Advice wanted related to department to work in as RN while waiting for med school acceptance

[ceelbe]

Hey! I currently work in a great hospital as an RN on a surgical floor, caring for pre/post-op patients with GI/GU/Gyne/Oncology diagnoses. I'm going to be applying to medical school in fall 2021 (for entrance 2022), so I have some time to change up where I'm working to get more exposure to other units and different cases. I don't know for sure what my interest would be in terms of a specialty but at the moment I am most interested in emergency and OBGYN. 

Do you think I would benefit from changing to the ER in the meantime, or even the case room to get some experience for OB, or would that be too limiting? Currently on my unit where I work, I see gyne onc cases and therefore care for patients who underwent TAHSBO, have ovarian cancer, etc. But I don't get any experience with OB or emergent type cases, other than when our patients become unstable/code. 

Would these experiences help me in clerkship/CaRMS/residency? Should I stick with my unit as I get to see a lot in terms of general surgery and stuff? I have 3 kids and therefore don't have much time for extra curriculars other than sports, so I really want to make my application stand out as much as possible with my clinical experiences through nursing, that's why I'm putting so much thought into it. Also wondering if, since I'm hoping to go to med school and residency in my home town, having a strong network within my hospital may somehow benefit me in the long run for CaRMS?

Looking for any advice, thanks

[1D7]

I wouldn't bother changing floors/specialties for the sake of medicine.

Interviews: I doubt nursing experience in one area vs another will be more valuable than another for medical school adcoms unless there was some personal/deep underlying reason to it. It might help a tiny bit for residency interviews if you can talk up your nursing experiences... but that 3-5 minute spiel is probably the extent that it could be useful for residency interviews.

Networking: It's unlikely you're going to meet with the PD of the residency program. Even if you make it a goal to do so, in the time you meet anyone and interview for residency, that's going to be ~4 years. The PD may have changed by then  and most residents you've met have graduated. Even some of the nurses you work alongside may be gone by then. It's a longshot that it would be helpful here.

Clinical: It might be a bit useful in terms of knowing common medications in that specialty while you are in clerkship or shared procedures between medicine & nursing. I know sometimes pharmacy->medicine students look pretty sharp when they know everything about the medications we want to give. I doubt it will be helpful for residency and beyond.

In all the situations where it could be a bit helpful, that assumes you end up pursuing the specialty you work in.

[AllyOOP94]

I think specialty will probably become more clear in med school so I wouldn't worry too much just yet. 

[rmorelan]

On 8/19/2020 at 12:53 PM, RN_to_MD said:

Hey! I currently work in a great hospital as an RN on a surgical floor, caring for pre/post-op patients with GI/GU/Gyne/Oncology diagnoses. I'm going to be applying to medical school in fall 2021 (for entrance 2022), so I have some time to change up where I'm working to get more exposure to other units and different cases. I don't know for sure what my interest would be in terms of a specialty but at the moment I am most interested in emergency and OBGYN. 

Do you think I would benefit from changing to the ER in the meantime, or even the case room to get some experience for OB, or would that be too limiting? Currently on my unit where I work, I see gyne onc cases and therefore care for patients who underwent TAHSBO, have ovarian cancer, etc. But I don't get any experience with OB or emergent type cases, other than when our patients become unstable/code. 

Would these experiences help me in clerkship/CaRMS/residency? Should I stick with my unit as I get to see a lot in terms of general surgery and stuff? I have 3 kids and therefore don't have much time for extra curriculars other than sports, so I really want to make my application stand out as much as possible with my clinical experiences through nursing, that's why I'm putting so much thought into it. Also wondering if, since I'm hoping to go to med school and residency in my home town, having a strong network within my hospital may somehow benefit me in the long run for CaRMS?

Looking for any advice, thanks

Hey - hope your journey goes well and good luck in the future. 

I wouldn't worry much about expanding your medical experience from the amazing amount you already have - it will already be an ECs that very few would have. I would frame it another way - you are going to want an amazing letter of reference from people at your work  - which probably would be aided if you are at least for a good part of your time in one place so that person would both know you very well, and have a pool of experiences to draw from to provide examples. Basically this ECs is already so good I would make sure the rest of the application is as good as it can be. 

Once you get into medical school you will have literally years to figure out exactly what you want to do and you will already will be in a great position to do observerships then with your background and figure everything out.