Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine Office of Student Affairs

1
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of
MedicineOffice of Student Affairs

• CLASS OF 2014
• INTRODUCTION TO
• FOURTH YEAR
• SCHEDULING PLANNING

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Agenda

• Fourth Year Clerkship Track System
• Lottery Process
• Required clerkships
• Elective requirements, registration VSAS
• USMLE Step 2 requirements timing
• Residency Planning Future Meetings
• Online Resources

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Table of Contents

• Slides 4 12 Handout, Calendar 4th Year
  Overview
• 13 17 Required Clerkships (Sub-Is and EM)
• 18 22 Electives
• 23 27 4th Year Goal by Season
• 28 29 Intramural Electives
• 30 37 Extramural Electives
• 38 39 Discretionary Time
• 40 42 Step 2 Exams
• 43 50 Residency Planning

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Handout

• Clerkship Track System and Its Policies
• Lottery Timeline
• Lottery Numbers
• Fourth Year Calendar
• Timeline for Elective Registration Calendar
• 4th Yr Planning Sheet

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Calendar

• Yr 4 start date First clerkship block starts
  Monday, July 1, 2013 (July Period 9A)
• Qtrly break weeks at end of Sept (fall break),
  December (winter break), none formally assigned
  at end of March
• Match Day and Graduation dates tentatively
  posted. Graduation will take place either
  Saturday, May 18th or Sunday the 19th

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Fourth Year Overview of Requirements

• 12 weeks of core clerkships
• Emergency Medicine, Sub-I Wards, Sub-I ICU
• 30 weeks of elective time available
• Bioethics Requirements
• Completion of Ethics Case Paper (should be
  completed during third year)
• Completion of Ethics Grand Rounds (min. of 4
  sessions total by end of fourth year)
• USMLE Step 2 CK and CS

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Core Clerkships

• One 4-week Wards Subinternship
• Offered each period 9A (July) through 12A
  (April),
• One 4-week Critical Care Subinternship
• Offered each period 9A (July) through 12A
  (April),
• One 4-week Emergency Medicine Clerkship
• Offered each period 9A (July) through 12A (April)

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Bioethics Requirement

• Ethics case paper due in Yr 3 April 19, 2013
• Four Ethics Grand Rounds must be completed
  cumulatively over 2nd, 3rd and 4th years

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Fourth Yr Track Features

• Flexibility
• Opportunity for student choice
• One required core clerkship and two electives in
  each of first three quarters
• Availability of at least half of the elective
  time in first half of the year

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Fourth Yr Track System

• Assigned to track by lottery
• Computer generated lottery number
• Rank order all tracks
• Deadline to submit rank form is Friday, February
  8, 2013

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Picking a track

• Consider what your elective and residency choice
  needs may be in each quarter
• Consider when you might take USMLE Step 2 CK and
  CS
• Consider which core clerkships could prep you
  best for the key electives you will take

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Attendance

• Limited time off for serious reasons in both
  subinternships and emergency medicine (3 days
  including weekend days)
• Final exam schedule is NOT changeable
• Plan holiday or interview travel after only
  determining the date and time of day of exams
• Labor Day is a holiday but not a 3 day weekend if
  service team is not off
• Thanksgiving is a four day holiday weekend

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Clerkship Requirements

• Purpose and Assignment Process

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Subinternships

• 4-weeks in-pt medicine (Sub-I Wards)
• Examples of services Gen med, OB, Cardiology,
  Hem/Onc, Surgery, Peds
• Loyola, Gottlieb, Hines, West Sub
• 4-weeks intensive care unit (Sub-I ICU)
• Examples of services MICU, SICU, BICU, CCU,
  NICU, PICU
• Loyola, Central Dupage, Hines, Resurrection, West
  Sub

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Purpose of subinternships

• Focus on skills and attitudes necessary to care
  for hospitalized and critically ill patients
• Emphasis is on patient care in the context of
  wards or ICU emphasis is not on the specialty
• Thus, subinternships are posted on SSOM
  transcript without specialty noted (transcript
  reads only Subintern-Wards and Subintern-ICU)

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Subinternship assignments

• Opportunity will be provided to submit preference
  rank lists for site/service
• Assignments by lottery to services and sites by
  late winter through Dr. Leischners office
  (separate lottery process, using track rank list
  in reverse order)

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Rescheduling Sub-I

• Changes may be possible according to track system
  traffic rules
• May trade entire track or individual clerkship
• After Subinternship site/service assignments are
  created, changes must be approved by Debi Kurcab
  in the Med Dept. and reported to Registration and
  Records

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ELECTIVES

• Policies registration process
• Purpose of elective curriculum
• How to design your program

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Electives

• Course Descriptions online in SSOM Elective
  Catalog
• Most electives are 4 weeks in length
• There are several 2-week electives available
• 26 weeks of elective time in years 3 and 4
  minimum graduation requirement
• Of the 26 weeks, your elective program must
  include 5 full-time electives that are at least
  4-weeks in length, i.e. 20 weeks of 4-week
  electives.

