A German Wants To Go To New York City

[clemensthedoc]

HI,
i´m a german medical student in my fourth year of a six year program. i`m studying at the university of heidelberg and i want to go to new york city for 8 months (august 2005 to march 2006). i would like to do so called "ROTATIONS”, others call it "CLINICAL CLERKSHIPS". but i`m not able to leave my german university for an american one, so i just want to apply directly at a hospital and ask if i can spend a few months on their wards.
so far so good...
the thing is, that i am having trouble finding addresses, phone numbers and email addresses of hospitals in new york city. i searched on the internet, but it is hard to find the right person to contact and lots of the hospitals will only accept students, who are in their final year of their medical-study-program (and i`m not, i will be in my fifth year, then).
i heard through a friend, that it is much easier to enter a so called "community hospital", because they are NOT linked to a university and they will accept foreign students, who are NOT in their final year.
BUT I NEED YOUR HELP....
because these hospitals are very hard to find (because they are not that well-known, I guess) and maybe you can give me some (internet-)addresses, some advice or tell me about some experiences you had...
thanks a lot,

clemens

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[PathOne]

Here's a list of tri-state hospitals:
http://www.gnyha.org/memlist/hospitals.html

Generally, you'd want to look on the hospital websites for the name of the dept. chair and/or Residency program director for the specialty you're interested in. I have no personal experience with clinical rotations as a Foreign Medical Student, but I too have seen the requirement that one should be in the final year of medical school. Some, however, also accepts fifth-year students, e.g. McGill (in Canada):
http://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/undmededuca/english/cal/visitstu.html

Also, you will have to get your own malpractise insurance for the duration of your stay, since that will not be provided by your home university. Most places would restrict you to between 8 and 12 weeks rotation.

Also note, that you'll probably run into a visa problem. Since you plan to stay in the US for more than 3 months, you will need sponsorship for a student visa. However, since no institution is likely to take you on for more than 12 weeks, that could give you some real challenges.

It might be easier if you applied for an "observership" rather than a clinical rotation, because that probably gets you past that final-year-hurdle. However, as an observer you can't do any procedures. Basically, you can't touch the patient. So I imagine that can get fairly boring fairly quickly. Also, you could do "shadowing" as many US undergrads do to gain medical experience before applying for med school. But again, it'll probably provide you with a sub-par experience, certainly compared to a clinical rotation.

Another problem with observerships is that the institution is unlikely to sponsor a visa, so, again, you will be limited to a 3 month total stay.

Finally, remember to check if your university has any informal or formal ties with US schools. That can make the entire procedure a lot easier.

 

[hajra_magyarok]

I know a 4th or 5th year Australian girl at my school (Columbia), who's doing a "rotation" in Endocrinology. She said she just emailed people in the departments that she was interested in. One problem is that she cannot work with patients directly because of insurance problems. Anyway, New York is an awesome place and I hope your plan works out!

 

[PathOne]

Yes, that would probably be an "observership" as mentioned above. They shouldn't be difficult to get, if one asks nicely.