Would anyone be willing to shed some light on the clinical years...
In particular, I would like to know:
1. How are the clinical years organized, through the student or through the college?.
Here's what I can tell you: You fill out a survey at the end of your first years asking where you want to do rotations. You are placed in groups over the summer that will best accomodate that. For instance: There are 13 four-week rotations and 13 groups that are staggered. If 13 people wanted to go to Sacred Heart in Pensacola for their third year, then they would all be placed in different groups. That way, 13 people will rotate through OB/GYN, for example, during the year-- one for each month. That's if there is only one slot available. If their are two slots available per rotation then you could theoretically have 26 people rotate in OB/GYN at that hospital during the year. In another example, St. Pete General has 12 slots per month for IM, so you have 156 slots in the year and could theoretically have my entire class do an IM rotation there if they wanted to.
You have to do all of your cores in third and forth year at a core affiliate hospital. It's really just a matter of picking where you want to go to do it. Once you are in a group you are then competing with people in your group for spots and occasionally with an overlapping group. If you are the only one in your group who wants a particular spot, then you get it. It's that simple. There's a big meeting between group leaders before our final choices are submitted to the clinical office to work any problems out. It's good to work things out in advance because if you don't the clinical office will just pick a spot for you. In reality, the people in the clinical office are really good to work with. They've been really good to me.
Once the final picks are all finished they send out a list with all the left over spots. If you want to switch at that time, then you have the opportunity to do it. You have two electives in the third year. You set those and an FP up yourself. There's a list with several hundred preceptors in addition to all the other unfilled spots to choose from. Of course, you can always go anywhere you want for electives. You have 4 electives in the forth year and a rural/underserved rotation. Again, you set those up yourself. All the other rotations have to be done with a core affiliate and you do the same group thing that you did the year before.
2. Are the rotation sites accommodating to students -- do you feel they are preparing you adequately?.
Currently, there are some good ones and probably some not-so-good ones. The number of core sites is actually being trimmed down because the school wants more control over the type of education you receive. They would rather have fewer sites, but better quality. If it's any indication, the inaugural class really didn't do very well on Step One-- they were below the national average. By the time they took Step Two they were above the national average-- 90 some percent, but I don't remember the actual figure. We are required to take tests during rotations. Based on those scores the school identified 14 people who were in a "danger" area of maybe not passing Step Two. They asked all 14 to voluntarily come off rotations for a month, come to Bradenton and have a board prep class. 8 agreed to do that and all 8 passed. The 6 who did not want to come back for the prep were the 6 failures in the class for Step Two. IMO, the scores seem to indicate that students are learning at the current sites. I only expect it to get better.
3. Do you find there's enough time outside of your rotations to study for COMLEX/USMLE?.
You need to take Step One before you go on rotations. That's all I can say about that, but we finish class in mid April and have organised board review for a month. You still have a few weeks to take the exam before rotations begin. You can take it anytime...but you SHOULD take it in May or June. As for Step Two, based on the scores I would say that the firstclass must have had adequate study time. Honestly, on some rotations there's lots of time; on other's there's not. But you also have a month of vacation to use for study if you wish.
4. And for those of you who have already matched into a specialty, are you pleased with how well you did?.
Ask again in a couple of months
🙂.
I searched the LECOM website, but did not find enough info. to satisfy me. I appreciate all your helpful comments.
I hope some of this helps. I'm sure others will weigh in too.


