Many DO schools do not not have an on site or on campus teaching hospital for clinical rotations. Therefore students end up getting sent to one or more hospitals for rotations in the 3rd year leading to variable quality of clinical education between schools.
A key question to ask is how much is the school paying the primary or core or required rotation hospital sites?
The less money the school has to pay the clinical site the greater the profit for the school.
For instance I have heard that VCOM pays $1000 per student per month to the clinical core rotation sites (
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocument...04bebe3e-9.pdf ) .
Look at statement 5 and you will see that VCOM paid Carillion $133,000, UMDNJ $122,000, and Salisbury VA $113,000 for precepting students.
Through these generous payments VCOM has been able to secure spots for their students at excellent clinical sites.
Other schools are not willing to pay as much and it shows in the caliber of their clinical sites.
A school may say that such and such hospital would not take our students for rotations. What the school will often not say is that such and such hospital would not take our students for the price we were willing to pay.
In the real world money talks.
P.S. Look at what Carribean schools are doing for some insight. SGU paid 100 million for 600 clerkship positions per year for their students for 10 years to NY HHC and SGU will still make a nice profit
http://www.sgu.edu/news-events/news-archives07-HHC.html . (My rough math calculates to 100 million/120 months/600 students = $1388 per student per month - however tuition at SGU in the clincal years works out to ~50K/year or about $4200 per month). My math may seems to be fairly close based on this article (
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/n...d=1&adxnnlx=1258816214-uyCxelehGb2KA66+p+D+Ng ) which says SGU "pays the hospitals $400 to $425 per student per week — St. George's charges students about $1,000 a week in tuition — on top of an annual fee of $50,000 for hospitals that take 24 or more St. George's students" . Do you really think these NY hospitals have some great love for SGU students? I doubt it but money talks.
Another example is the 3.5 million contract with Caritas Healthcare for rotations (see
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local...hospital_shutdowns_could_disrupt_med_stu.html ).
Allopathic schools are noticing effects as well:
"Traditionally, medical schools have sent third- and fourth-year students into city hospitals to work — and learn — alongside doctors without being charged. Health and Hospitals Corporation officials said some institutions had recently begun paying a flat fee of $250,000 a year, which Dr. Andrew W. Brotman, a senior vice president at New York University School of Medicine, likened to a gratuity. " I used to work as a waiter - I sure wish somebody would have given me a $250K gratuity in my days at Red Lobster.
