So, I volunteered to give a talk for the UCSF Office of Graduate Medical Education WAAAAY back in early 2010 on “There’s an App for That: Key Smart Phone Applications for Surviving Residency“. Somehow the lecture date has snuck up on me and it’s next Tuesday! I thought it was a small gathering, but it turns out it’s not. Plus, I keep getting school-wide emails reminding all the residents and fellows to attending!
I often get asked by my advisees: “In my residency interview, what should I talk about or do to make myself more competitive?”
To help you demystify the interview process, I wanted to share with you some insights. Overall, the interview day itself helps the program put a person and personality with your online ERAS application. Similarly, you quickly get a sense of the program’s personality. In EM, the residency interview day is generally pretty laid back. Not too many crazy questions. Programs just want to get to know you. Both you and the program should be asking each other– Is this a good fit?
How awesome would it be if there were EM residency programs at the University of Washington and UCSF-SF General Hospital?!
This has been the question for decades. In 2006, I had the pleasure of seeing the UCSF-SFGH program become a reality. And now it’s the University of Washington’s turn. It is close to becoming a reality. It is really one of the last powerhouse institutions which does not have an EM residency program.
The Univ of Washington EM residency’s Program Director is helmed by my superstar friend, Dr. Fiona Gallahue, and will be a 4-year program. The ACGME (accrediting organization) has already site-visited the program. Short of an unforeseen snafu, I can’t imagine that it won’t be approved for a start year of 2011-12. The program will find out the official answer on February 14, 2011.
Residency interview season is quickly approaching!Unique to the field of EM, letters of recommendations from EM faculty are written on a standardized form. The Standardized Letter of Recommendation (SLOR), downloadable from the CORD website, documents information about the student’s performance in the EM clerkship, qualifications, and global assessment. At the end, the letter writer can provide free-text written comments.
The Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) holds its annual meeting at various U.S. metropolitan cities. This year, it is going to be at Boston in June 1-5, 2011.
It is a terrific conference for medical students and residents interested in EM academia. To help coordinate the huge meeting, the SAEM Program Committee is looking for 15 enthusiastic medical students to serve as volunteers.
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Thanks to one of our residents, Hangyul, I just recently learned about a hilarious comic strip series called Scutmonkey Comics in the blog The Underwear Drawer. It is side-splitting funny.
What was your first clinical clerkship rotation?
Oddly, I started my third year with a sub-internship rotation on the Burn/Plastics service as my first rotation. Not sure how that happened… I managed my own patients like a 4th year student, did lots of wound care, and even got to harvest a few skin grafts. It was trial by fire.
In a recent JAMA article, 3rd year medical students who started their clinical experiences in an Internal Medicine rotation overall did better on overall clerkship grades, when compared those who started their rotations on the Ob/Gyn, Psychiatry, or Family Medicine service.