Anyone else really surprised to see the (U) on their AMCAS?

[ChrisMack390]

I knew the town I grew up in had a giant population of elderly people and tons of retirement communities, but the town seems to be jam packed with doctor's offices everywhere you look, and it holds one of the regional hospitals.

Am I going to seem like a fool for answering "no" to whether or not I perceived this? We never really had a ton of trouble getting appointments or anything like that, though as I have lived in Boston for a long while I have noticed that the care my parents get tends to be suspect to say the least.

As I type this I am questioning if we were medically underserved and I just didn't notice as a child/teen. A visit to the ER definitely took several hours of wait time and an appointment with a specialist sometimes 6 or 8 or more weeks. I was under the impression that is fairly typical though? The hospital I mentioned does serve an enormous geographic area, it just so happens that my parents live ~10 minutes away from it.

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[LabTech12]

I was VERY surprised to see this as well. Both the county I grew up in, which seemed like a nice suburb of Chicago where I never had trouble accessing healthcare, and the county I live in now, outside of Denver, do not seem that way at all to me! I thought the same thing though, that perhaps I am just lacking some serious perception about these places...

 

[ChrisMack390]

I think it's just hard to perceive certain things when you are a kid. Like ya, once I was dehydrated post-tonsillectomy and went to the ER and didn't get an IV until >4 hours later, or once my mom with an autoimmune disease went to the hospital re: pulmonary hypertension and sat in a bed for 48 hours before actually seeing a physician, but I guess I just figured that was kind of how medicine is. Reflecting now, maybe not so much.

 

[efle]

A visit to the ER definitely took several hours of wait time

appointment with a specialist sometimes 6 or 8 or more weeks

Depends how serious your reason for going is, I imagine. Waiting a few hours for stitches or a hurt ankle has been normal in my few experiences at big medical centers. Sitting there for hours after a recent surgery, delirious from dehydration, not as much. A 2 month wait for a specialist is also a pretty long time if it's not something super rare, that's the kind of wait time people attack single payer/social health systems for!

 

[Espressso]

Wait, I'm confused, what is the (U) on amcas?

 

[ChrisMack390]

Wait, I'm confused, what is the (U) on amcas?

They stick a U next to your county if it's noted as medically underserved by the federal government.

 

[Espressso]

Ohhh I see. Yeah I'm not part of that group. However, in my county (a large metropolitan one), it still takes weeks to get into a specialist, and hours to be seen at an ER/ED, as mentioned above.

 

[ChrisMack390]

Ohhh I see. Yeah I'm not part of that group. However, in my county (a large metropolitan one), it still takes weeks to get into a specialist, and hours to be seen at an ER/ED, as mentioned above.

Ya I kind of figured stuff like that is relatively normal. There is a very large retired population in my town, I'm guessing that's the biggest factor.

 

[Espressso]

I can't help but think that with 99% of the application process.... the students (us) have no idea how it all works.

 

[wishinghoping31]

oh wow... i looked back on my 2015-2016 application and both of the counties i lived in are marked as (U). one is new york!

 

[Lannister]

It's irrelevant. I'm from a suburb of Chicago, it's one of the wealthiest areas in the state/country, but because Chicago is located within the same county, my town is considered underserved.

 

[banana_phone]

Does this U show up before you submit or after? I've been wondering about the community i grew up in but don't see any U on my un-submitted 2017 amcas

 

[ChrisMack390]

Does this U show up before you submit or after? I've been wondering about the community i grew up in but don't see any U on my un-submitted 2017 amcas

If you click 'print transcript' and look at the PDF you will see it (or not) next to your county of legal residence.

 

[freak7]

Wow I just looked at my saved copy from last year and it has a (U) on every place I've lived and gone to school in. Should I be checking the medically underserved box this year?

 

[kiwifriend]

Sorry to bring back this thread, but I was just wondering if I should check off that my childhood area was medically underserved on AMCAS. I am not applying as disadvantaged but every county I lived in prior to 18 has the U next to it. Does it matter whether I check it off or not?

 

[Eleithyia]

Weird...mine doesn't have a U next to it, even though it's definitely underserved (1 hospital in the county, not many doctor's offices, I was born out of state because the hospital is not licensed for L&D). It does have an R for rural, so maybe underserved is just implied...?

 

[LizzyM]

Weird...mine doesn't have a U next to it, even though it's definitely underserved (1 hospital in the county, not many doctor's offices, I was born out of state because the hospital is not licensed for L&D). It does have an R for rural, so maybe underserved is just implied...?

You might have been rural but your county had enough primary care providers for the size of the population. I have seen areas that were (R)(U) meaning that they were rural and didn't have enough primary care providers.

I'd suggest checking the "underserved" box only if you have specific examples from your own family. Certainly having to go out of state because the local area lacked a hospital licensed for labor & delivery seems fit the definition of "underserved". On the other hand, there are some rural places that don't have enough deliveries to justify an OB service and even if there were docs willing to deliver babies in those communities, the resources wouldn't be there to handle them.

 

[Eleithyia]

I'd suggest checking the "underserved" box only if you have specific examples from your own family. Certainly having to go out of state because the local area lacked a hospital licensed for labor & delivery seems fit the definition of "underserved". On the other hand, there are some rural places that don't have enough deliveries to justify an OB service and even if there were docs willing to deliver babies in those communities, the resources wouldn't be there to handle them.

They also usually airlift people having MIs to the nearest large city (~60 mi.), because the hospital is little more than an ED plus imaging, so I feel like it probably is underserved based on the emergency med situation as well.
There are also 5+ nursing homes in the county, which probably contributes to the number of primary care providers but doesn't help a young family with kids very much.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[LizzyM]

They also usually airlift people having MIs to the nearest large city (~60 mi.), because the hospital is little more than an ED plus imaging, so I feel like it probably is underserved based on the emergency med situation as well.
There are also 5+ nursing homes in the county, which probably contributes to the number of primary care providers but doesn't help a young family with kids very much.

Thanks for the advice!

Getting care for an MI is not primary care. How long a wait if you call for a routine appointment or as a new patient? Where I live, it can be 5 months.

 

[Eleithyia]

Then medically underserved is just determined by ratio of primary care providers/capita? I guess I interpreted the guidelines differently.

We don't have to wait 5 months for an appointment, but then not a lot of people in this area can afford to use primary care