Written By: McMaster Medical School c2023 Student Where was your placement and what specialty was it in?
Allergy & Clinical Immunology clerkship elective in Cambridge with Dr. Terpstra [cc2.] How did you get to your placement? I commuted, the drive was 45 minutes and the traffic was light, occasionally heavier in the evenings around 5, but the commute never took more than 55 minutes. There is free parking was available at the clinic. I obtained MacCare funding for the commute which covered all of my expenses and I even had some money left over. Describe a typical day at your elective. Dr. Terpstra runs his clinic from 8am-4pm and he takes 1-2 medical students at a time. The entirety of your day is spent seeing patients but he makes sure to book plenty of time for his appointments so you will never feel swamped or like you are being rushed. During appointments you are typing your note into his EMR, there are no dictations. You have a nice 30ish min lunch break, which is spent on the second floor of the clinic where Dr. Terpstra has a completely functional kitchen and a dining room table. Once a week we had a pharma rep come in and would bring takeout lunch. At the end of a shift if there is time Dr. Terpstra has plenty of powerpoints and he is more than willing to do formal teaching. Overall this was a very chill rotation. What level of responsibility did you have as a medical student? For the first day or so you will shadow Dr. Terpstra. After the shadowing period he will let you see patients independently, write their note in the EMR and present the case to him. He will teach you how to do allergy testing via skin prick on the forearm, and you will get a chance to do that for patients as well. He will also let you try your hand at coming up with management plans and discussing them with the patient. Dr. Terpstra also does oral immunotherapy for various allergies such as nuts, milk, eggs and grains however you will not be involved in this, you will just observe him do it. What are some common conditions you saw? And do you have any resource suggestions? Common conditions seen included: asthma, eczema, seasonal allergy, pollen food allergy syndrome, hives, food allergy, venom allergy, anaphylaxis and immunotherapy (traditional and oral). At the time (Dec 2021) he was also the regional lead for COVID vaccination, so a lot of patients who have had reactions to vaccines, are vaccine-hesitant or seeking an exemption would also come to him. With respect to resources, Dr Terpstra sends you a welcome pack approximately 1-2 weeks before your rotation and in it is a link to a bunch of good resources which I found to be very helpful. What is your most memorable experience from this elective? Dr. Terpstra used to be a history teacher and runs his own farm on the side. This man is quirky walking encyclopedia and will drop an insane amount of fun facts your way. What was one thing you didn’t like about the elective/core? There was not too much to do in this rotation other than history taking and allergy testing, so some may find it boring in this regard. Would you recommend this elective to current students? Yes if you are curious about allergy and what the opportunity to spend alot of quality time with the same preceptor!
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Downtown Cambridge, image credit: cambridge.ca
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