- Joined
- Oct 10, 2002
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Since every now and then there are threads debating whether AZCOM's preceptor setup and lack of a teaching hospital are good things, I thought I'd provide my experience with setting up third year rotations. Hopefully others will do the same, and give those of you still considering which school to attend some perspective.
First, the bad:
--Setting up rotations at AZCOM requires more work and willingness to travel than at other schools. If you feel as if you'll have no time at all to investigate rotations, AZCOM's setup might be problematic. I emailed and met twice with the clinical ed department looking for specific rotation recommendations, and didn't get too far.
The good:
--When I *did* start researching rotations, things fell into place quickly. Looking through the evlauations and deciding on potential leads should take no more than 8-12 hours; I spent about half that time.
I sacrificed some class time making up a list of docs who seemed to get the best evaluations and who seemed to practice the type of medicine I wanted to learn in each specialty. I brought this in to the clinical ed office, and my third year rotations were set up within half an hour.
Some important things I learned that I think have gotten overlooked in past threads on AZCOM's rotations:
--AZCOM's setup gives you the chance to tailor your instructors to what you want to do. I'm set on broad-scope, procedure-heavy family practice. In a traditional system I wouldn't be able to focus heavily on this until fourth year. AZCOM's do-it-yourself system let me tailor ALL my rotations to this based on geography, evaluations, and clinical office recommendations. The small clinical ed office means that you'll do more work, but the options for personalization are far greater. Once I'd settled on a city for a surgery rotation, the clinical ed coordinator recommended two doctors and went into extensive detail on the merits of each. She gave her impression of various docs, recommended which ones would teach more, etc. Invaluable.
--AZCOM lets you set up your rotation schedule in an advantageous manner. As I understand, at most schools your order isn't up to you. This is also true at AZCOM if you compete for the Phoenix-based rotations that everyone wants. I scheduled all my rotations outside of Phoenix, though, which allowed me to set up my rotations such that I could frontload "training wheels" rotations in preparation for the more demanding months. Since we are working with individual docs or small groups, this isn't perfect; some docs aren't available at certain times. By and large, though, you can get the doc you want when you want if you're proactive.
--AZCOM offers plenty of housing support. All or nearly all of my rotations offer heavily subidized or free housing, allowing for the advantages of travel (my rotations are set up in several Arizona cities as well as three months home in Michigan) without the accompanying financial hardships. The clinical ed office was exemplary in making sure that the rotations I picked had adequate housing.
So to sum, these are the benefits I see without having been on any rotations yet. I fully expect that in third year I'll get far more of a chance to *do* stuff than I would elsewhere, which was my primary reason for choosing the school. It absolutely depends, as best as I can tell, on your wilingness to put in the time researching and to be willing to travel across Arizona a bit. For those willing to make that tradeoff, it seems a huge advantage over the traditional setup. I've found many of the claims made about the clinical ed office in the past to be overblown; hopefully this helps clarify the process a bit.
First, the bad:
--Setting up rotations at AZCOM requires more work and willingness to travel than at other schools. If you feel as if you'll have no time at all to investigate rotations, AZCOM's setup might be problematic. I emailed and met twice with the clinical ed department looking for specific rotation recommendations, and didn't get too far.
The good:
--When I *did* start researching rotations, things fell into place quickly. Looking through the evlauations and deciding on potential leads should take no more than 8-12 hours; I spent about half that time.
I sacrificed some class time making up a list of docs who seemed to get the best evaluations and who seemed to practice the type of medicine I wanted to learn in each specialty. I brought this in to the clinical ed office, and my third year rotations were set up within half an hour.
Some important things I learned that I think have gotten overlooked in past threads on AZCOM's rotations:
--AZCOM's setup gives you the chance to tailor your instructors to what you want to do. I'm set on broad-scope, procedure-heavy family practice. In a traditional system I wouldn't be able to focus heavily on this until fourth year. AZCOM's do-it-yourself system let me tailor ALL my rotations to this based on geography, evaluations, and clinical office recommendations. The small clinical ed office means that you'll do more work, but the options for personalization are far greater. Once I'd settled on a city for a surgery rotation, the clinical ed coordinator recommended two doctors and went into extensive detail on the merits of each. She gave her impression of various docs, recommended which ones would teach more, etc. Invaluable.
--AZCOM lets you set up your rotation schedule in an advantageous manner. As I understand, at most schools your order isn't up to you. This is also true at AZCOM if you compete for the Phoenix-based rotations that everyone wants. I scheduled all my rotations outside of Phoenix, though, which allowed me to set up my rotations such that I could frontload "training wheels" rotations in preparation for the more demanding months. Since we are working with individual docs or small groups, this isn't perfect; some docs aren't available at certain times. By and large, though, you can get the doc you want when you want if you're proactive.
--AZCOM offers plenty of housing support. All or nearly all of my rotations offer heavily subidized or free housing, allowing for the advantages of travel (my rotations are set up in several Arizona cities as well as three months home in Michigan) without the accompanying financial hardships. The clinical ed office was exemplary in making sure that the rotations I picked had adequate housing.
So to sum, these are the benefits I see without having been on any rotations yet. I fully expect that in third year I'll get far more of a chance to *do* stuff than I would elsewhere, which was my primary reason for choosing the school. It absolutely depends, as best as I can tell, on your wilingness to put in the time researching and to be willing to travel across Arizona a bit. For those willing to make that tradeoff, it seems a huge advantage over the traditional setup. I've found many of the claims made about the clinical ed office in the past to be overblown; hopefully this helps clarify the process a bit.
