TripJay Posted November 27, 2017 Report Share Posted November 27, 2017 Any elective advice for someone who is looking to match family med at McMaster (or somewhere in Southern Ontario)? I've heard it's good to be diverse, but maybe some electives are better than others? Thanks in advance! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralk Posted November 28, 2017 Report Share Posted November 28, 2017 21 hours ago, TripJay said: Any elective advice for someone who is looking to match family med at McMaster (or somewhere in Southern Ontario)? I've heard it's good to be diverse, but maybe some electives are better than others? Thanks in advance! A few FM electives would be advisable, especially at the sites you're hoping to match to, but 2-3 is all that's really necessary. Otherwise pick electives for interest or to fill in gaps in your knowledge. They should ideally have some relevance to FM, but frankly most electives should have some relevance to FM. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TripJay Posted December 4, 2017 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2017 Thanks @ralk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edict Posted December 10, 2017 Report Share Posted December 10, 2017 If you are 100% family, wouldn't just doing mainly family and a few others for diversity make more sense? Just don't do too much of any other one specialty, which could make it look like you are backing up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralk Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 On 12/10/2017 at 5:13 PM, Edict said: If you are 100% family, wouldn't just doing mainly family and a few others for diversity make more sense? Just don't do too much of any other one specialty, which could make it look like you are backing up. Honestly, no, loading up on FM electives wouldn't be ideal. Unlike other specialties, FM is too large for face time during electives to make much of a difference in terms of matching. Your chances of working with someone who will have a direct role in your CaRMS ranking is fairly low - too many preceptors, too many satellite residency programs, etc. This is in contrast to other specialties where electives' main advantage is showing your ability to the person or persons who will be making the final decisions in the match process. Since FM is a generalist field, having a broad elective panel is often more useful than dedicated FM. A lot of specialties are very relevant to FM but for which we get little training in core clerkship rotations or in residency. Electives are in that sense the one opportunity to pick up knowledge in those fields. I agree that FM gunners shouldn't overload their non-FM electives in one field to avoid the perception of backing up with FM. Likewise, if someone finds a lot of FM electives that really capture their interest, especially ones that get away from the standard urban or suburban clinics, then there's nothing wrong with doing more FM electives. However, there's no real benefit to loading up on FM electives when it comes to matching. A broad spread of electives with enough direct-FM exposure usually works out the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralk Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 On 12/10/2017 at 5:13 PM, Edict said: If you are 100% family, wouldn't just doing mainly family and a few others for diversity make more sense? Just don't do too much of any other one specialty, which could make it look like you are backing up. Honestly, no, loading up on FM electives wouldn't be ideal. Unlike other specialties, FM is too large for face time during electives to make much of a difference in terms of matching. Your chances of working with someone who will have a direct role in your CaRMS ranking is fairly low - too many preceptors, too many satellite residency programs, etc. This is in contrast to other specialties where electives' main advantage is showing your ability to the person or persons who will be making the final decisions in the match process. Since FM is a generalist field, having a broad elective panel is often more useful than dedicated FM. A lot of specialties are very relevant to FM but for which we get little training in core clerkship rotations or in residency. Electives are in that sense the one opportunity to pick up knowledge in those fields. I agree that FM gunners shouldn't overload their non-FM electives in one field to avoid the perception of backing up with FM. Likewise, if someone finds a lot of FM electives that really capture their interest, especially ones that get away from the standard urban or suburban clinics, then there's nothing wrong with doing more FM electives. However, there's no real benefit to loading up on FM electives when it comes to matching. A broad spread of electives with enough direct-FM exposure usually works out the best. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mithril Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 For CaRMS I remember doing two FM electives, one EM, and one CTU before the CaRMS tour. All of these electives filled in the gaps for generalist knowledge and it worked out for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGrisham Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 20 minutes ago, Mithril said: For CaRMS I remember doing two FM electives, one EM, and one CTU before the CaRMS tour. All of these electives filled in the gaps for generalist knowledge and it worked out for me. 2x 4 week FM electives? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mithril Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 3 hours ago, JohnGrisham said: 2x 4 week FM electives? Yeah. And ER was also 4 weeks. CTU was 3 weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGrisham Posted December 12, 2017 Report Share Posted December 12, 2017 1 hour ago, Mithril said: Yeah. And ER was also 4 weeks. CTU was 3 weeks. Interesting! So in total you had 12 weeks of FM pre-carms then? Assuming 4 week rural FM in year 3 too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mithril Posted December 13, 2017 Report Share Posted December 13, 2017 25 minutes ago, JohnGrisham said: Interesting! So in total you had 12 weeks of FM pre-carms then? Assuming 4 week rural FM in year 3 too Yeah, but I'm not sure what the UBC curriculum is now. Our rural was in the summer between 2nd and 3rd year. Every FM elective I had was slightly different (rural clinic/ER/maternity, urban clinic, and in-hospital integrated physiotherapy and occupational therapy focus). I managed to get my number one choice so I must've done something right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnGrisham Posted December 13, 2017 Report Share Posted December 13, 2017 1 hour ago, Mithril said: Yeah, but I'm not sure what the UBC curriculum is now. Our rural was in the summer between 2nd and 3rd year. Every FM elective I had was slightly different (rural clinic/ER/maternity, urban clinic, and in-hospital integrated physiotherapy and occupational therapy focus). I managed to get my number one choice so I must've done something right. The rural (and only FP rotation) for new curriculum is embedded into year 3. So people have it at different times. Tbh was surprised there wasn't an urban FP required rotation too.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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