Rural Family Med Elective in Alaska? Maybe with Indian Health Service?

[MDjourneyman]

Hi! Anyone out there have experience with setting up an elective in a rural in Alaska? Probably in Family Medicine? I'm interested in Emergency Medicine but have some flexibility with my electives for next year and was hoping to do something like this. Someone mentioned the Indian Health Service as an option, but all of my emails to them have gotten radio silence.

Thanks!

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[Mt Kilimanjaro]

I had a similar experience and ultimately gave up after a few tries.

I would have done one of these if I’d have known about them earlier:

Wilderness Medical Society

Students & Volunteers

Home > Seattle Indian Health Board

 

[VillageSweetie]

I have heard that it is pretty hard to land a rural Alaska rotation unless you are a student with the University of Washington School of Medicine or the Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine also has Alaskan rotations. There just are not very many opportunities available and those that are, are usually grabbed by students at the associated medical schools. I have never met a medical student in Alaska that was not from one of those medical schools.

 

[cresume]

I have heard that it is pretty hard to land a rural Alaska rotation unless you are a student with the University of Washington School of Medicine or the Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine also has Alaskan rotations. There just are not very many opportunities available and those that are, are usually grabbed by students at the associated medical schools. I have never met a medical student in Alaska that was not from one of those medical schools.

Could I ask if you met any students specifically in native oriented programs, and if they were actually native, or the "1%'ers"? I have a friend who is native and wants to do something like like this

 

[VillageSweetie]

Could I ask if you met any students specifically in native oriented programs, and if they were actually native, or the "1%'ers"? I have a friend who is native and wants to do something like like this

I met Native American students doing clinicals at I.H.S. facilities. There are not really any "1%'ers" in/from Alaska. Alaska has only been a State since 1959.

Having said that, a person does not necessarily have to be Native American to land a rotation with I.H.S.

 

[MDjourneyman]

This definitely sounds like a good thing that Alaskans are prioritized in getting these sorts of rotations over folks from the Lower 48 trying to have an excuse for an Alaskan vacation. But I would imagine Alaska has lots of rural areas with high healthcare needs. Is that true? I'm a little surprised there's nothing like this that exists. Or perhaps they just need doctors and not medical students?

I have heard that it is pretty hard to land a rural Alaska rotation unless you are a student with the University of Washington School of Medicine or the Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine also has Alaskan rotations. There just are not very many opportunities available and those that are, are usually grabbed by students at the associated medical schools. I have never met a medical student in Alaska that was not from one of those medical schools.

 

[VillageSweetie]

This definitely sounds like a good thing that Alaskans are prioritized in getting these sorts of rotations over folks from the Lower 48 trying to have an excuse for an Alaskan vacation. But I would imagine Alaska has lots of rural areas with high healthcare needs. Is that true? I'm a little surprised there's nothing like this that exists. Or perhaps they just need doctors and not medical students?

Alaska is full of rural area, but extreme rural (not accessible by roads) and very small (with the majority being too small to support a doctor). Medical students require preceptors. There definitely are medical students with a lot of doctors throughout the year. I'm not saying it's impossible, it's just likely to be a challenge to land an Alaskan rotation and even more of a challenge to land a rural rotation. The bulk of medical student rotations are in the bigger Alaskan cities. Anyway, I LOVE Alaska.

 

[iceclimb12]

You can apply to do a Sub Internship with the Alaska Family Medicine Residency - Medical Students . The residency program is based in Anchorage but I believe they often have Sub-Is out on rural rotations also. VillageSweetie is correct. They will generally always preference people who are from Alaska or at least lived there for some time. And with WWAMI (UWSOM) and PNWUCOM you are potentially competing with rotation spots of students who are far more likely to end up there. Also, I imagine its a bit late to apply if you are headed into your fourth year. But you can look at their resident profiles - it is not always the case that they are from Alaska or from WWAMI or PNWUCOM. People on this site often say that if you do terrible in school you'll end up in residency in Alaska. But there's only one and based on the resident profiles I'd say it's pretty competitive compared to many other community programs.

That said if you are interested in doing healthcare work in Alaska there are a lot of high-need areas and family medicine in the bush can be really cool (as I understand). You can look up the "big" hospitals Nome or Bethel and they usually have a decent amount of openings to hire physicians (usually FM or Peds, but other specialties too). By decent amount I mean one or two openings because they are small. But they have openings because retention can be a problem. If you go into EM then most likely you'd end up being in Anchorage, Fairbanks, or Juneau. Doesn't mean you can't go rural just less likely. Pretty much all the big/really bad emergencies in the state are flown to Anchorage.

BUT outside of Anchorage, its suburbs, Fairbanks, Juneau, maybe Soldotna, (and maybe the Kenai Peninsula on the highway - that whole area is highly trafficked at least in the summer), life in Alaska is pretty austere and there aren't a lot of doctors. Unless you live off a major highway in say Valdez, Delta Junction, Talkeetna, Glennallen, Tok, Homer or some such place. But even then it's still pretty remote and pretty austere compared to a lot of the rest of the US.

And a real rural Alaska rotation - for most - would not be an "Alaskan vacation" in the stereotypical sense. Even in the larger villages that actually have doctors and hospitals (Nome, Bethel, etc.). Most people either love or hate the villages, but I wouldn't classify doing medical work in them as a vacation.