LECOM sites

[(nicedream)]

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Can any LECOM students give info on any of the rotation sites? Tough ones, easy ones, for the various specialties. Thanks!

 

[raspberry swirl]

i wasn't planning on responding to this, since its such a broad post and the whole rotations process is too complicated to give you an easy response, but i didn't want you to think us LECOMers were leaving you high and dry. for example, im currently doing medicine in pittsburgh. my rotation is good because my residents are good. but the residents are constantly rotating and changing. therefore its very difficult for anyone to predict what your experience at a particular place will be. the only rotations that dont change are ones done in outpatient settings with one particular attending, who doesn't change. i haven't had that experience yet, so i can't tell you anything. if you have specific questions about LECOM affiliates in the pittsburgh area, feel free to PM me.

 

[(nicedream)]

i wasn't planning on responding to this, since its such a broad post and the whole rotations process is too complicated to give you an easy response, but i didn't want you to think us LECOMers were leaving you high and dry. for example, im currently doing medicine in pittsburgh. my rotation is good because my residents are good. but the residents are constantly rotating and changing. therefore its very difficult for anyone to predict what your experience at a particular place will be. the only rotations that dont change are ones done in outpatient settings with one particular attending, who doesn't change. i haven't had that experience yet, so i can't tell you anything. if you have specific questions about LECOM affiliates in the pittsburgh area, feel free to PM me.

Thanks for the response 🙂
I wasn't expecting necessarily detailed descriptions, though that would be nice. I'm an MSII at the FL campus and would like to know as much as "Mercy Hosp in Pitt = good rotation, minimal scutwork" or "UHHS Richmond Heights = crappy experience". We basically know nothing about the sites down here having no upperclassmen, so it would be nice to hear from y'all.

 

[DOtobe]

I can only give you the info about places I rotated through for the different rotations.

MS-3:
Psych at Allegheny General (Pittsburgh): really laid back, only worked MWF. The second half was neurology, and that was a good experience because you can see some interesting neuro issues.
(note: I'm not sure if this rotation is still split this way or not.)
Medicine at Mon Valley (in Monongahela, outside Pgh). Did this here because it was 15 minutes from my house. It was an okay rotation, but it was too disorganized because you pretty much spent time with the person who could take you for the week. Maybe it's gotten more organized, but it wasn't very much when I did it.
Surgery at Mercy in Pgh: this was a great rotation, we didn't get scutted out. The attendings and residents were all great. Mercy is a really nice hospital, although it is in the ghetto.
Ob/Gyn at Ohio Valley Medical Center (Wheeling): an okay rotation. Some of the attendings were kind of moody, and I learned nothing from the interns on my service. I did the rotation during a slow month and didn't get to see very many deliveries
Peds at Ohio Valley: this was good because we saw a wide variety of peds patients, and the rotation is both outpatient and in the inpatient peds floor. Although the peds floor is sometimes empty.

MS-4 (only 2 core rotations, the others were electives):
Ambulatory at West Penn (Pittsburgh): the rotation was great, with both inpatient and outpatient family practice. You also go to schools and do school physicals, go to a women's shelter, and some other places in the community.
ER at Ohio Valley: this rotation was surprisingly busy, moreso than I thought considering the size of the hospital. Got to do a lot of lacs, and saw a wide variety of patients.
Burn/Trauma at West Penn: a great rotation! That's all I have to say. Great attending, really great schedule (i.e. done at 3 pm or earlier)
ICU at West Penn: I learned a lot, and the attendings were great and really willing to teach. Got to do some central lines.
Cardio and ID at Conemaugh (Johnstown): Conemaugh is a great hospital, and both my cardio and ID attendings taught me a lot. But the cardio rotation at Conemaugh is kind of disorganized.

Is it bad that I can't remember what else I did in my fourth year?

Okay, I've talked enough. Hopefully that will help some. 😕

 

[BadVB750]

Avoid doing OB/Gyn at millcreek with a private slurper. You will be treated like a high school student that is shadowing.

 

[DOtobe]

Avoid doing OB/Gyn at millcreek with a private slurper. You will be treated like a high school student that is shadowing.

From what I've heard (and what I've seen of Millcreek), pretty much avoid any rotation there. There isn't enough patient volume to learn much of anything at Millcreek. Go to Hamot or St. Vincent instead.

