How do clinical rotations work?

[draggoon01]

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Could someone answer this for me. Seems like simple question, but I haven?t been able to find answer anywhere.

So I?m wondering how do clinical rotations work? Meaning where do you perform them all? Sometimes I get the impression they?re all done at the same school hospital and you just move through different departments every few months. Other times it seems like you?re going to different hospitals for each rotation. Which is it?

If you are shifting around to different hospitals, how is room and board handled if they?re far apart?

 

[surge]

Actually, it depends on the school, but it's both.
Some schools, you do all your rotations at the same (or a very few, on site) hospitals. Others, you have to go other places, sometimes in a different town/city. Often, they sort of give you a place to stay (dorm like), but very rudimentary.
You need to check with a particular school.

 

[draggoon01]

Originally posted by surge
Actually, it depends on the school, but it's both.
Some schools, you do all your rotations at the same (or a very few, on site) hospitals. Others, you have to go other places, sometimes in a different town/city. Often, they sort of give you a place to stay (dorm like), but very rudimentary.
You need to check with a particular school.

thanks for response.

is there any general pattern among which schools have it which way or is it random? for example, schools in/near big cities tend to have all rotations on the same hospital.

what's the furthest between some rotations? anything greater than 30min drive? 60min? which school?

i tried looking at a few school websites, but haven't been able to find this particular information. just trying to get a sense of how things go, generally.

and, if you don't mind, what exactly does it mean to be "on call"? whether a specific rotation has this varies from school to school correct? or is that just during residency?

 

[Behcet]

it's totally dependent on the program and what their facilities are. A lot of med schools have their own main university hospital and/or a VA, with maybe 1 or 2 other hospitals, either county, pediatric, private, etc. Wake Forest is a program that has everything concentrated on one site. Emory, for example, has 5-6 hospitals they cover scattered across the east side of Atlanta. Texas Tech, on the other hand, has no university hospital at their medical school site, so after 2nd year, the class splits in half and moves to 2 different cities. It has nothing to do with size of city, national location, reputation of the program, or anything like that - it's simply whatever resources are available to the med school.

 

[Behcet]

P.S.

If you're premed and haven't chosen a med school yet - I think most people would agree that it's to your advantage to do your clinical rotations at a med school with a variety of clinical sites available. Working at a VA is a totally different experience from working at a county hospital, but both are valuable experiences. Some of the questions you have, like travel and room and board, you'll have to look into specific med schools to find out - but those kind of things would probably only be available for schools that send you out of town for rotations, if at all.

 

[Lara]

To give you an idea, Temple University in Philadelphia has a hospital affiliate in Pittsburgh (I think about six hours away). 🙂 That's about as extreme as it goes! However they do offer a program where all rotations would be done there, which I imagine would be especially nice for those with family nearby.

It really does depend on the medical school, and is worth being at least aware of when making a decision. I would think most medical schools have a list of hospital affiliates on their website, and you can find out locations from there.

Another thing to know is that many fourth year students go on "away" rotations, meaning rotations at any hospital not affiliated with the medical school - they can even be international if you want. I think Temple allows 2 or 3 such rotations. In those cases you have to apply ahead of time and see if you're accepted.

 

[Adcadet]

Originally posted by draggoon01
thanks for response.

what's the furthest between some rotations? anything greater than 30min drive? 60min? which school?

i tried looking at a few school websites, but haven't been able to find this particular information. just trying to get a sense of how things go, generally.

I suppose you can figure out what hospitals a particular school has rotations at by seeing which hospitals the school is affiliated with. I know the Princeton Review's book on med schools lists this info.

Behcet mentioned that being at a variety os sites is a good thing in general. While I agree with this, some people seem to appreciate having all of their rotations in one spot. I was at Wake Forest (who does all but one of their rotations in their own hospital, which physically encompasses the med school), and the students I talked to said having the same computer systems for each rotation makes it a bit easier to jump into new rotations. So I think there are pros and cons both ways.

 

[merlin]

I am a first year at Einstein in the Bronx, NY and I feel that our clinical experience is amazing due to the variety of hospitals that are affiliates of Einstein. Einstein students rotate through the public community hospital that sees a very diverse poor patient population as well as Beth Israel in the heart of Manhattan for a very urban experience. Either way, in the fourth year, at least here, you can go anywhere you feel like as long as the program accepts you for a rotation. I know there are some 4th years who have done the entire year with international programs in India, Isreal...Good luck.

 

[MSTP boy]

I would recommend doing at least a few of your rotations at other hospitals. Get your hands dirty in a VA hospital, they generally let you do more procedures than more strict academic hospitals. It's also good because you will have an idea of what kind of hospital you like, there will be many to choose from when you match.

 

[wisdom2000]

Hi Behcet or anyone else,
Would you please elaborate a bit on the differences between VA and County Hospitals.
Thanks

 

[Winged Scapula]

Moving to Clinical Rotations Forum...

 

[doepug]

Originally posted by Lara
To give you an idea, Temple University in Philadelphia has a hospital affiliate in Pittsburgh (I think about six hours away). 🙂 That's about as extreme as it goes!

Hopkins has a hospital in Singapore, and students have the option of rotating there. Just had to bring it up since it's farther away than Pittsburgh. 🙂

doepug