Let’s try this again, since it looks like I am not getting any bites on the old thread and I am sure somebody out there must know something.

I am continuing to research the idea of practicing military medicine at some point in the future (FAP during residency, at the earliest) and think that I would like to meet with and observe some active duty attendings.

Since the recruiters have been less than spectacular about arranging for some tours, I was looking into the idea of doing one of my elective rotations with the HPSPers. After a bit of arm twisting I got the Navy to admit that it might be possible for a civilian to do a rotation through one of their hospitals, but that there would have to be a ‘Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)’ between my school (WSU-SOM) and the hospital in order for it to happen. And they made it sound like the MOU that they have for the HPSPers would not cover me, is that correct?

So how much red tape should I expect to run into if I attempt to have a new MOU generated to allow me to do an away elective at a military hospital?
Has anyone on here had to go through the process of having a MOU generated?

Thanks all.

Let’s try this again, since it looks like I am not getting any bites on the old thread and I am sure somebody out there must know something.

I am continuing to research the idea of practicing military medicine at some point in the future (FAP during residency, at the earliest) and think that I would like to meet with and observe some active duty attendings.

Since the recruiters have been less than spectacular about arranging for some tours, I was looking into the idea of doing one of my elective rotations with the HPSPers. After a bit of arm twisting I got the Navy to admit that it might be possible for a civilian to do a rotation through one of their hospitals, but that there would have to be a ‘Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)’ between my school (WSU-SOM) and the hospital in order for it to happen. And they made it sound like the MOU that they have for the HPSPers would not cover me, is that correct?

So how much red tape should I expect to run into if I attempt to have a new MOU generated to allow me to do an away elective at a military hospital?
Has anyone on here had to go through the process of having a MOU generated?

Thanks all.

It is a legalistic nightmare but it can be done. Because military and civilian hospitals often cross-train at the resident level, that is the primary precedent, rather than med student exchanges, but I'm also pretty sure that non-HPSP med students rotate at Walter Reed from the other DC area med schools. Here is what I would do if I were you:

1. You need to target a military hospital that has a residency program that you may be interested in (internal medicine, radiology or whatever). Chances are, they would be most familiar with MOUs because they probably send their residents to at least one outside hospital to cross train.
2 Contact both the residency program director and the hospital's GME office and explain your situation. Ask them if they could send you a copy of the MOU they have with the outside hospital.
3. If they say yes, take a copy to your med school's education office and ask them if they could sign off on it or generate a more appropriate one.
4. This procedure doesn't always work; sometimes there is just too much inertia and red tape. Start early -- don't expect quick results.

RMD 287

Let’s try this again, since it looks like I am not getting any bites on the old thread and I am sure somebody out there must know something.

I am continuing to research the idea of practicing military medicine at some point in the future (FAP during residency, at the earliest) and think that I would like to meet with and observe some active duty attendings.

Since the recruiters have been less than spectacular about arranging for some tours, I was looking into the idea of doing one of my elective rotations with the HPSPers. After a bit of arm twisting I got the Navy to admit that it might be possible for a civilian to do a rotation through one of their hospitals, but that there would have to be a ‘Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)’ between my school (WSU-SOM) and the hospital in order for it to happen. And they made it sound like the MOU that they have for the HPSPers would not cover me, is that correct?

So how much red tape should I expect to run into if I attempt to have a new MOU generated to allow me to do an away elective at a military hospital?
Has anyone on here had to go through the process of having a MOU generated?

Thanks all.


It really shouldn't be that hard. Both Madigan (Fort Lewis, WA) and Tripler (Hawaii) have students at the hospital that are non-military. You just need to contact the GME office at the respective hospitals. A recruiter likely has no knowledge of how to help you out.

Thanks for the thoughts.
I get the feeling that I should probably start focusing on one hospital and one program; that being said any suggestions on which I should aim for?
I’ll follow up that question by reiterating my goal for such a rotation – to get a feel for what current military medicine is really like (since all my family connections with it are 30+ years old), with the hope of being able to make a better educated decision as to how well military medicine might fit into my future. In other words, should I listen to all of the experienced and jaded folks on this board that are saying to run far and fast or might military medicine be something that I would enjoy doing for a few years and would be beneficial to my subsequent practice.

I’ll have to check with my Student Affairs office to see what (if any) MOUs they currently have on file (I assume that they must have some for the HPSPers, right?).

As for not expecting quick results – that is why I am starting to work on setting this up now (as a second year), probably for sometime during my fourth year.