 

[(nicedream)]

Thanks for the replies! 🙂

 

[BadVB750]

From what I've heard (and what I've seen of Millcreek), pretty much avoid any rotation there. There isn't enough patient volume to learn much of anything at Millcreek. Go to Hamot or St. Vincent instead.

I second the motion. Millcreek is a **** hole, with to few pts, to many docs, residents and students. Most of the pts are little old ladies in no acute ditress transfered over from the nursing home. Again, the only good part of millcreek is that the hours are light as a med student. however, I have heard that pysc is a great rotation at the creek, but I don't know first hand.

I have been to Hamot and St V's and have had much better experiences. The pathology is more diverse and acute. The attending gave me enough pts and freedom to play doc without getting over my head.

This has been my limited experience.

 

[Verbatim81]

anyone from lecom do their rotations in eastern pa..like philly and allentown for example, or even eastern ny.. like the long island sites? if so, how were they: busy, slow, tough, recommended, etc.? i'm thinking of rotating through those areas in the spring and would love some advice. thanks.

 

[DOtobe]

I never rotated through any of those hospitals, but by the other students in my class, the Long Island sites are NOT recommended. I don't know what is exactly wrong with the hospitals, but there seemed to be a consensus of "don't rotate there." I haven't heard anything good or bad about the Philly hospitals.

Sorry I can't be more helpful...

 

[sddoc]

I did an internal medicine rotation in Indianapolis at Westview Hospital, a small osteopathic affiliate. Although I was incredibly busy, I absolutely loved it. You will work a few weekends, but you learn to write orders and notes, as well as perform dictations. There is an ample amount of time to practice OMT, and if you do a good job for the attending, you are allowed to assist/perform procedures. The staff is wonderful at both the hospital and the office. Overall, after this rotation, I felt much more prepared for residency. Specifically, I worked with Dr. Terry Iwasko most of the time, and occasionally with Dr. Gene Vlahovich - They are both great docs!

Besides having some long days, the only other downside is the morning lecture. It starts at 7 am, is usually over by 7:20, and the docs don't usually show up until 8 or 8:30. (I managed to miss several of them, but I did a pretty good job with the doc, so I didn't hear too much about it.) Currently, 2 of their interns are LECOM grads, so that is also nice. They have housing across the parking lot and an absolutely phenomenal HealthPlex where you can work out for no charge while on service. Overall, it was a wonderful experience!

 

[jjsmalls]

Does anyone have any info on how likely you are to get your first choice for rotation location? For instance, I am from Pittsburgh and would like to return there for rotations, but it seems like half of our class (I'm an MS-1) is also from Pittsburgh, and I am guessing many of them would like to do rotations in Pittsburgh, as well. I know it is a group-lottery type system, but I was just wondering if there are plenty of spots in Pittsburgh? Any info you can provide on this, or any tips for improving your chances of getting your top choice of rotation location, would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[DOtobe]

I think everyone in my class got their first choice of location. There are a lot of hospitals both in Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas (like UPMC Horizon, Conemaugh, etc.) I don't think you should have any problems.

Here's the complete listing of rotation sites:

http://www.lecom.edu/lecom/application/rotations.asp

 

[(nicedream)]

Does anyone have any info on how likely you are to get your first choice for rotation location? For instance, I am from Pittsburgh and would like to return there for rotations, but it seems like half of our class (I'm an MS-1) is also from Pittsburgh, and I am guessing many of them would like to do rotations in Pittsburgh, as well. I know it is a group-lottery type system, but I was just wondering if there are plenty of spots in Pittsburgh? Any info you can provide on this, or any tips for improving your chances of getting your top choice of rotation location, would be appreciated. Thanks!

The way it worked here at FL campus is this:

There are 13 groups each with a different rotation schedule. We each filled out a survey stating our top 3 choices of group based on schedule and our top 2 choices of where we would like to do our rotations (non-binding). A rotation committee then put us in groups based on these things (trying to give us our top choices in schedule while keeping the groups diverse in terms of where each person in the group wants to go). This ensures that not everyone in a group will want to go, for example, to Pittsburgh. There are several affiliated hospitals in Pittsburgh and the area - I would say you're guaranteed to be able to do most if not all rotations there.

