Written by: McMaster Medical School c2023 Student, Hamilton Campus Where was your placement and what specialty was it in?
I did my 1-week post-MF4 elective in emergency medicine at Greater Niagara General. How did you get to the elective? I drove from Hamilton since there are no reasonable options for public transportation to Niagara unless you plan to live there. It was $100/month for parking. I didn't receive MacCare funding as it is within the Niagara campus community. Describe a typical day at your elective. 1. Get there in scrubs 2. Introduce yourself to the preceptor and familiarize yourself with the charge nurse. 3. Say yes I am capable of seeing patients on my own - I always recommend taking any opportunity that you're offered. 4. Grab patient triage notes, then go see the patients 5. Do history + physical 6. Summarize + pitch assesment/plan to precptor 7. Write orders and throw them in the orders bin 8. Repeat for the rest of the day EM is shift-based so the hours are all different. What level of responsibility/exposure did you have as a medical student? They let you do everything here. You do need to run any proecedures/tests by preceptor. What are some important things to review about before this elective? I recommend developing an approach to chest pain, abdominal pain, any MSK issue, UTIs, and dyspnea. Have a couple of dangerous and common differentials for these presentations. What is your most memorable experience? I enjoyed the common procedures like reductions and suturing. I also learned a lot from the ACLS cases. What was one thing you didn’t like? As always, it's preceptor dependent. For most shifts, I also did not eat until I got home. My preceptors didn't take breaks to eat either. Perhaps in the future I should consider asking for a break to eat. What’s one future advice you have for students doing an elective here in the future? Have some framework for summarizing and presenting patients. Would you recommend this elective/core to current students? Yes, its good for emerg exposure.
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Greater Niagara General Hospital, background credit: hospitalparking.preciseparklink.com
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