Pathology

Location

Rush

# Weeks

4

Hours/week on site

21-30, 31-40 (2)

Open to M3s?

yes

Scheduled through OASIS?

yes

On Rush schedule?

yes

# other students

2, 1

Prerequisites

none

Interviewing/Step 2 flexibility

2 days, at director's discretion

lots of flexibility, except for the one week on gyne path 

Overnight call?

no

Work weekends?

no

Weekend call?

no

Is there an exam at the end of the rotation

no

Students required to give a presentation

yes

Teaching hours/day

2-3, more than 4, 1-2

Teaching style

Morning report/Case conference, Lecture given by resident or attending, , Student presentations, slide sign-out with attendings

Suggested reading/pocket contents

I would just read about the diseases as they came up.  There is no physical exam.

No essential pocket books.  Robbins for reviewing whatever area you work in that week is a good idea.

Structure of rotation

One-on-one with attendings/residents

Amt/quality of time residents/attendings

We would preview the slides with the residents, and they would teach us what they could.  Then the attendings would view them in the afternoon.  They are mostly very good teachers.

You spend most of the day with the 2 residents in your assigned area (gyn path, autopsy, gi path, etc.)  You will spend a couple of hours in afternoon at sign-out with attendings as well as some who give little teaching sessions throughout the day.  Quality of time and teaching by both residents and attendings was exceptional.

You can spend as much or as little time with the residents and/or attendings as you like.  If you're interested, they'll teach you.  If you're not, they'll leave you alone. 

Proportion of time evaluating pts alone

0-25%

# pts evaluated/day

0

Procedures

never, a few times/month

Typical day

We generally have a lecture at 8.  Differs depending on day of week, most are useful.  Then we start previewing slides around 9:30-10.  We took a break for lunch, then saw the slides with the attending at 1 for about an hour depending on volume.  After that, we were supposed to watch the residents’ gross specimens in the lab for a couple of hours.  Occasionally there was an afternoon lecture.

There is down time throughout the day and you can be more or less involved as you like.

8 a.m. lecture/conference, occasional lunch lecture, free time until sign-out around 1 pm, home after sign-out. 

Usefulness for any residency (# stars/5)

4, 5, 4

Usefulness for this residency (# stars/5)

5, 5, 5

Useful for other specialties

any specialty - it's a good review of pathology

All, especially surgery, ob/gyn.

surgery, med-onc 

Overall rating (# stars/5)

5, 5, 4

Recommended to other students (# stars/5)

5, 5, 4

Other comments

You should get to see at least one autopsy.  If you're interested, ask if you can spend a day with the Cook County Medical Examiner.

If you are interested in a certain area of pathology or are going into a specialty like ob/gyn you can plan with Dr. Reddy to spend more time in that subject area.  She is incredibly easygoing about this and wants you to get the most from the rotation.

Autopsies are a great experience -- real hands-on anatomy, great learning.  Working with Dr. Bitterman for a week makes the whole month worthwhile -- he's very interested in teaching and fun to work with.