EM Rotation and Setting Up Auditions

This month has been fairly low-key as far as my emergency med rotation goes. Somebody in some office not affiliated with the ER docs' group set up my schedule, each day with a different doc, and the docs don't know I'm supposed to be there until I show up at the beginning of their shift. The unfortunate thing is I have to take both parts of my level 2 boards this month, plus go to a doctor's appointment an hour away. I asked the "somebody" if he could alter the schedule, which he obligingly did. However, I was left with an awful 11-day stretch with no days off amongst being at the hospital, taking an all-day test, flying to take another all-day test.... I decided to add in my own days off to even things out. Every now and then, there are perquisites to being in a new program with no one knowing what the hell's going on. I don't want to take advantage of this loophole by being lazy, so I may switch around the end of the month so I can experience an overnight shift instead of strictly day shifts.

I took the computer-based portion of my board the 6th and will fly out the 13th to take the practical portion, only offered in PA. In addition to these tests complicating the month, I am trying to set up audition rotations at hospitals that have orthopedic residencies to which I want to apply. I have been more successful than I expected, as I applied for the rotations a bit late in the game. I'm finding that sites' rotation coordinators can take several months to get back to you regarding whether you can rotate. When they do, three in a row have responded with a large packet of information that I had to fill out quickly and remit along with information directly from my school since the rotation had apparently already been scheduled for me. Twice, I have had to tell the coordinator that I already set up a different rotation while waiting to hear back.

The really embarrassing event was when I mixed up a couple programs. I already have a rotation set up at HFHS for October, and someone emailed me from BGMC, only identifying the program by its initials. Well, all the initials ran together in my mind and I thought she was contacting me about the rotation I had already set up, asking for paperwork I thought was already completed. So, I faxed back the completed paperwork, most of which was thankfully for BGMC. In my panic and confusion, I faxed back a few pages from HFHS as well. Totally mortified, I had to email the BGMC rotation coordinator, apologize profusely, and explain the situation with as positive a spin as possible. Not much room for spinning, unfortunately. In my defense, though, her email said something like "we have you penciled in for October but don't have any paperwork on you, so fill it out and send it in." Realize that this is the first time I have ever heard from BGMC, and had no idea I had been "penciled in" there. In any case, this all happened late Friday, so I won't hear back on the issue until Monday at the very earliest.

If you were able to follow that whole story, then I could sure use a personal assistant. I sill feel like I'm in Vegas, and I've been in Pueblo, CO for two weeks already. All this trouble keeping track of rotation sites and dates has been a good experience. I only have a handful of potential audition rotation sites, whereas my list of residencies is over a dozen if you include traditional internship programs. Since the rotation arm and the residency arm of a program are somewhat separate, I'm hoping my little mix-up doesn't reflect poorly on my quality as a residency applicant at that location. In any case, I'm determined to be more organized as the residency interview and application process gets more involved. It just wouldn't do to be in an interview and answer the question "What sets our program apart from the others?" with a list of things I like about another residency.

Well, it's after midnight and I still can't sleep, but I should try since I have to be at the hospital tomorrow.

Scott