Written by: Lindsey Falk, McMaster Medical School c2023 Hamilton Campus 1. Where and how long was your elective? What specialty was it in? 2 week OB/GYN elective at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital 2. How did you get to the elective? Did you need a car at this location? I drove to the elective. I live in Burlington and was about a 20 minute drive. Looks like it would be a 30 minute drive from the Hamilton campus. I am sure there is public transport if you are staying in Oakville. 3. What were your accommodations like? Did you get any funding from the school (MacCare etc?) I commuted and was not eligible for MacCare. The location is less than 35km from my home address and the Hamilton campus. But you would be eligible for this if you live further away or at another campus. 4. Describe a typical day at your elective. I spent one week in the gynaecology clinic and one week on labour & delivery. I was with a different physician each day. During my week in gyne clinic we would see patients who were scheduled for PAPs, colposcopies, biopsies, IUD insertion/removal, pessary fitting, etc. The clinics ran in the morning, afternoon or both. When they weren't scheduled I had the opportunity to attend prenatal clinic, go up to the L&D ward (no other students were on OB/GYN that week), or spend the time studying. On L&D you are with the physician on call and take part in deliveries, c-sections, rounding on new mothers, as well as any OB/GYN consults in the ED or hospital. You can also do call shifts if you would like - I did my first overnight call here and it was a good experience! 5. What level of responsibility/exposure did you have as a medical student? This likely varies depending on the student's level and physician you are paired with. This was my first clinical elective of clerkship and will share the exposure I had. During gyne clinic got to participate in PAPs, speculum insertion for colposcopies, IUD removal, polyp removal, pessary removal/insertion, as well as history taking. While on L&D I participated in deliveries (assisting with cervical checks, cord blood gas collection, placenta removal, and even catching the newborn), scrubbed in for C-sections (mostly as a stitch 'snipper' as there is an assist), did ER consults on my own to later review with staff. Overall I think the elective offers good exposure. I also never felt pressure to know everything and most of the physicians were good teachers. 6. What is your most memorable experience from this elective? This is hard - for me there are probably two. The first is during my week in gyne clinic, I went up to L&D after wrapping up one morning and saw my first (and second!) delivery within 5 minutes. We were running back and forth between rooms. It was a very exciting and emotional experience. It was also a little bit nauseating but that got better the more deliveries I saw and participated in. The second was during my first twin birth, a c-section. The couple were so lovely. The new mom said to me right after the c-section "look we did our first set of twins together!", it was so sweet and really nice to see them for the next couple of days in the hospital before they left. 7. What was one thing you didn’t like about the elective? One thing that can be a bit challenging is that you are paired with different physicians each day. So this can be tough to build relationships (i.e., if you wanted a reference) and know what each person expects of you. It also is a bit tougher to know everyones schedule, for instance I would show up sometimes at 830am for clinic but that particular physician didn't start their clinic until 10am. That being said, everyone was really nice and there are opportunities to do call or other activities with specific physicians. 8. Has this elective influenced your career decisions? If so, how? I came into the elective thinking I would be interested in family medicine and although this elective didn't necessarily change that it did open my eyes the options family medicine has to offer. Family physicians in the hospital work as surgical assists for c-sections and also preform newborn exams. Also just reinforced that if I do go into family, I want to offer very comprehensive women's health care. 9. Do you have any recommendations for things to do/explore/eat in the local area? Didn't go very far beyond the hospital. But the hospital is very boujee - there is a Starbucks, sushi spot, many other places to eat, very nice learner lounge, etc. 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? I think there is probably some flexibility in what you get to do. As I mentioned I had a few afternoons/mornings off from gyne clinic - so if you want, ask if you can join other areas (e.g. outpatient prenatal or gyne clinics). I also know there is some opportunity to do urogynecology if you are interested. 11. Would you recommend this elective to current students? Yes! Learned a lot, really nice team and lots of opportunities to work on skills. Often you are the only one with the staff, there weren't any residents at the time while I was there. 12. Anything else you want people to know/would like to add about the experience? Really smooth onboarding process, they give you a locker, show you where scrub machine is etc. Parking was $50 for two weeks. Feel free to reach out if you have questions [email protected] OTMH maternity suite. Credit: insidehalton.com
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Background Credit: Lindsey Falk, c2023 McMaster University
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