Doing rotations at Western U?

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CM

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I am considering attending Western U, and my only fear/concern with Western U, and for that matter osteopathic schools in general in the quality of rotations in the 3rd & 4th year of school. I've heard people who are attending other schools gripe and moan about their experiences. So I was hoping to hear how Western's program was. For example how much patient care are you allowed to do? Where can you do your rotations? Do you get experience in areas such as psychiatry, ER, anesthesiology? I would appreciate any info, thanks.

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Rule of thumb: Don't always believe in everything that you read. Take someelse's comments with an open mind, but do the investigation yourself rather than rely soley on message board posts.

Anyhow, I am currently a second year at Westernu/COMP just about to enter rotations. Please remember that there may be some rotations out there that are not quality-type, but that's not b/c you are entering osteopathic medical schools. Osteopathic or allopathic, there are bad rotations everywhere as well as good ones!

As for WesternU/COMP, you have the opportunity to schedule rotations just about anywhere in the country that your heart desires. Its entirely up to you! You can even schedule rotations at the USC, UCLA, Loma Linda, etc.. programs.

Don't worry too much about quality rotations if you are attending an osteopathic medical school. There are many out there for you to choose from regardless if you are an osteopathic or allopathic medical student.

I have spoke with a lot of upperclassmen at WesternU/COMP and I have yet to hear about a rotation not being of "quality-type". Hope this helps!
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Rob
WesternU/COMP MS II
 
To CM,
I am also a 2nd year at WesternU/COMP, and I agree with Rob. I am doing my third year roation all over the state of Calif. (because I want to stay in Calif., I love the weather!), and most of them are in a good size hospital. In terms of how much patient exposure you get, it is based on where you go. Western U. gives you the freedom to choose where you want to go, and it is your job to research around and find out which rotation site is best for YOU.
Good luck,
Pei
 
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I appreciate the information guys, thanks. I hope the philosophy holds true that if you put all your effort into it, you will get a rewarding experience out of it. However I had one other question. In going around searching for 3rd&4th year rotations at various hospitals, is it competitive much like attempting to get a residency position? Rob mentions that you could do your rotations at places such as UCLA or Loma Linda. Do they let some osteopathic students do certain rotations with their own students? Seems like in that case, you could get the best of both worlds, learning osteopathic medicine and practicing it in major medical centers.
 
To CM,
Most of the UC schools will take students other than their own if they are 4th year medical students. So, you can go to UCLA, or any of the UC schools as a 4th year and do rotation there. I don't think it is competitive. You just have to call the hospital, and find out if there is slot open for the rotation you want (ER, Peds...etc.) on the month you wanted. I talked to a 3rd year COMP student last year during ICM (Introduction to Clinical Medicine), and he did a rotation in Harvard. All he did was call the hospital, and sign up a rotation spot there. There were students from Western U./COMP rotated there before, and they welcome COMP students.
Anyway, the point is you can do rotation pretty much anywhere you want (within the school guideline and other hospital rules and stuffs), but you want to go where you can learn the most in the field you want to practice, and in a community where you are most likely to practice.

Pei


[This message has been edited by peiyueng (edited 05-02-2000).]
 
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