Hi everyone

I'm an IMG and I will do a 4 weeks elective in neurosurgery. I am searching for students that have experienced an elective in neurosurgery or who have worked with electives student in this area. 

I wanted to ask you details about the role of the elective student. What do we have to do : presenting patients on round ? Typing information about patient on the computer health system ? Do we perform proceedure as lumbar puncture, stitching ? Do we scrub in, and once in the OR what is our role (give surgical tools ?) ? And lastly, do we write post op repport or is it the resident's job? 

Please if you have lived this experience add as many details about what was it like : your role but also what you did wrong or you ould do differently and what you did right. 

If you did another elective in another surgical area or if you know someone that has, please take part on this post. 

Thank you very much to all

Does anybody know who the new chair at rutgers NJMS will be? I recall them saying that it would be announced by now but still no word...

What do you guys think about some of the lesser known programs?  Who is a diamond in the rough?

I'm looking for a solid Sub-I in the midwest area. Can anybody comment on the relative strengths and weaknesses of these two programs?

UC Davis just had their complement increased to 1-2-1-2-1 per ACGME website.

As the name implies is public service loan forgiveness compatible with neurosurgery.  Assuming you do pay-as-you-earn in residency.  Residency is 7 of the 10 years, how much of my $280k loan can I expect to pay back, and have forgiven.

Is it expected to send thank you emails post interview?

This probably sounds like a silly question but : How do you know if you have done well on the Sub-I ? That you have a good chance that they might at least give you an IV come match time ? I find Americans are so polite and proper in all their interactions - it is kinda hard to tell if they genuinely think you're good. 

I guess I am just overthinking things because I have so much resting on this rotation as a non US IMG .

But I would really like to know if there is some way you guys know for sure that you have made a good impression - any thoughts ? (just to put my mind at rest so that I can continue studying for CK ) Thank you !

Does attending a residency program with a pediatric fellowship provide much advantage for doing a peds fellowship over someone at a program without one?

Interesting descriptive study in JNS: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29303441