Apparently I will be assigned a mentor somewhat based on my specialty interest when I arrive at my program. Would it be fair to mention my elective concerns to them (or anyone else in my program)? Namely, that I'm interested in hemetology-oncology and allergy and I'm wondering if I need to try to find some time intern year to reach out to mentors in these areas on my own, since I didn't get electives in these fields? I'm unsure of proper etiquette and I am just wary of coming off as complaining about my schedule.
Regarding PM&R, that was actually typo RangerBob but I do apologize for any offense! I have nothing against your field. I just happen to have more interest in other things and I already have limited time to explore those interests.
No worries!
I don't blame you for being a little disappointed in being assigned an elective. It'd be like assigning me to ID for one of my three PM&R electives. Sure, it'd be a really good learning experience, just like PM&R would be for you, but I would want the freedom to chose what elective I wanted to do (ideally one in an area I want to apply for fellowship in, or one I feel I need a little more experience in). As an intern, I think that's even more critical.
If you haven't spoken with your program director, that would be a good start. It's highly unlikely that PM&R service depends on a resident. If there are PM&R residents at the program, then sure, they would rely on them to keep the service running, but we would never rely on a non-PM&R resident to keep the service running. The few times we had outside residents rotate through with us, they were just an extra resident, and mostly there to just learn what PM&R was and how they could utilize our services in the future (or in the case of neuro residents, see what happens to all the stroke patients they send to rehab).
While there's a lot of what I would call "medicine-light" on rehab, it's a whole new experience learning about rehab, so the odds of the PM&R unit relying on you to be there are slim (some rehab units even have their own hospitalist, in which case the rehab physician doesn't do any medicine, which I find a little sad to not even be practicing the basics).
I would think if there's another rotation you could be assigned to, that the PD could place you there. I think it'd be worthwhile to sit down with them (or you can try the chiefs first) and say "hey, I'm really excited about heme-onc or allergy/immunology--is there any way I can swap my PM&R rotation for one of them?)