D.O. rotations

[SigPi]

What is the deal with osteopathic medical school 3rd & 4th year clerkships? Do students spend much time at all at their home school? Are the last two years spent jumping from one hospital to the next, hundreds of miles away from eachother for every freaking rotation? Logistically how does this work out? Are you guys living in different hotels in different cities month to month, logging 1000's of miles on the road (or in the air)? Any responses will be greatly appreciated, thanks!

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[DrMom]

Depends on whether or not the school has a home hospital. Several, like OSU-COM, do have an affiliated hospital that we rotate through (just blocks from the school). There are others that disperse students to different places. You'll want to check into this issue at any of the schools you're considering (I'm assuming you're an applicant.)

 

[iliacus]

We've got 4 or 5 we can go to within driving distance of campus. Besides, what better way to start your surgery rotation than staying at a Holiday Inn the night before.

 

[SigPi]

Do you usually rotate through more than one clerkship as a visiting student at the same hospital/school? Some of the school's websites i've looked at only offer visiting students the opportunity to take ELECTIVE rotations and only when youre an MS4. How does this work when your only MS3? If you want to "showcase yourself" for a residency, you basiclly have to have a strong sence of where and in what you want to do you residency by the middle/end of 2nd year so you can schedule these rotations at the apporpriate places???

 

[hermione]

No, I think you are confused. I can only speak for LECOM, and some PCOM students I have run into. These schools have affiliated hospitals, some in the same town as the school, some far away. You are not a "visiting student" if it is an affiliate hospital. And different hospitals will offer different rotations, but you will get lists of all that good stuff during your second year. You set up your own electives where ever you want and where ever you find a place, based on residency interests etc. Its not so different than having one home hospital, except that we have many. I have yet to be at a place with no other LECOMers, although you are correct that we are not all in the same place at the same time. It is also kind of nice to go to different hospitals every month or so, sure makes the time fly by! And at LECOM we have the option to be "area based", so I have almost all of my rotations in Pittsburgh. I have an apartment here, and it works just fine. And actually, LECOM does have its own hospital, Millcreek, in Erie, or Millcreek has LECOM, or what came first, the chicken or the egg? Its all owned by the same family. Or something.

 

[Sugar72]

AZCOM has a bunch of rotations around the phoenix area. We also have a bunch in surrounding little towns (and Tucson too) and for most of those there is free housing. I know some people in my class who just go from free housing to free housing and don'thave to pay any rent. I set up my first 6 in Tucson and now I am finishing the rest of the year out in New Orleans. The trick I used for getting around the "we only take 4th year visiting student" clause is to set it up as a preceptorship with specific doctors. you can find them usually through the local AOA of the area you want to visit. It sounds like a lot of work - and it was a little overwhelming last year when I was working it out - but it gave me a lot of flexibility. Most of the DO hospitals take students in their third year too regardless of what their home school is.
there a million threads on this if you search it.

I know a lot of people don't like the set up of clinical rotation, especially at AZCOM - but it has been really good for me.