Paid during rotations?

[Guest katwoman2003]

One of my friends got paid for doing rotations as a med student at UBC (although minimal, it's still something). Do U of C students get paid? K.

[Guest dddd]

There is a bit of info on this under the "Rotations, Electives, and Exams (Med 3 and 4)" link of the main forums page. It looks like we'll get something at U of C.

 

Our 3rd year tuition is also reduced ($7788 instead of $12788 like the first two years), unless they factored in the clerkship stipend here.

 

 

p084.ezboard.com/fpremed1...D=44.topic

[Guest katwoman2003]

Thank you so much for the link. The question I have then, how come U of C students don't get first call? I know some R1 in Calgary complained that U of C students should have increased responsibilities to help with learning. I know that UBC students get first call during their fourth year. Wouldn't letting the fourth year students get first call ease their comfort level in decision making when they hit R1?

 

K

[Guest Ian Wong]

Actually, we do first call for third year at UBC. In fourth year, it's entirely dependant on where you do your electives as to whether you are first call or not (so theoretically at UBC, you could be first call for upwards of 1.5 years prior to starting residency; there's little clinical duties in the second half of Med 4 at UBC). I think it's a huge advantage to get through this part of the learning curve as early as possible (and it's an easier transition to do this as a med student vs as an R1, since the expectations at the med student level are a little lower and you've got more backup around).

 

I would be as aggressive as you can be about being paged for ward calls, ER calls, etc, but your success rate in getting to that point is probably extremely institution-dependant. Another helpful tip is that you should always try to come up with the differential diagnosis and plan for treatment independantly before your resident/staff tells you what they think. Spending the time doing this invariably shows you the gaps in your knowledge base (it's usually a pretty humbling experience!), and tends to make those teaching points stick in your mind for the next time you see a similar set of symptoms in your patients.

 

With all that said, I'm sure that you can and will pick up the necessary skills during residency, and in that sense, it's probably not much different than being a Bio major who gets into med school versus an English major. By graduation, med school should have taught you what you need to know, even if you started off at different experience levels.

 

Ian

[Guest katwoman2003]

Hey thanks for the tips Ian! I heard that anatomy is lacking with U of C, I was wondering if anybody has tips on how to go about studying it on my own...?

 

K

[Guest Kirsteen]

Hi there K,

 

I brought the anatomy rumour up during my UofC interview this year. Both, the medical student and the faculty member noted that cadaver dissection time and other anatomy enrichment activities are freely available to the students. I guess we'll find out soon enough exactly how they're made available!

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Guest marbledust]

There are plenty of opportunities to study as much (or as little) anatomy as you wish here at Calgary, so don't worry

 

The option of dissecting is available, however very few people actually exercise this option. I don't think anybody I personally know who has completed the Calgary program in the past few years who has done so - and this includes matches to gen surg and radiology.

 

Last year at this time I was gung ho about it and thought I would make the effort to get together a group to dissect. I rather quickly changed my mind once classes began :lol

[Guest katwoman2003]

I definitely want to dissect because where else would you get an opportunity right? Do we have to arrange it with a faculty member on our own initiative?

 

K

[Guest phantom8]

Here in Calgary it's officially the case that residents are first call, not clinical clerks. Even if you specifically ask to be made first call, I've found that it often doesn't happen -- since clerks aren't allowed to give orders, the resident still needs to be contacted eventually. Basically if you want to be sure of being in on the action, you have to be physically present the whole time -- a tiring proposition indeed!