Formal electives after 1st year?

[doc.in.training]

I've heard some mention of preclerkship electives - how does one set one up? Is there a more formal way than just contacting preceptors yourself to set up observerships/shadowing? Is this "elective" recorded on your med school transcript? Or are people just calling it an "elective" when really it is an observership?

[Satsuma]

I think the difference between preclerkship electives and observerships is just semantics. What one school calls an obervership perhaps another just calls an elective, though I am not sure.

 

Here at Ottawa, we call them electives. There are different requirements in terms of time and responsibility obviously between preclerkship and clerkship electives.

 

Yes, the preclership electives show up on your Dean's letter. We don`t receive a grade but just get written comments from our preceptor.

 

For setting these up...Ottawa gives you a list of elective coordinators when you start med school and you can contact them or you can contact a preceptor directly and opportunities can pop up with your PBL tutor etc.

 

You can also set electives up through NOMEC, ROMP etc. There are people in my class who have spent a good month in the summer doing emerg or surgery.

 

How much you get involved in patient care on these electives really depends on the preceptor, your initiative and how long you are there.

[Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

At UofC our pre-clerkship electives were recorded on our transcript (and Dean's letter) and we also received evaluations for them. Additionally, these electives are counted on the CaRMS applications as electives, not simply as shadowing activities.

 

As with most electives, the school generally leaves it up to you to arrange your time with a preceptor or department of choice. Generally, it's advisable to contact more sought-after specialties sooner.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Satsuma]

Hi there,

 

 

As with most electives, the school generally leaves it up to you to arrange your time with a preceptor or department of choice. Generally, it's advisable to contact more sought-after specialties sooner.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

 

This is good advice...I have been trying to set up an ENT elective since last summer...I am hopeful it will work out soon, but I'm not holding my breath!

[up doc]

I am curious as to how to set up an ent elective. Also where would you look first when trying to find research projects to join?

[Satsuma]

Can't really give you advice on the ENT thing. I don't know what school you are attending, but here at Ottawa arranging and ENT elective has been the worst experience. And it still hasnt`come through for me and I have in essence given up since I am soon to start clerkship.

 

Essentially going through the department coordinator got me nowhere as they just dismissed me as I wasn`t in clerkship yet. I then contacted an ENT that had taught several of our classes directly. He simply forwarded it to the coordinator who got in touch with me asking for availability (so I assumed that meant ok!). I gave her my entire summer less 2 weeks I was out of country and it seems she couldn`t accomodate me. She would just keep saying she would get back in touch "soon" and never really does...until I send her reminder emails...it's now been a couple of months since I last heard back and after sending reminder emails every few weeks for months and months I have given up! (on both the elective but on ENT in general...I don`t want to work in an area where people can`t communicate and who treat people that way...there are so many other departments that have been so much nicer!)

 

Another person in my class has had trouble too, so...if you are at Ottawa, Bonne Chance!

 

For research projects, often the departments have sites that describe the research interests of their staff. So you can start there and find out who is doing research in the areas you are interested in....then you can just email and see what opportunities might exist.

 

Good Luck!

[up doc]

Thanks so much for the reply, its unfortunate that it is so difficult to arrange these types of things. It would be nice if there was someone in our colleges that could act as a better liason between the departments to facilitate this better. But oh well, if there is one thing that I have learned its that organization is not usually a medical colleges strong suit!