What's the farthest you commuted for a rotation?

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projectlogic

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Would an hour each way be too much?
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For psych I went half an hour each way.

For Family Medicine (although we do get housing if we want it) I sometimes will commute 45 mins each way.

An hour each way? Is the rotation offering you housing? Do you have a significant other or a pet back at home that you would feel compelled to come back to? I have friends who live in the same building as me in the city who came back from this same FM rotation site because they had a pregnant wife and a serious boyfriend, respectively. I don't have those same obligations, so I can stay at the housing provided (since it's free). If I had to pay for housing, I would be driving back and forth no questions asked.

What's your situation?
 
evilbooyaa said:
For psych I went half an hour each way.

For Family Medicine (although we do get housing if we want it) I sometimes will commute 45 mins each way.

An hour each way? Is the rotation offering you housing? Do you have a significant other or a pet back at home that you would feel compelled to come back to? I have friends who live in the same building as me in the city who came back from this same FM rotation site because they had a pregnant wife and a serious boyfriend, respectively. I don't have those same obligations, so I can stay at the housing provided (since it's free). If I had to pay for housing, I would be driving back and forth no questions asked.

What's your situation?
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The rotation does not offer housing and it's a psych rotation. Should be fine right?

Don't have any obligations back home either, just wanted to save some money.
 
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Dwindlin said:
Personally I wouldn't. Longest I had to commute was 20 minutes.
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Yeah, I'm a little worried that it may impact my ability to perform well on the rotation due to all the commuting/wasted time.
 
Podcasts are your friend. I spent good chunks of 3rd and 4th year including surgery and PICU at a site that is 40mins away when I have to be there by 6am or leave after 6pm but takes a good hour in between and doesn't offer housing. It sucks but is completely doable and I don't think it negatively impacted my performance. It also gives you a chance to decompress without getting sucked into facebook/internet/a good book. I found it was easier for me to start studying when I got home compared to closer places.
 
Oh they don't give you housing?

Yeah, obviously make the commute then. You don't really have an option unless you wanna pay double rent, and that's saying even if you can find a sublet for the length of your rotation.
 
I did 1 hour commutes routinely, counting traffic. It's not fun, and I basically always ate breakfast and dinner in the car, but it is possible.
 
My school requires a rural rotation. I commuted 100 miles each way for a month which worked out to about 80 minutes each way.
 
I certainly wouldn't CHOOSE a rotation an hour away if you had options unless, of course, if it was in a field you were interested in and really wanted the rotation. However, if you are going to have to commute an hour on any rotation, psych is the one to do it on.

Survivor DO
 
I've commuted at least 40 miles away for all my rotations. Some have been as far as 70 miles away. Sucks.
 
As others has said it depends how busy the rotation is. I would commute an hour (unhappily) for light rotations. Things like surgery and OB I would try not to.

Winged Scapula said:
Just out of curiosity, what is the farthest that your programs will make you drive and not provide housing? It seems to me that an hour each way is a little unreasonable.
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Housing is provided for hour+ commutes here.
 
I go to school in the Midwest so can't verify this, but 1 hr commutes are pretty common for some of my friends on the west coast where things are farther apart and their highways suck
 
So, I chose an hour drive each way for my FM rotation. It's a rural rotation which is about halfway between my parents house and my medical school. I am going to stay at my parents house while I commute to the clinic.

My dad is old and seems to be getting more feeble by the day so I willing chose this to spend some time with him. Hours will be 8:30-4:30 every day so I am not that worried about it.


Anyone have any good podcasts I can listen to? Anything that might help me on the FM shelf?
 
If you have no choice and can't switch with anyone, then I guess you're forced to do the rotation. An hour each way is A LOT!

At my school, we are given housing for any rotation that is ~1 hour drive (without traffic) away. I have a rotation at a hospital that is technically only 35-40 minutes away without traffic, so we don't get housing for this rotation. However, we are required to stay for sign-out at 5:30 PM every day which is right in the middle of traffic jam making the drive home about 1-1.5 hours. :mad: The next couple weeks will be such a waste of time.
 
I have an hour and twenty minute commute for my FM rotation, and so far it's been doable. I listen to audiobooks in the car, and that makes the drive less mind-numbing. It's not ideal, and I wouldn't recommend it for a clerkship with really erratic hours, but it's nice to come home to my house rather than a hotel every night and I don't need to worry about finding someone to look after my cat and water my plants.
 
Winged Scapula said:
Just out of curiosity, what is the farthest that your programs will make you drive and not provide housing? It seems to me that an hour each way is a little unreasonable.
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I had to drive from PCOM to Christiana, it was routinely 1.5 hours home at night because of traffic.

Since PCOM pays no money to rotations sites they're in no dire rush to give us housing.
 
Bacchus said:
I had to drive from PCOM to Christiana, it was routinely 1.5 hours home at night because of traffic.

Since PCOM pays no money to rotations sites they're in no dire rush to give us housing.
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Which rotation were you on? I was at Christiana for a rotation, and I remember seeing PCOM students staying at the hotel with us for the month. That's ridiculous to make you guys drive that far.
 
Ilovewater said:
Which rotation were you on? I was at Christiana for a rotation, and I remember seeing PCOM students staying at the hotel with us for the month. That's ridiculous to make you guys drive that far.
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This was mid 2011. I was on surgery. We found out afterwards students had complained and PCOM students got to stay in the block of rooms at a local hotel if not filled by Jeff students.

Needless to say, I got very little sleep when reporting at 5 AM since I got up anywhere between 3 and 4 AM.
 
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