I have talked with a number of med students at Pikeville SOM in KY. They seem to have a huge amount on hands on exposure to patients. At one rotation the students completely manage the hospital patients with the doctor just looking over their shoulder once a day. My question is: At larger schools such as Kirksville and Kansas City,etc. do the students get this kind of exposure or do they have to stand in line behind residents and such.
Hi, I think it depends more on the rotation site, than on the school. I go to WVSOM and at the rural rotation sites, you get to do much more than at an urban site. The larger the site, the more residents and interns you have in front of you, vying for patients and procedures. Where as at the rural sites, you have lots more control and ability to come in contact with the patients. My school doesn't teach suturing until your second year, but because I had been shadowing one ER at a rural place, they (the ER) started teaching me how to suture my first week of med school. Plus at WVSOM we have an OMT clinic the students run with some supervision from the profs. So there is more pt exposure your first year as well. Check into the school you want to go to, and see if they have any structured student/pt contact opportunites (like our clinic) or see if you can begin shadowing some docs somewhere to get some experience on your own. Good luck Billie
