Clerkship Outside of London

[webshy]

For students based in London (rather than Windsor).... Which electives are you able to do outside of London? I am still debating the choice between Windsor and London. I believe that I would enjoy clerkship in Windsor, for the experience of being in a smaller area. However, I believe that I would enjoy living in London, because I'd be closer to friends and family. Also, I really like London!

 

If I was to be London-based, would I have the opportunity to do any of my clerkship (besides family) in smaller SWOMEN centres? My current goal is to work as a small-town family physician. As such, I see great value in doing clerkship in smaller towns.

 

Thanks for the information.

Elaine

[svp2k5]

Hi,

 

For clerkship at UWO, you are required to spend some time in a "rural" setting. I spent 6 weeks in Stratford for Psych and 4 weeks in Ilderton for Family Med (a small town near London). Others in my class have done 6 weeks of Obs/Gyn or Psych in Chatham, 6 weeks of Psych in St. Thomas, and I think others have spent time doing Pediatrics in Chatham or Sarnia.

 

For your family rotation, you can basically go anywhere that will have you. The family medicine rotation is 6 weeks, and they require you to spend 2 weeks in "academic family medicine" in either London or Windsor (depending on where you are doing the rest of your clerkship).

 

I know that people have had a really good experience doing obs/gyn in chatham. One person actually delivered a baby with the nurse, while the attending doctor was driving to the hospital. I found that in the rural settings you have much more interaction with the attending physicians, and have more "hands on" experience.

[blinknoodle]

Windsor isn't considered rural, so even if you go to Windsor you have to spend 4 weeks rurally. These are the options I know are available, but they certainly may change by the time incoming students make it to clerkship.

 

Ob/gyn - Chatham

 

Paeds (only for community paeds) - St Thomas, Stratford, Sarnia, Chatham

 

Psych - Stratford, Chatham, Sarnia, St Thomas (both a forensic and community option)

 

Family - you need to do 2 weeks in a London/Windsor teaching group, and you can spend 4 weeks anywhere in Canada. Most people opt to go through formalized programs like NOMP, ROMP, etc if they want to go rurally in Ontario.

 

Hope this helps.

[rocky222]

What do you mean by spending "some time in 'rural' settings?"

 

Is there a minimum number of core rotations that you are required to do in a SWOMEN community (the way it is described above it seems like at least two) and do you get flexibility in choosing which ones they might be?

 

Also, with the establishment of the Windsor satellite campus, does this exclude London clerks from going down to Windsor and doing rotations down there as well?

[svp2k5]

What do you mean by spending "some time in 'rural' settings?"

 

Is there a minimum number of core rotations that you are required to do in a SWOMEN community (the way it is described above it seems like at least two) and do you get flexibility in choosing which ones they might be?

 

Also, with the establishment of the Windsor satellite campus, does this exclude London clerks from going down to Windsor and doing rotations down there as well?

 

 

Sorry for the confusion. You have to spend at least 4 weeks in a "rural" setting. As stated above a rural placement is anywhere outside of Windsor or London. For Family Medicine (if you would like to do that in a rural setting) you can pretty much go anywhere that will take you. If you want to do your rural placement in a more specialized setting (the options are Obs/gyn, Psych, Peds you can do it in the location listed previously.

 

As far as London clerks going to Windsor, I think this is pretty much a no go, unless you do family medicine there. For next year's clerks, there were 24 spots, and there was a waiting list to go... so it is a high demand place to be a the moment.

[ploughboy]

What do you mean by spending "some time in 'rural' settings?"

 

Is there a minimum number of core rotations that you are required to do in a SWOMEN community (the way it is described above it seems like at least two) and do you get flexibility in choosing which ones they might be?

 

You need to do a minimum of four weeks outside of London/Windsor, and can only do a maximum of 12. I did four weeks of family and six weeks of psyche outside of London/Windsor.

 

Keep in mind that for the purposes of clerkship, "rural" is a nebulous concept. My six weeks of psyche were in St. Thomas (mmm...forensics), and I drove there every day from London (except when I caught a ride with my preceptor, who also lives in London) and during that placement I did crisis psyche call at Vic hospital in London. Places like Ilderton are also very close to London. You could probably drive there from Masonville in about 15 minutes.

 

pb