Program A is prestigious residency program located relatively close to Scholl but is out of state. Earlier this Spring the P1 class received an excel worksheet of the names and emails of students in the P4 class and where they matched on match day. From this match list I contacted a student who matched at program A and asked him if it would be ok if I visited for a day. After several emails between myself and newly graduated P4 he put me in touch with some of the other residents in the program. Through them I was able to organize a visit to the program which I did last Tuesday.
I was told that they were going to start the day with a morning cases and academics meeting. The meeting started at 6am which means I was suppose to be there by 5:45am. Program A is about an hour away from Scholl therefore I needed to get up at 4am that morning to shower, eat something quickly, and get dressed professionally so that I could make it on time.
I get there at 5:40am on the dot. I meet up with the Chief resident (who is a Scholl alum) and we head into the office room. So its me, a visiting current P4 from Scholl, the chief resident, and another 3rd year resident (graduted from OCPM) and one of the assistant directors of program A. The resident (who graduated from OCPM) is presenting his case, which was interesting, then all of a sudden…”Peter, why did the surgery that the pt received 3 years earlier end up failing?” I couldn’t believe it. I was getting pimped on material I haven’t even learned yet. I was pretty positive I put down in my email that I was a P1 student. I answered “I don’t know”. The visiting P4 chimes in and gives the correct answer. The presentation of the case continues then…another question for me. My answer “I don’t know”. The P4 answers correctly. I’m feeling pretty terrible now. We get through the cases and the assistant director leaves. The chief resident leaves with the visiting P4 and its just me and the resident who was pimping me for a good 20 minutes. I told him I’m sorry for not knowing the material he had asked me questions on. I told him I was only a 1st year student. He then goes “oh man! I’m sorry! I thought you were a 3rd year doing your externship month with us! haha. Sorry about all the questions dude”. I breath a sigh of relief.
We head to one of the affiliated hospitals of program A so that the resident could check up on a patient who just had a full transmetatarsal amputation. The pt had been suffering from Diabetic keto-acidosis and ended up getting ulcers on her foot. Therefore she needed the amputation to save the rest of her foot. Up to this point in my academic career I’ve only seen full transmetatarsal amputations on youtube. Seeing a post-op pt who had just had this operation done was a first for me. The resident checked the healing process and the assistant director, who had been with us in the morning, came in to speak with the patient. The resident then changed the dressings and re-wrapped the wound. After they were done with the patient we headed to the assistant director’s clinic.
We get to the clinic and I keep my mouth shut. The resident then explains to the assistant director that I was only a first year student. His eyes light up. “Why are you here?” I answered that I had a Summer break and that I wanted to get more clinical exposure since I had only shadowed a podiatrist working in a private practice. “Why did you choose podiatry?” “Where are you from?” “Why did you end up choosing Scholl if you are from New Jersey? What’s wrong with NYCPM?”. I’m on my toes now trying to rattle off as any coherent responses as possible.
I spent the next three hours in the clinic shadowing both the resident and the assistant director of the program. The clinic is located within an orthopaedic practice. I alternated between the resident and assistant director the entire time. We saw numerous patients suffering from a variety of medical issues. The questions continued “Are you married? Gotta girlfriend? Dating?”. He quotes a movie and now asks me the name of the character that stated it from that movie…things are starting to get entertaining now.
Every time a pt from the clinic got films done the assistant director pulled me over to show me the fracture and other radiological findings. It was great that I was being taught by the physician who is in charge of interviewing applicants for his residency program. Later in the morning there was some downtime for like 10-15 minutes and the director pulled me aside and asked me if I had any questions for him. We started chatting about a variety of topics and then I asked him about what he values in a person who is applying to his program. He stated:
- Be a “go getter” – stressed this most importantly
- Have a high GPA – shows us how much you know
- Good hands
In the clinic, one patient in particular that the resident and I encountered was very disgruntled. She had a fractured sesamoid bone in her foot. For those who don’t know, the sesamoids are located on the distal end of the first metatarsal. From what I was hearing, its a painful and very annoying issue. It takes a long time to heal and becomes quite nagging. Well obviously this pt had enough with this medical issue not resolving itself. The resident handled the situation beautifully and maintained his composure as the pt vented her frustrations.
After we finished seeing pts in the clinic I was told that I should join the chief resident and the visiting P4 student in surgery over at another hospital affiliated with program A. Myself and the resident I was shadowing at the clinic walked out together. He offered a several words of advice and wisdom as we headed out. Some of the things he stated were:
- GPA matters – shoot for 3.5 or higher
- Have good hands
- Be sociable! He stressed this point because he said its important that your resident directors like you as a person.
I then traveled to the nearby hospital to meet up with the chief resident and the visiting P4 student from Scholl. They were doing a surgical case with another assistant director of program A. They were doing a peroneal tendon repair. This was the first time I had ever observed a surgery first hand. It was a great experience and not something I thought I was going to be able to see.
Of course, as soon as I entered the OR and had observed for a little bit I then hear my name. “Hey Peter whats the nerve that travels to lateral side of the foot”. My answer “sural nerve”. “What’s the primary ossification time of the calcaneus?” “Secondary ossification time of the calcaneus?” “Where does the peroneus longus tendon insert?”. Question after question. Then the assistant director turns to me and asks the why I wanted to go to Scholl and where are you from questions. The questions kept on coming off and on during the 3.5 hour surgery. It was quite the experience.
One of the funnier comments of the day was when the chief resident turned to me and asked “is this your first surgery?” I answered “yes”. The chief resident then stated “awesome, then I am the best surgeon you have seen!” The assistant director then turns to me and said “well at least you are starting the bar rather low”. Everyone in the OR started laughing.
The surgery finishes up and I get changed back into my shirt and tie and put my white coat back on. Myself, the chief resident, the visiting P4, and the assistant director take the elevator down to the first floor. There is an awkward silence. I feel everyone just staring at me. All of a sudden the assistant director states “that white coat is awfully white! As soon as you get home you should roll around in the dirt so it looks more authentic.” The chief resident then states “Or you should just spray yourself down with betadine”. Everyone got a good laugh about that one.
I shook everyone’s hands and thanked them for letting me shadow. They told me to come back any time. I really felt I learned a great deal and I saw a great deal of podiatric pathologies that I had never seen before in my prior shadowing experiences. Although first year students are not further enough along in their education to truly appreciate the clinical cases I saw on Tuesday I still think visiting programs like I did is a worthwhile experience. If anything it has reinforced my motivation to get the best grades possible and to work as hard as possible in the clinic. I hope I can match into a program like program A one day too.