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Electives (continued)

• 12 weeks of elective time permitted away
  (extramurals)
• 12 weeks permitted in any specialty (in M4 year)
• Excludes time in core clerkships in the specialty
• Excludes M3-year elective
• Includes electives at Loyola and away
• Includes clinical and research courses
• Other elective policies in catalog preface

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Purpose of Electives

• Broadens strengthens clinical experience
• Tests interest in an area of specialization
• Provides research or special opportunities
• Permits self determination and responsibility for
  content of program

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Building Your Elective Program Content

• Use Specialty Elective Guide at online Loyola
  Elective Catalog site
• Talk to faculty and specialty advisor(s)
• Attend specialty department sessions and ask
  questions
• Talk to faculty in your field(s) of interest
• See Dean Mendez for input
• Attend Students Advising Students (SAS) programs

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4th Year Goals by Season

• Focus of each quarter
• Summer
• Fall
• Winter
• Spring

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Summer Goals (July/Aug/Sept)

• Solidify specialty interest
• May/may not need to take specialty elective at
  Loyola to earn a recommendation letter (depends
  on prior exposure)
• Summer work may bump up performance level
• Courses provides prep for important externships
• May need to study weeks/month for USMLE Step 2
  prep
• Preparation of residency application starts
• Externships start
• Complete Step 2 study and take CK and CS (more on
  this later)

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Fall Goals (Oct/Nov/Dec)

• Externships continue
• Residency interview season kicks in will you
  need time off? Should you take DT?
• Should you plan an away elective that
  geographically places you in proximity to
  residency interview locales?
• Sept/Oct courses could still produce residency
  recommendation letters
• Complete Step 2 study and take CK and CS (more on
  this later)

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Winter Goals (Jan/Feb/Mar)

• Take courses to round out your education
• Prepare for starting a residency (what do you
  still need to learn?)
• Rank residencies for match (mid Jan - late Feb)
• International elective?

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Spring Goals (Apr/May)

• Take enrichment courses
• International elective? (more details will be
  given at April information session)
• Take residency prep electives offered at SSOM
• Get tuitions worth by staying enrolled
• Take DT for personal/transitional use
• Complete graduation requirements
• Graduate!!!

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Elective Registration Process

• How When to Register

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Elective RegistrationIntramurals (Loyola)

• Review course descriptions policies in elective
  catalog online
• Online elective registration through myLUMEN
• Sign up starts about 4 months in advance of each
  elective months start date
• More info from ORR closer to first opening
  registration date (1st week of March)

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Externships (extramural electives)

• Up to 12 weeks permitted usually through another
  US med school
• Loyola sign up Timetable does NOT apply
• Reference AAMC Extramural Elective Compendium for
  timeline, websites, contact person at site (link
  available in Loyola Elective Catalog website)
• Sign up 1 5 months in advance of start date
  typically April mid-May for summer courses.
• CHECK YOUR EXTRAMURAL SITES SIGN UP DATE!

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Purpose of externships

• To get an excellent learning experience
• To help narrow specialty interests
• To see a program of interest first hand
• To work with an outstanding faculty
• To show your stuff and perhaps get a
  recommendation letter
• To assess a programs compatibility with your
  needs
• To do unique non-hospital based experiences

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Do you need to do 3 externships (12 weeks)?

• It depends
• On your interests, profile, specialty field and
  geographical considerations
• Most students should do one or two
• Some specialties discourage more than one
  elective in the field others promote student
  enrollment in several. SEEK ADVICE!

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Extramural Registration

• Review policies in SSOM catalog
• Review visiting student policies on other
  schools website
• Application
• online Visiting Student Application Service
  (VSAS) OR
• paper application packet submitted through SSOM
  Reg Rec
• Please dont do both unless you have verified
  with school that they require this (yes, a small
  handful are crazy and want both online and paper
  applications)

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Visiting Student Application Service

• Developed by AAMC
• Greater than 3/4th of US medical schools use VSAS
  to process visiting student applications the
  others use their own paper applications.
• See http//www.aamc.org/programs/vsas/students/sta
  rt.htm for a list of schools using VSAS (will be
  updated for 13-14 year in late January).
• More info about VSAS forthcoming from
  Registration Records
• Registration Records will upload transcripts
  and certify applications
• Registration Records will Release
  applications on VSAS

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Extramural Registrationfor schools not using VSAS

• Complete Loyolas extramural application AND
• Complete other institutions Visiting Student
  Application
• Often possible to list more than one date or
  several elective preferences
• Compile supporting documents submit to Tess
  Kazda in Registration Records
• Dean Mendez will review and approve application
  application packet will then be mailed to
  extramural school

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Extramural Registrationadditional documentation
(submitted via VSAS or by paper)
Typical Supporting documents

• Proof of liability coverage
• Current immunization record
• Proof of UP/OSHA/HIPAA training
• Proof of hospitalization insurance
• Possibly SSOM transcript
• Possibly faculty/deans letter of recommendation
• Possibly criminal background check record
• Possibly affiliation agreement? Memo of
  Understanding?

