Finalizing and building a firm general clinical foundation during the fourth
year is important for the student entering a career in Emergency Medicine.
Thus, you should target areas of relative discomfort in preparation for entering
residency.
It is critical to do at least one rotation at an Emergency Department
that serves as a training site for an EM residency. A second EM rotation can be
considered, but is not critical for applicants in the top third of their class.
If one is certain that EM is the career of choice, this second rotation should
be done at another EM residency location (an “away rotation”), possibly
targeting programs of a differing format from the IU residency (EM residencies
are R1-3, 1-4 or 2-4 formats). If you are uncertain that EM is right for
you, a
rotation at a community hospital allows you to experience the practice that 85%
of residency graduates will ultimately enter.
After you have filled holes from your MS3 year and scheduled the EM
rotation, the following rotations are strongly encouraged: trauma surgery,
adult and/or pediatric intensive care unit (be certain that you will have
primary patient care responsibilities), cardiology, dermatology, radiology, and a
general pediatric experience.
The EM rotation should be scheduled between June and September in order
to have the SLOR evaluation (Standardized Letter of Recommendation, see the CORD
home page for details at
http://www.cordem.org/slor.htm
<http://www.cord.org/) ready for your ERAS application. The second rotation can be done between
September and December, allowing a second letter to be generated before the rank
lists are made.
For students entering other clinical careers, the rotation in EM will
help you understand the specialty and how you will interact with the ED in the
future. Historically, the broad-based patient exposure has also been beneficial
in focusing study for the USMLE Step 2 examination as well. However, please be
courteous and do not preference this rotation at the Wishard or Methodist site
until after September to allow access by your peers who are entering EM as a
career.
It is STRONGLY encouraged that EVERY student interested in a career in
EM visit the medical student section of the Society for Academic Emergency
Medicine’s home page. There is a wealth of information available there under
“articles of interest,” including “Top 10 questions regarding the organization
of your senior year,” “10 things to do before applying to an Emergency Medicine
residency,” “Emergency Medicine as a career choice,” and “Advice to medical
students beginning a rotation in Emergency Medicine.” This site is located at
at http://www.saem.org/saemdnn/Home/Communities/MedicalStudents/tabid/62/Default.aspx. The SAEM Residency Catalog is also found on this site, and contains much
invaluable information that is not available through AMA-Freida.
Carey Chisholm, M.D.
Professor
Emergency Medicine