hey, im a drew/ucla msIII..like jaded said, we do our 1st 2 yrs at westwood along with the rest of the ucla class. we used to do our 3rd and 4th yr rotations at mlk. now that the hospital's inpatient services have been discontinued (however there is still outpatient clinics and an urgent care clinic still operating), we have the choice to do our rotations at the regular UCLA-affiliated sites. this includes harbor-ucla, olive-view, chs (UCLA main), west va, cedars-sainai, kaiser, etc. most drew students want to preserve the mission of the drew/ucla program, which is to treat underserved populations, so we are choosing the county hospitals. we are still doing some outpatient rotations (ambulatory medicne and some surgical subspecialties) at mlk, since those are still operating. we have a different doctoring program during our 3rd and 4th years (instead of doctoring, we have a primary care continuity clinic in south central los angeles) where we see our own patients and we are also invovled in the honors thesis program that focuses on research that affects underserved populations. the closure of mlk-harbor only means that we have to change where we do our rotations, but dont forget we're still in los angeles 🙂...theres plenty of opportunity to learn from patients that have lack of access to healthcare and economic hardship. the program is actually expanding because it has been so successful in producing physicians that are culturally competent and have experience working with some of the toughest populations in the nation. I think they are planning on adding a few more spots in the next year. so yes..we are sad to see mlk close, it is a tragedy mostly to the watts community that now has to deal with the lack of healthcare to them..thats who we really need to worry about. the drew program continues strong...if you are really interested, feel free to pm me.