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Elective Add/Drop Policy

• Add register for electives at least one month
  prior to start date
• Drop (Loyola courses) at least one month prior
• Drop (Extramurals) according to other
  institutions policy, typically 4 6 weeks prior.

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Discretionary Time Use

• Time for Additional Elective Opportunities OR
• For USMLE Step 2 study time
• Residency Interview time off
• For extramural calendar adjustment (other
  schools calendar doesnt match Stritchs)
• For remediation needs
• For personal needs

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Applying for Discretionary Time Off

• May be taken in one week or longer increments
• Request must be submitted in advance
• Submit Discretionary Time requests through
  myLUMEN Elective Registration page

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USMLE STEP 2 CK CS

• First attempt CK CS exams be taken by the end
  of semester 1 of fourth year (i.e., by December
  31, 2013)
• Residencies programs increasingly want proof of
  Step 2 score or if not score proof of passing
  before ranking candidates (i.e., score needed by
  end of January 2014)
• USMLE Step 2 CK CS must be PASSED to graduate
  and scores must be reported at least two month
  prior to graduation, approx mid-March 2014.

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USMLE Step 2 planning Residency considerations

• If exam is taken before Aug. 30, scores are out
  before interviews are offered
• If exam is taken on or before end of Nov., scores
  are out during interview season and before
  residencies make rank decisions
• Exams taken in January do not meet school
  graduation requirement and will not be available
  to residencies prior to their ranking (not
  recommended)

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USMLE Step 2 CK CS timing

• CK
• Scores reported approx 4-6 weeks after test date.
  
• CS
• Scores are reported according to a block
  schedule http//www.usmle.org/step-2-cs/reportin
  g
• June 1 July 13 Reported Aug 14 Sept 11,
  2013
• July 14 Sept 7 Reported Oct 9 Nov 6, 2013
• Sept 8 - Nov 2 Reported Dec 4, 2013 - Jan 1,
  2014
• Nov 3 - Dec 31 Reported Jan 29 - Feb 19, 2014
• Note USMLE offers no CS testing May 19 May 31,
  2013

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Residency Planning

• You may want to know now

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Residency Letters of Recommendation

• Up to 4 letters for ERAS/NRMP programs often
  only 3 are requested.
• Up to three for early match programs
• Request letters when opportunities present
  themselves
• Submitted by writer to Student Affairs with 2013
  ERAS cover letter in June mid-Sept (cover
  letter available in June)

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CV and Personal Statement

• Feedback on CVs recently submitted
• May submit updated copy for Deans Letter use
  (exact due date this spring TBA)
• Personal paragraph needed for deans letter
  (exact due date this spring TBA instructions
  will be provided

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Online Resources

• Loyola Elective Catalog http//stritch.luc.edu/de
  pts/regrec/catalog
• AAMC Extramural Elective Compendium
  http//www.aamc.org/students/medstudents/electives
  /start.htm
• AMA-FREIDA (Residency program info)
  http//www.ama-assn.org/go/freida
• Match info http//www.nrmp.org/
• Residency Web Application process
  http//www.aamc.org/audienceeras.htm
• USMLE STEP 2 info http//www.usmle.org/step-2-ck/
  
• Visiting Student Application Service
  https//www.aamc.org/students/medstudents/vsas/
• Careers in Medicine http//www.aamc.org/cim

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Future Workshops

• Deans Letter Process
• February 18th in the evening
• The Match ERAS (E-residency application
  service)
• April 17th following PCM3 sessions

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Ask Questions!

• It is acceptable, expected, smart
• Where
• Registration Records (changing your schedule,
  how to sign up for electives, policies)
• Student Affairs (what to take, when)
• Faculty Advisor (what, where, when)
• Specialty faculty (where, when, how many)
• Elective dept. offices (how, which)

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Submitting your Track Preferences

• Go to myLUMENgtClerkship Tracking Sys.gt Fourth
  Year Track Ranking Form

Ranking Form submission deadline is Friday,
February 8, 2013

• If you encounter any problems, contact Julie
  Steinecker (jsteinecker_at_lumc.edu)

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Questions?