Guest Douje Dog Posted June 16, 2004 Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 Are there such thing as first year electives? As an example, would there be a possible opportunity to go away for 4 weeks during the summer after 1st year to do an 'elective,' or something of that sort? I'm just curious, because would like to get some exposure to certain fields, and also have an interest in doing them away from where I will be doing school. Thanks! DD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted June 16, 2004 Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 Yes, you can do electives in the summer after 1st year. It may be more difficult to find a doc to take you after only 1 year...but it is far from impossible. Many people in my class did this kind of thing after 1st year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted June 16, 2004 Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 I did an internal medicine elective in Geneva, Switzerland after 1st year. It is totally possible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Douje Dog Posted June 16, 2004 Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 Thanks guys/girls! Any ideas as to where I could look into these possible electives? (Any websites/databases you know of?) Thanks again! DD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted June 16, 2004 Report Share Posted June 16, 2004 Don't know of any websites or databases...you will hear of some of them inevitably by e-mail sometime between Dec-May of your first year. The rest people set up themselves - eg: if you want to do internal med at UofT, you find a doc in that discipline at UofT that will take you. It is a very decentralised process...although you can often get useful contacts from people ahead of you (2nd years etc) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 Hi there, The rest people set up themselves - eg: if you want to do internal med at UofT, you find a doc in that discipline at UofT that will take you. Is this true? I thought, for UofT, all electives requests had to proceed through Sheila Binns? If it's true though, that you contact the clinicians themselves and then speak to Sheila, that would be fab. If anyone can confirm how the process works in more detail, I'd greatly appreciate it. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 At least from my experience with electives, there are two ways of doing things. 1) There are sometimes "official" channels set-up through admin. You're often in touch with an administrative type body (who may or may not know ANYTHING about what a medical elective is all about) and there's usually lots of red tape. There are usually lots and lots of rules, most of which can make the electives impossible to do. 2) You just talk to the person you want to work with directly. Little red tape and the person you're talking to knows exactly what the elective is all about. Things are often flexible, and many rules can be adapted to the situation. Truth is, if you talk to directly to someone you're interested in doing an elective with, they can usually make it happen and can often help you navigate the red tape. You just have to find a preceptor who is willing to take students, in an area you are interested in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 Hi there, Ahhh, brilliant. It's good to know some of the inside scoop from those who've already scooped it. Thanks for that. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest aneliz Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 UWOMEDS is right...there are official channels (usually blocked with miles of red tape) and there are the 'illegal' ways to do things. Often if you can find a doc that is willing to take you first, you can then use that as a bargaining chip to get through the red tape in the offices... because you still do have to go through the offices. But the people in the offices find it much more difficult to keep that red tape intact when you have a member of their faculty on your side! That said, you should probably always try the 'official' way first...but don't give up if an office troll say no.... (and an 'office troll' is any administrator that gives you a rough time...it is not meant to refer to any specific person or school....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 Hi again, Thanks for the added insight aneliz. I had no idea. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest UWOMED2005 Posted June 17, 2004 Report Share Posted June 17, 2004 Same goes for: a) clerkship 4th year electives Often official sources will claim you can't do a specific selective, can't change a selective/selective, mustfill certain scheduling requirements and likewise but if you actually talk to the people involved and provide a good reason for breaking the red tape, you can sometimes get around this. An example would be 4th year electives at UWO. UWO students are constantly told that they a) can only do 3 electives in one area (ie emergency medicine) and can only do a limited number of 2 week electives. Yet I can clearly name at least one 2004 class member who did all 16 weeks of electives in a surgical subspecialty, and one other classmate who not only did all his electives in his specialty of choice. . . he did very close to 8 X 2 week electives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted June 19, 2004 Report Share Posted June 19, 2004 there are official channels (usually blocked with miles of red tape) and there are the 'illegal' ways to do things. Often if you can find a doc that is willing to take you first, you can then use that as a bargaining chip to get through the red tape in the officesI did an elective at U of T, and in the course of that time, had to talk with Sheila Binns over the phone on multiple occasions, and of course, went to her office to drop off forms etc. once I'd arrived in Toronto. Needless to say, I arranged my elective with my preceptor prior to talking with Sheila, and managed to get the elective I wanted at the time I wanted. I think official channels are nice and all, but if there's someone you really want to work with, definitely contact them first. That is a good bit of leverage you can use to persuade the administrators to give you what you want. I agree wholeheartedly with what aneliz wrote. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted August 7, 2005 Report Share Posted August 7, 2005 Floating back to the top. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ian Wong Posted June 29, 2006 Report Share Posted June 29, 2006 Floating to the top... Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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