IM at Kings County or Wycoff?

[addisonjuicelover]

Which one is the better IM rotation?

[atth]

the IM rotation at kings is a good rotation. you learn A LOT! the only drawback is that you will probably put in about 80 hours a week there! the hours at kings is 7am-7pm...that is if you can get things done on time to leave on time. every 5th day you have to put in 24 hours (on-call). and if your fifth day is on a weekend, tough luck. the director and the attendings told us that at the end of the rotation, you are pretty much almost at the same level as a first year resident when it comes to admitting a patient and knowing what to do from there.

[alpathmd]

Kings: you might learn alot, but it's "practical" medicine. I have rotated with a few who did IM at Kings and was surprised when they could not recognize a patient in shock and didn't know how to treat them. Also, you put in so many hours at Kings (80-120hrs) that there is no time to sleep or read. Is that the type of rotation you are looking for? Also...Kings is infamous for failing a handfew with each group. Do you want to take that chance?

Wyckoff: Apparently, you have to do 50-75 (originally 100) H & P's. They are the basis of your oral exam at the end of the rotation. This will definately come handy when preparing for Step 2 CS which many don't realize.

A.

[sukhtinder]

i 'worked' at wyckoff for my Im rotation back in the laste 90s early 2000, but friends rotated through kings country. i cant tell u 1st hand about wyckoff, but kings is all hearsay, but here goes:

kings county: good teaching, but crappy facilites, lousy area, and long hours. again u will probably learn alot of medicine, which is probably better for spet 2 CK (which is exponentially harder than CS)

wyckoff: unless drastically changed, u will learn how to master your physical exam, but wont learn much for step 2 CK. ull also learn how to do a lot of scutwork for the residents (running to get xrays, checking labs). remember u must know about acid/base, diagnosing and treating CHF, MI, diverticulitis, ACLS, lab medicine, and HTN. i dont remember anyone actually trying to even remotely teach you anything about the above, which is essential to pass your step 2CK and eventually step 3. i relied on kaplan to pass step 2ck, simply because most of step 2 is made up of IM, and wyckoff didnt really teach anything related to that. but like alm said, u will ace the step 2 CS witgh he practise youll gain from wyckoff's rotation. alos wyckoff's hours seem alot better than kings county, i remember coming in at about 730 and leaving by 430.

good luck!

[Spanky]

I did my IM core at King's and I totally disagree that you will learn a lot there. You will see tons of diabetic foot ulcers and sickle cell crises so you will know those well, but not much else. The hours are so long you have no time to read anything which is a BIG problem since IM is so vast and you need to study on your won to do well on step 2.

People think it's great to perform 'like and intern' but if being an intern involves doing scut all day long, I'm switching careers! Unlike at King's, interns don't have to spend all day wheeling patients down to Xray, doing much of the work for the nurses and social workers, filling out 5 forms to discharge 1 patient, etc. Most of what you do is not medically related and had ZERO educational value. Maybe you have to do some of this stuff as an intern, but it's not what you should be doing while in med school! Med school is a time to learn the material and explore the field. At King's you are a slave and you education comes a distant second. For sure you get out much less than what you put in.

I say stay away from King's, that's honest advice. I really regret going there. At Wyckoff you may have less responsibility but if you self-study you will know the material which is what counts.