ATSU SOMA - Clinical Site Selection

[MDDO1327]

Wondering if there are any current students or others that could provide some input on selection a CHC for clinical years.

I'm from the East coast but I am willing to relocate so I would love to hear from current students that could talk about how they chose their site. Beyond that, anything they know about the other sites. Also, once I'm at my site, how do rotations work? I know they may not necessarily be at the selected CHC but will they be fairly local to them?

Thank you in advanced!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[brotherbanjo]

It seems like the biggest differences between CHCs come from the cities they are in vs the type of medical work you’d be doing at the CHCs, so I would think about what environment you’d like to learn medicine in. Rural vs urban? East coast vs west coast vs Midwest?

For rotations you do all your core primary care rotations at the CHC and the school works with other hospitals in the area for your core inpatient rotations. Electives are yo to you.

Most CHCs have local core rotations but some you have to travel a lot. I would look into the school’s most current info because it might have changed, but I think Portland and Flagstaff have a lot of traveling. You might be able to stay local in Portland but I’m not 100% on that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[jrlob91]

Wondering if there are any current students or others that could provide some input on selection a CHC for clinical years.

I'm from the East coast but I am willing to relocate so I would love to hear from current students that could talk about how they chose their site. Beyond that, anything they know about the other sites. Also, once I'm at my site, how do rotations work? I know they may not necessarily be at the selected CHC but will they be fairly local to them?

Thank you in advanced!

Just graduated from here. Choosing the CHC is largely up to when you get accepted in the rotation cycle(at least it was four years ago). I had three options available: Ohio, South Carolina, and DC. I chose SC because I went to college in Ohio (didn’t want to be there anymore), DC was too expensive, so I chose SC. All CHCs are similar in experience you will get, but some areas (Chicago, Phoenix, DC) can be saturated with other med students and residents. If you want a more academic setting, you should look into those three. If you want a more rural and one-on-one preceptor setting, look into SC, Ohio, or the other sites. I am willing to answer questions either here or through PM.

 

[jrlob91]

It seems like the biggest differences between CHCs come from the cities they are in vs the type of medical work you’d be doing at the CHCs, so I would think about what environment you’d like to learn medicine in. Rural vs urban? East coast vs west coast vs Midwest?

For rotations you do all your core primary care rotations at the CHC and the school works with other hospitals in the area for your core inpatient rotations. Electives are yo to you.

Most CHCs have local core rotations but some you have to travel a lot. I would look into the school’s most current info because it might have changed, but I think Portland and Flagstaff have a lot of traveling. You might be able to stay local in Portland but I’m not 100% on that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Some of the above info is slightly inaccurate, at least for SC. Most of our primary care rotations were done through local hospitals instead of the CHC. The only time we ever “rotated” through our CHC was in second year for our weekly rotations. It is true that flagstaff rotations can require some travel. Usually there is not much travel for any of the other CHCs

 

[SLC]

It seems like the biggest differences between CHCs come from the cities they are in vs the type of medical work you’d be doing at the CHCs, so I would think about what environment you’d like to learn medicine in. Rural vs urban? East coast vs west coast vs Midwest?

For rotations you do all your core primary care rotations at the CHC and the school works with other hospitals in the area for your core inpatient rotations. Electives are yo to you.

Most CHCs have local core rotations but some you have to travel a lot. I would look into the school’s most current info because it might have changed, but I think Portland and Flagstaff have a lot of traveling. You might be able to stay local in Portland but I’m not 100% on that.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I never had to go more than 45mins away from my front door at the Portland CHC (other than by my own choice). I also had an absolute blast there! Portland is the coolest city in America in my experience!

 

[MDDO1327]

Thank you everyone! Does anyone know of anyone that did the Ohio site that could explain more about it?

 

[QueenJames]

Kinda off topic... I haven't been hearing good things about SOMA recently.

Apparently, like half of their faculty has left the school and they keep touting "10 year reaccreditation" like it's a huge deal.

I'm sure SOMA is a great program and all... but not based off what my buddies are telling me that attend the program.

Nonetheless, i have folks that are in the Hawaii CHC (sounds pretty baller) and the New York CHC.

You will get good clinical education where ever you go... just gotta make the most of it.

 

[doctadude]

I never had to go more than 45mins away from my front door at the Portland CHC (other than by my own choice). I also had an absolute blast there! Portland is the coolest city in America in my experience!

One of the CHC preceptors from Washington mentioned during the interview that Portland was one of the sites in which you would have to travel a lot. Is your experience typical or did others in your site have to travel quite a bit?

 

[SLC]

One of the CHC preceptors from Washington mentioned during the interview that Portland was one of the sites in which you would have to travel a lot. Is your experience typical or did others in your site have to travel quite a bit?

Bear in mind that it’s been 5 years since I was in Portland, so things may have changed; but no, not atypical.

Portland is a site where you “can” travel a lot, but not one where you absolutely have to.