) – final determination to be made.

[Haribo7173]

Sherbrooke seems determined to get us back in action for the end of May.

We will have more information next week.

[divinecomedy]

2 hours ago, omentum said:

Looks like CARMS is delayed until February/March based on: https://med.uottawa.ca/family/news/departmental-updates-april-2020

CaRMS 2021 – delay: CaRMS 2021 has been tentatively moved to February/March 2021 (instead of the usual December/January) – final determination to be made.

Sounds like CaRMS will be open for programs to review at the end of January then?

[omentum]

18 hours ago, divinecomedy said:

Sounds like CaRMS will be open for programs to review at the end of January then?

Sounds like it.

[ToxicMegacolon]

Update from UBC. There is s tentative plan to get us back on July 6th for the rest of our core rotation and then we will start electives in September. Electives will run from Sept to end of Jan.

I'm really curious what is going on im the other schools and how the number/distribution of electives is changing for you