04-25-2012, 12:40 PM
Hello everyone, I have completed rotations with americlerkships and on their request I am going to give some feedback.
I had 3 rotations: 1. Internal medicine- Complete Inpatient experience, 2. Pediatrics- Teaching hospital affiliate and 3. family medicine – teaching hospital guarantee.
Internal medicine experience- They gave me the details of my rotation (doctors name, location, etc) one week before my start which I felt was quite a short notice. The doctor was a geriatric medicine specialist and the experience was at a nursing home and not a true hospital. At first, I was not happy with this. I felt that ive paid a lot and should get a better experience. Now, we did rounds at the main hospital as well- but never actually saw patients there. After a while I realised that at the nursing home, I was actually getting a good in patient experience- I used to take histories on my own, write them up, and then when the doctor arrived, we presented the cases to him. This way we used to take many cases and also follow them up with soap notes, which sometimes the doctor would see and actually put it in the patients file. The doctor was very good in teaching as well, and gave many lectures about different geriatric topics, and also gave us a few topics about healthcare in the US and insurance policies, etc. So, after a few weeks I actually started to have a great time, I saw the patients, got the experience I was looking for. Sometimes we used to goto his office to get some outpatient experience as well- but this was optional. I got a very good letter in the end.
Pediatrics Experience- Now, this rotation was completely outpatient and because the doctor is an affiliate of a teaching hospital meant that there was only a “chance” I could see patients there. Overall, I did not like this rotation. We used to usually just observe the patients- the doctor was quite scared in allowing us to touch the patients, although sometimes I used to just take out my stethoscope and start listening the heart and chest, and then give the “confident” look at the doctor. The doc let us take histories on our own a few times. After considerable request, I did go to the NICU at the hospital with the docs colleauge to “observe” a few patients there. And I attended a few conferences, and grand rounds. Overall, I wasn’t satisfied with this rotation and got an ok letter
Family medicine experience: This was a teaching hospital guarantee, which meant that I will see patients at the office, but I will atleast see 4 patients admitted to the teaching hospital during my 4 weeks there. For me, this was the best of the lot. Although, public transport meant that my travel time exceeds 2 hours each way but in the end, it was worth it. The doctor left me alone with the patients, I used to take histories examine the patients, write on their charts, and after I was done I came out, presented to the doctor and then we went back in, I completed the notes but the doc signed. As I was the only one doing a rotation with this doctor, I used to see almost all the patients for the day (from 9.30 to 5) and the doc even let me do some procedures like ear irrigation and take venous blood. This doctor went to the hospital every day before the office which meant that I had to leave my house at 5 in the morning and take the Amtrak to reach the hospital at 8. This also involved a 2 mile walk! I did examine the patients there with her after that we went to her office together. I could have stayed at the hospital by myself with the patients and would have taken the inpatient histories and examinations quite adequately while interacting with the residents there. But then getting back would have been really annoying. So, I chose not to.
Conclusion: When I was searching for us clinical experience, I had applied to a lot places for observerships. I didn’t have any contacts and got many rejections. I was desperately looking for some clinical experience. So, I contacted americlerkships and only after that I realized there were many other companies like this. I chose not to contact the other ones because I was getting a positive response from this one and overall I was quite satisfied with experience. I got good letters of recommendations and actually got some good clinical exposure, with the exception of a few, of the healthcare system in the us.
My suggestion: If you still are a medical student- please apply for a final year elective to those medical schools that are still offering them because that’s the best experience you can get. If not, then such an experience is something to take a look at but be ready for a hole in your wallet!!
I had 3 rotations: 1. