Question about ICM and POM

[White-Tiger]

During ICM and POM, do you continue the regular Mon-Fri schedule or will you also be called to work on weekends?

I ask because I'm thinking about getting a job one day a week during med school to help offset the large amount of debt I will be getting into. And working on a saturday or sunday consistantly would be much better. Will this be possible?

[miss_sunshine]

in ICM, from what I've heard, you get most weekends off. ICM includes a lot of shadowing and preparing for clerkship so what you choose to do with your weekend depends on you and what specialities you are interested in.

POM is another story. Weekends are almost abolished since you are on call at least 2 weekends per month, if not more. medical students aren't part of the contract signed with residents allowing them 2 weekends off per month.

BOM is great. there is tons of time (we had a midterm today and now have the entire weekend off to relax). There is plenty of time in BOM for a job because classes are for the most part optional so you can study the material on your own if you have to miss class to work. From what I've heard about ICM, it's best to concentrate on school then because it's important to read and learn as much as you can during ICM to make clerkship/POM transition easier. A lot of people take up projects during that time to show their interest for a specialty because ICM is the best time for this (you can start a project in the summer after med-1 but it's very likely you wont know what speciality you are interested in until around ICM time). forget about working during POM, it seems there is barely enough time to keep a healthy lifestyle (gym, leisure time..) and maintain relationships with people outside of med school. adding ajob to this, even once a week, will cause more stress than you need.

[master_splinter]

ICM - no weekends, no night call, very occasionally later nights or unpredictable ending hours

 

POM - weekend call on average 2/4 weekends and/or 1 night per week in all rotations except for family med (which you might not be in Montreal anyway).

 

Working in BOM and ICM is realistic, POM far less so/foolish.

 

Not trying to discourage working P/T but remember med school in QC is the cheapest in Can/US. Just consider carefully the trade off btw the bit of extra money you make for 1 d/wk vs free time or other stuff that could be career relevant (research, etc).