Choosing rotation sites

[(nicedream)]

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I need some advice. I go to a school with a long list of hospitals to choose our rotations from (about 80 around the country). Some of the hospitals are community hospitals with no residency programs, and some are large hospitals with many residency programs - and everything in between. I know about the differences in experiences at these different types of hospitals as far as learning experiences etc. My question is in regards to residency application.

Right now I am interested in IM at programs NOT affiliated with my school (I could only do electives at these places not my core rotations). I know that a rule of thumb is to try and do rotations at the places you are interested in, but in my case that's not possible for the core rotations. So my question is - does it matter where I do my core rotations? Assuming all offer the same learning experience (yes I know that's not true), would my chances of getting a good residency be better if I rotated at the big more well-known hospitals and got letters of recommendation there, or am I just as well off picking based on location and not having to deal with finding housing in a different place every month.

Thanks, I know this is a long post and I appreciate anyone who even reads it all! 😉

By the way, the school is osteopathic and none of the affiliated hospitals are really big-name ones (no university ones obviously).

 

[Claymore]

My school had similar choices for different hospitals in the Chicago area, and I had the opportunity to rotate both at some of the bigger, resident-run programs as well as the no-resident, community programs. I personally prefer the larger hospitals with the residents. I just feel that the educational structure is a little bit more favorable, as places with residents tend to have more lectures, conferences, and things like that. In addition, there tends to be a more defined role for the medical students, since they are used to having students around and thus are an important part of the team. Residents sometimes are easier to work closely with than attendings because the age/knowledge gap is not quite as large.

I found that at community programs with few/no residents, I wasn't able to do as much and the rotations became too observational in nature. In addition, hospitals that don't have any residents at all tend to be smaller ones where you won't see quite the pathology that you need to make it a good learning experience. Anyway, just my opinion-good luck.

 

[DOtobe]

I agree with Claymore - I think you'll definitely get a better education at a larger hospital that has residents and is used to having medical students. I did a rotation (IM) at a community hospital that had no residents, and it did end up being more of a shadowing experience. You have a bigger role in the team in a larger hospital.

Regarding residency, I think doing your core rotations at a larger hospital would be more beneficial. A LOR from an attending at a larger hospital would probably help your application more. A lot of clinicians know one another, especially clinicians that are part of larger hospitals.

My two cents.

 

[(nicedream)]

Thanks for the replies - my question was less in regards to ed. exp. and more about residency app.