Starting MS3 with a surgical subspecialty elective I am interested in matching in - urology. Had hoped I would have some time to get up to speed with clerkships before this elective, but such is life. Any specific tips for doing well on a urology elective? I have already started on the anking step2 deck for surgery and knocked out all the urology tagged cards (there weren't that many).
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Starting MS3 on uro
- Thread starter Billiam95
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Similar situation to you (also want to match into pro) except I had 4 wks of neurology first, not that they're especially comparable but I was at least a bit familiar with general workflow. Anyways, highly recommend reading through this link to the AUA website. Not that long or exhaustive by any means, but I thought it was a good primer on the most common things you'll see.
Be helpful in any way you can, try to show initiative. See patients on your own and make a broad of a differential as possible and be able to explain yourself when you present. As for the OR, go to as many cases as you can. Don't break sterility like I did first day lol. I would look at the OR schedule for the following day and then watch YouTube videos to get a general understanding of the procedure so you can predict whats going to happen next. How much you will be able to help depends on the surgeon you're with. Expect to suture at the end so practice that. Never go into a surgery without knowing the indication, PMH, anatomy, and common complications. Those were the vast majority of pimping questions I got. Hope that helps to some degree.
Be helpful in any way you can, try to show initiative. See patients on your own and make a broad of a differential as possible and be able to explain yourself when you present. As for the OR, go to as many cases as you can. Don't break sterility like I did first day lol. I would look at the OR schedule for the following day and then watch YouTube videos to get a general understanding of the procedure so you can predict whats going to happen next. How much you will be able to help depends on the surgeon you're with. Expect to suture at the end so practice that. Never go into a surgery without knowing the indication, PMH, anatomy, and common complications. Those were the vast majority of pimping questions I got. Hope that helps to some degree.
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Agree with the above.
An important thing is being helpful without being annoying. It's a tough balance but you don't wanna get the rep for being the overbearing med student who needs attention all the time.
Something that's low-key really helpful for surgical rotations is being the pack horse on rounds. Residents always appreciate if someone has suture removal kits, gauze, tape, etc on-hand instead of trying to find the supply room on each floor.
The more helpful/competent you are, the more chances you'll to do stuff like suture, take out drains, etc. (i.e. graded responsibility).
An important thing is being helpful without being annoying. It's a tough balance but you don't wanna get the rep for being the overbearing med student who needs attention all the time.
Something that's low-key really helpful for surgical rotations is being the pack horse on rounds. Residents always appreciate if someone has suture removal kits, gauze, tape, etc on-hand instead of trying to find the supply room on each floor.
The more helpful/competent you are, the more chances you'll to do stuff like suture, take out drains, etc. (i.e. graded responsibility).
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Some good advice above. Other things:
-You can never be early, only late. Show up when the intern does (show up before you're told to), leave when the intern does (or after you've been dismissed by multiple people).
-Try to be helpful and interested without being annoying. From the other side, we love a curious and interested med student, but not one who doesn't know when to shut up (e.g. it's an emergency and you're interfering with my work to ask me unrelated questions). Examples of being helpful would be getting numbers (vitals, labs, I/Os, whatever) on patients in the morning and having those ready (and correct) for the intern when they arrive or offering to hold the pager when you aren't scrubbing a case.
-If you're going into a case, know the patient, why they specifically are getting the procedure, and generally what will happen during the case.
-Practice suturing, look up how to close drains and remove staples, etc.
-Depends on the program culture, but try to pick up on any unspoken rules. Don't one-up anyone on rounds - if the junior gets the pimping question wrong, don't blurt out the answer. At my med school, senior surgery residents were called "Dr. X" or "sir/ma'am;" on OBGYN only the senior residents wore makeup/jewelry. (Some) attendings were only spoken to when they directly asked you a question. Etc. Like I said, it all depends on the culture.
-Finally, be tough. Might not happen on urology, but part of the surgical experience is someone being mean to you. Your responding well to negative criticism is huge. Just because you got yelled at doesn't mean you've blown it, it just means you have something to work on for tomorrow.
-You can never be early, only late. Show up when the intern does (show up before you're told to), leave when the intern does (or after you've been dismissed by multiple people).
-Try to be helpful and interested without being annoying. From the other side, we love a curious and interested med student, but not one who doesn't know when to shut up (e.g. it's an emergency and you're interfering with my work to ask me unrelated questions). Examples of being helpful would be getting numbers (vitals, labs, I/Os, whatever) on patients in the morning and having those ready (and correct) for the intern when they arrive or offering to hold the pager when you aren't scrubbing a case.
-If you're going into a case, know the patient, why they specifically are getting the procedure, and generally what will happen during the case.
-Practice suturing, look up how to close drains and remove staples, etc.
-Depends on the program culture, but try to pick up on any unspoken rules. Don't one-up anyone on rounds - if the junior gets the pimping question wrong, don't blurt out the answer. At my med school, senior surgery residents were called "Dr. X" or "sir/ma'am;" on OBGYN only the senior residents wore makeup/jewelry. (Some) attendings were only spoken to when they directly asked you a question. Etc. Like I said, it all depends on the culture.
-Finally, be tough. Might not happen on urology, but part of the surgical experience is someone being mean to you. Your responding well to negative criticism is huge. Just because you got yelled at doesn't mean you've blown it, it just means you have something to work on for tomorrow.
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That level of pettiness is...wow.on OBGYN only the senior residents wore makeup/jewelry.
If you're on a surgical sub, chances are you're only working with 1, maybe 2 residents. If your intern/resident for the day tells you to go home you should do it.leave when the intern does (or after you've been dismissed by multiple people).
Other info is pretty solid here, since it's a surgical sub + first rotation they probably won't expect you to know a ton. Show that you're interested, willing to help out, and look up your patients and procedures the night before. Anytime someone makes a suggestion eg. "you should check out the recent guidelines on xyz" or "could you check to see if pt xyz needs an interpreter" it's not really a suggestion; be sure to followup on it. When it comes to repeatable tasks (eg. printing the list, escorting the patient to pacu, checking if the OR is ready), make sure to do it the next time without being asked. Those are the things that will show you are engaged and attentive, moreso than knowing the ins-outs of a specialty that most medical students hardly get any exposure too.
Remember that your real audition rotation is going to be next year. This is a relatively low pressure time to get involved in the OR and show you know how to work hard + well with others.
There was recently a urology anki deck that can be found in this tweet
Wouldn't hurt to get a copy of Wieder's Pocket Guide to Urology which that deck is made out of.
Wouldn't hurt to get a copy of Wieder's Pocket Guide to Urology which that deck is made out of.
