1. Where and how long was your elective? What specialty was it in? I completed a 2-week Family Medicine + OB elective with Dr. Anum Tabish in Brampton. 2. How did you get to the elective? Did you need a car at this location? Very luckily, I have access to a car and drove to the various clinics/hospitals for this rotation. 3. What were your accommodations like? Did you get any funding from the school (MacCare etc?) Thank to MacCare, I was able to receive $225 for commuting for the two weeks. It would be $450 for students finding housing in the community. 4. Describe a typical day at your elective. Every day was different on this elective! It was a great variety of some days being only half day virtual clinics, in-person general family medicine practice, in-person early pregnancy loss/hyperbilirubinemia/antenatal appointments, and/or Labour & Delivery shifts (12 hr shifts) at Brampton Civic Hospital. Virtual clinics would be 9 am - 12 pm or 1 pm to 5 pm, depending on the day. In-person clinics were 9 am to 12 pm. L&D shifts were either 8 am to 8 pm or 8 pm to 8 am. 5. What level of responsibility/exposure did you have as a medical student? This was the first time I had the opportunity to do Paps, which was both terrifying and humbling. I think the level of responsibility depends on the level of training & timing of the elective during clerkship. Earlier on in clerkship, the number of patients you're expected to see & the knowledge you're expected to have for plans is very very low. Even as a third year clerk, I think the expectation really is that you're keen and that you show up to want to learn! For virtual clinic, I called patients on my own and then did my best to formulate a plan. I would then review with Dr. Tabish to discuss the plan & HPI. Oftentimes she would have a different plan and so then one of us would call back the patient to confirm the management. In-person clinics would include me seeing patients on my own and then reviewing. For the OB patients, I had lots of practice doing symphysis-fundal heights, finding fetal heartbeats, Leopold's maneuvers, and newborn baby exams. For the L&D shifts, I had the opportunity to do cervical checks (though this is hit or miss depending on the number of patients labouring), scrubbing into C-section ORs and checking the newborns for hyperbilirubinemia concerns. 6. What is your most memorable experience from this elective? I remember on my first L&D shift of the elective, there were a mom in the OR waiting for her C-Section. Due to another emergency, the mom had to wait until the more distressed baby was delivered. I had the time, so I went into the OR and chatted with her and her husband about how they were doing. We had a lovely conversation about her work as a healthcare IT consultant and her worries for her baby. At the end of the conversation, she said she felt better about the impending c-section. I felt like it was such a privilege that with just a simple conversation I was able to be part of their care journey. 7. What was one thing you didn’t like about the elective? The various clinics were great (virtual, in person, early pregnancy loss/hyperbili/antenatals, L&D) for learning opportunities. However, I found it a bit challenging to adjust to the various different clinical environments. The first week I find to be a transition week for every rotation, but Dr. Tabish cares about student learning and is always looking for ways for students to be involved. 8. Has this elective influenced your career decisions? If so, how? Coming into this elective later in clerkship (after all of my cores) and currently applying to CaRMS, I really wanted to see how this FM + OB experience would compare to my other OB experiences. I really enjoyed this elective, and helped me confirm that both career pathways would be fulfilling. 10. What’s one thing you wish you knew before doing this elective/future advice you have for students doing an elective here in the future? Get your badge sorted at the beginning of the elective! The L&D shifts are at Brampton Civic, but the early pregnancy loss/hyperbili/antenatal clinics are at Peel Memorial. The ID badges and parking passes are not interchangeable between the two and I wished I spent a day at the beginning sorting it out instead of needing to figure it out each time at the new hospitals. 12. Anything else you want people to know/would like to add about the experience? Feel free to contact me anytime at [email protected] and I'd be happy to chat one on one about my experiences! :D Brampton Civic Hospital
Credit: renewcanada.net
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