Summer After 1st Year - What to do?

[Guest stevetilley]

Anyone else had this dilemma - I'm in 1st year at Memorial, this summer I've got about 9 weeks off, and don't really know what to do...

 

On one hand, I'd bet that by the time June comes around, I could use a couple of weeks of boozing in the sun! (heck, I could use a week of that right now!) At the same time, however, I'm wondering if I should be doing stuff (i.e. research) that will build my resume for residency/fellowship. The specialties that I currently have in mind are Anes, Cardiology, and Nephrology.

 

Espicially with the predicted shortage of residency positions, I would hate to think that 'wasting' my summer on the beach and at the bars would comprimise my choice of residency come CaRMS time.

 

Any thought/suggestions/sharing of personal experiences with this would be greatly appreciated.

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<threadtitle>clerkship responsibilities</threadtitle>

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<username>Lorae</username>

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<title>clerkship responsibilities</title>

<pagetext>I've been talking to a former student from Western who says that during their clerkship they work as "first call" in the hospital. He says they are called first when anything arises and are expected to be able to independently deal with certain issues (low urine output, etc).

 

That is a huge difference from what I'm used to seeing where (at the university of alberta hospital) an RN cannot take any orders from a student intern - unless a resident is standing directly beside them

 

I'm interested to know what level of responsibility is expected from clerks at each school...

[Guest 007]

I don't know about the other schools, but here's more info on clerkship at Western:

 

pub125.ezboard.com/fpreme...=306.topic

[Guest gucio93]

At Mac, clerks do not take any ward pages while on call - this is the residents responsibility as his/her signature is necessary for an RN to carry out the order (just like in Alberta). The clerks are basically on call for ER consults and they go over their findings with the senior resident or staff once they've completed their assessment. Decisions as to admissions are made at that point. As far as admit orders, clerks are expected to have them done if they are reasonably sure the patient will be admitted and these are co-signed after being reviewed.

[Guest Ian Wong]

At UBC, clerks are first call for all ward issues except things like codes (because med students obviously aren't the ones carrying the code pager). In practice, clerks are able to order diagnostic tests and medications as long as they sign their orders as being discussed with a resident/fellow/attending. It's a grey area as to whether you really need to ask your resident for permission to get a urine dipstick or a Tylenol order, but the assumption is that as a medical student you are going to be on a relatively short leash until your resident is confident that you know your limits.

 

As an aside, I did a visiting elective at the U of A hospital a couple years back (beautiful place it is!), and all of my written orders needed a resident co-signature before they would be put through. Of course, the med student can always write everything out in advance to save paperwork time for the resident.

 

Ian

[Guest UWOMED2005]

Considering it's 1:10 am in the morning and I just had to clarify an order for paxil, I can affirm the following:

 

a) UWO clerks are first call for most services, in particular Medicine and Surgery.

 

Yes, being on call does mean you might have to still be up at 1:10am. . . or 3:10 am. . . or 5:10 am (I might have to do the latter as I'm waiting for a patient's ativan to wear off so I can interview them.)

 

c) UWO clerks are allowed to sign orders "as per Dr. X" and they will be put into place. Technically you are supposed to discuss every order with your resident, but most residents will tell most clerks if they wake them up at 5:10am for a tylenol order they will quite literally kill them.