 

[smgilles]

Does anyone have any info on how likely you are to get your first choice for rotation location? For instance, I am from Pittsburgh and would like to return there for rotations, but it seems like half of our class (I'm an MS-1) is also from Pittsburgh, and I am guessing many of them would like to do rotations in Pittsburgh, as well. I know it is a group-lottery type system, but I was just wondering if there are plenty of spots in Pittsburgh? Any info you can provide on this, or any tips for improving your chances of getting your top choice of rotation location, would be appreciated. Thanks!

There are not enough spots in Pittsburgh for everyone who wants to go there. In fact my class (2007) had to have a separate lottery just for the kids going to Pitts so everyone had an equal chance of getting to do at least 1 or 2 rotations there. We had a lot of unhappy people who chose Pitts as their #1 priority and ended up having to go all over PA and other states.

 

[(nicedream)]

There are not enough spots in Pittsburgh for everyone who wants to go there. In fact my class (2007) had to have a separate lottery just for the kids going to Pitts so everyone had an equal chance of getting to do at least 1 or 2 rotations there. We had a lot of unhappy people who chose Pitts as their #1 priority and ended up having to go all over PA and other states.

Damn, so what are they going to do with our class now (FL). A lot of us want to go there too.

 

[BACMEDIC]

Damn, so what are they going to do with our class now (FL). A lot of us want to go there too.

I've heard that over half the class wants to stay in FL

 

[Doctortobee]

Florida kids have 1st choice of Florida sites, Erie kids get priority over PA/Ohio sites

 

[(nicedream)]

Florida kids have 1st choice of Florida sites, Erie kids get priority over PA/Ohio sites

Great, so we get the dinky hospitals with no residency programs. Big 👎 👎 👎

 

[smgilles]

Great, so we get the dinky hospitals with no residency programs. Big 👎 👎 👎

Welcome to LECOM where only the bottom-line counts!

 

[DrRichardKimble]

Great, so we get the dinky hospitals with no residency programs. Big 👎 👎 👎

Think of it as having your first two years of medical school being better than those in Erie. You have sun, we have snow. You have warmth, we have cold. You have a friendly environment, we have a strict one... etc.

Besides, not all of our rotation slots in PA, NY, OH are in big bustling academic medical centers, quite the contrary actually.

 

[ArcherM2]

anyone from lecom do their rotations in eastern pa..like philly and allentown for example, or even eastern ny.. like the long island sites? if so, how were they: busy, slow, tough, recommended, etc.? i'm thinking of rotating through those areas in the spring and would love some advice. thanks.

I know that we have affiliations with three hospitals in Scranton. When I was in undergrad I did a primary care externship where I met several LECOM students and residents that were doing their residents in Scranton as part of Temple University's "Scranton-Temple Residency Program." I rotated through two of the hospitals (Mercy and Moses Taylor) during the externship. All the residents seemed to be happy and the attendings (especially at the Scranton-Temple Health Clinic) were very pleasant and helpful. The third hospital has a "reputation," but I really don't understand why. PM me if you'd like to know more about the area, etc.

 

[niceguydoc]

I am currently a MS III, I did my first two rotations in Erie, at Hamot, and I subsequently returned home to ny where i will be completely the rest of my 3rd yr rotations here in queens. I'm in my first week of internal medicine at Peninsula and to my surprise it's actually a decent hospital. I had these preconceived notions that the 2 hospitals in qns were gonna be horrible and on top of that they were osteo hospitals; i was fearing if they were anything like millcreek then i was gonna be f'in screwed big time. But let me tell you, it's actually a good learning environment, my attending is an awesome dude, eager to teach and just an all around laidback guy, and so are the majority of the clinicians here. Now i don't own any stock in the hospital and I am as skeptical as they come, but lemme assure you that what you get out is what you put in. Show up on time, be professional, show interest and do some reading and you will be golden. I'm not sure about the two hospitals on LI, but i know 2 people that are doing their rotations there right now and they don't have any complaints. The two months i spent at Hamot, i would run into the guys doing their IM's and all they did was spend the majority of their time in the student lounge waiting to get paged, we're talking about 4-5 hours spent schmucking around, doing absolutely nothing. Here at peninsula, there are times when it's quiet but we're constantly running around with stuff to do. whats my point? don't stress out and let rumors get the best of you. oh by the way, the comlex sucked big time!!!!!! 👎