how to pick the best preceptors/sites for clerkship rotations

[Nibs]

Hi all,

 

I just recently found these forums so I have not had a chance to scour them yet so I apologize if there is already a thread for this.

 

I want to schedule some clerkship electives starting early next year across ontario. I was curious if there was a good way to find the best preceptors and/or sites to get a great learning experience. Are there any places that keep databases of say student experiences or maybe a list of awards that different preceptors have won for teaching ability, etc? Basically, trying to get the most bang for my buck in terms of my elective time

 

Thanks a lot,

 

-Nibs

[Lactic Folly]

The CFMS website has a database of elective experiences. You'll need a password, which you can get from your local CFMS rep.

 

Most schools offer teaching awards and you can do a search for them on department/faculty/university/provincial housestaff organization websites.

 

Many people rely on the grapevine, i.e. asking upper years and residents. Most people are happy to share their experiences, but do take opinions with a grain of salt (ask more than one person) as a particular preceptor may be liked by one person and disliked by another.

[Renin]

Many people rely on the grapevine, i.e. asking upper years and residents. Most people are happy to share their experiences, but do take opinions with a grain of salt (ask more than one person) as a particular preceptor may be liked by one person and disliked by another.

 

Definitely. Preceptors people think are terrible I adore, and vice versa. It's more about work-style and personality matching!

[Nibs]

The CFMS website has a database of elective experiences. You'll need a password, which you can get from your local CFMS rep.

 

Most schools offer teaching awards and you can do a search for them on department/faculty/university/provincial housestaff organization websites.

 

Many people rely on the grapevine, i.e. asking upper years and residents. Most people are happy to share their experiences, but do take opinions with a grain of salt (ask more than one person) as a particular preceptor may be liked by one person and disliked by another.

 

Hi Lactic Folly,

 

Thanks for replying. I signed up to the CFMS website to check it out. Unfortunately the reviews are outdated and far fewer than I expected. But thank you for the advice - it was helpful.

 

Yeah, I have heard that word of mouth is the best way to figure this stuff out but I am wary of the bias and somewhat disadvantaged in that I really don't know many people in medical school. I guess I should get out of my bubble and start networking...

[Lactic Folly]

No problem. The question of the best preceptor/sites is inherently subjective to some degree, no matter which form the reviews take - not sure what you meant by bias. At least in person, you can ask about the reasons behind someone's rating of an elective, especially those factors that you have found to be most important to your clinical experiences in the past. For myself, I feel the most critical factor is whether the preceptor cares about the student's experience - demonstrated by things like asking the student questions, setting some goals and objectives, keeping the student's presence in mind and inviting them to participate as appropriate (or if it is not appropriate, explaining that to them beforehand). However, I know there are those students who prefer "nice" preceptors who don't tend to ask students many questions, so again, you should have some idea of what you are looking for.

 

To address your last point, it seems you already have an idea of the area(s) you wish to explore. Shadowing during the school year, joining specialty specific clubs, going to career fairs, and even just showing up at departmental grand rounds/research days (if extremely keen) could all put you in a place to meet people. Graduating 4th years are a good source of info - I would think most schools have some sort of forum for them to share their CaRMS experiences with other students.

[Smurfette]

LOL, i think it's often a crap-shoot. But there's heresay and for carms purposes, sometimes you just have to get to know the people who are on committee or at least whom people know well and whose opinion they trust. Try asking around (especially your residents or classmates in upper years).

[NLengr]

If it's a place where you want to potentially match, you want to spend as much time with the program director as possible.

[Lactic Folly]

Agree that you want to be well known in a positive way to the PD and committee members (and in fact, to everyone else in the program, because it's a pretty small community). However, note has been previously made of a PD(s) with a policy of not meeting students.

[NLengr]

Probably specialty dependent than. Everywhere I went for electives, the PDs were all about meeting students.

[ophtho_gunner]

So it is necessary to get rotations done with PDs and not other docs in the department, at the place you would like to get matched? I sort of feel intimidated to be working with a PD? Or its just a phase that will wear out once I hit the rounds?

[Lactic Folly]

It may not always be possible to arrange an elective with the PD. Everyone on the committee has a say, so it's useful to work with those people as well.

I think it's common to feel a bit intimidated, but make a conscious effort not to let it affect your interactions with them - try to think of it as no different from working with any rotation supervisor who will write your evaluation.

[NLengr]

Try to work with as many people on the selection committee as possible. The PD is in theory the most important, so you want to get more than average exposure to him or her. But try to get at least a half day clinic in with as many committee members as possible.

 

Most programs wanted me to work with all the committee members so it was quite easy.

 

Flat out ask the residents who you should make sure you spend time with. They'll help you out (unless they are ****s and that probably solves your problem with wanting to go there anyway).