Your Goals for M4 Year

[DocDanny]

I assume that most of us are on similar schedules, in that each of us is now almost done with M3 year. And hopefully, we've all done well.

M4 year is the final year, and we are doctors. But we still have a long way to go. So I was wondering what your goals were for next year. What are some skills/procedures/lessons you want to learn? What do you think you know well?

For me, I know that my attitude and work ethic have always been good. The things I need to work on are to
1.) Increase my medical knowledge
2.) Get my hands dirty learning some procedures.
3.) Get my research done.

I plan to solve the first problem by taking August off. I will have 6 weeks to do nothing but read and study. Hopefully this will increase my knowledge base and medical knowledge.

I really haven't done many procedures this year. But next year, I have a 4 month stretch where I do ICU, two Sub-Is, and ER. I think that will help.

My research will be done soon. I am hoping to present my posterboard at my school and at the state's Internal Medicine convention. I may get a write up accepted into a small journal in time for interviews.

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[vicinihil]

1 more day until the end of 3rd year WOOHOO.

Goals: to match....

 

[AggieSean]

1. Match
2. ????
3. Profit

 

[username456789]

1. Match
2. ????
3. Profit

Haha, same. Like many of you, I've chosen to make it difficult for myself by picking a very competitive specialty. Here goes nothing!

 

[MilkmanAl]

Yeah, I just want to match. It'd be nice if I found a whooooole lot of time to dick around with somewhere along the way, too.

 

[OveractiveBrain]

My goals for 4th year was professional development. That meant getting the classes for the things I thought i needed.

I wanted to learn Xrays and CT scans, so I did 8 weeks of radiology (9-12 daily).

I wanted to be a better team leader and clinical educator, so I took courses specifically offered by my school that fostered that: "how to teach" and "coffee with the PD"

I wanted to gain medical knowledge in the more commonly admitted patients, which meant doing electives in cards and GI.

None of these things were particularly grueling, because I wanted time for myself, something I had not had in three years. I took 4th year super easy and spent the time doing some soul searching, some book reading, and buying a house. It was awesome.

I would not recommend doing alot of ICU months or particularly challenging rotations. The amount you try to learn as a med student is not worth the hours of work. The amount you learn in a month as a Sub-I is worth about 1 day as an intern; where you actually have to take responsibility for your actions and for your patients. You will learn more as an intern than you could every possibly prepare for as a medical student. Take the time to do something you will never do again: if going to surgery, do some medicine (know how to manage BP and Diabetes, please); if doing medicine, do some orthopedics (know how to evaluate a bad shoulder or back pain).

Of course, if you are fixed on a path of ICU rotations and tough rotations, be prepared to do a lot of work, challenge yourself, and really push your residents/attendings for your autonomy. The more authority and autonomy you have, the more worth while the rotation will be.

 

[Law2Doc]

I assume that most of us are on similar schedules, in that each of us is now almost done with M3 year. And hopefully, we've all done well.

M4 year is the final year, and we are doctors. But we still have a long way to go. So I was wondering what your goals were for next year. What are some skills/procedures/lessons you want to learn? What do you think you know well?

For me, I know that my attitude and work ethic have always been good. The things I need to work on are to
1.) Increase my medical knowledge
2.) Get my hands dirty learning some procedures.
3.) Get my research done.

I plan to solve the first problem by taking August off. I will have 6 weeks to do nothing but read and study. Hopefully this will increase my knowledge base and medical knowledge.

I really haven't done many procedures this year. But next year, I have a 4 month stretch where I do ICU, two Sub-Is, and ER. I think that will help.

My research will be done soon. I am hoping to present my posterboard at my school and at the state's Internal Medicine convention. I may get a write up accepted into a small journal in time for interviews.

Your goals for fourth year should be:
(1) pick a specialty, if you haven't already.
(2) do away rotations, as necessary, and sell yourself to various programs.
(3) match
(4) finish up whatever "stupid requirements your school has that don't really matter to you since you are going into an unrelated field and will never need to know this stuff".
(5) finish the two parts of Step 2, as necessary
(6) Do the paperwork you need to complete for residency
(7) line up your health appointment, ACLS course, TB test and whatever pre-residency crap they will make you do in June.
(8) rest up.
(9) if you are a real go-getter, then sure, take some elective that will let you get some procedures in, or maybe something you will never have another opportunity to take again. A lot of folks at my med school took an EM rotation, which was a lot of overnights, but you got to do some procedural stuff like I&Ds, LPs, suturing, and the like. Not for everybody, but if you are looking to get some hands on practice while a student, this wasn't the worst idea. You still won't know squat in residency, but it might make you feel better about it.

 

[MilkmanAl]

(4) finish up whatever "stupid requirements your school has that don't really matter to you since you are going into an unrelated field and will never need to know this stuff".

I absolutely can't wait for my geriatrics rotation! The 4 rotations I've done at the VA plus family medicine haven't given me nearly enough old people exposure.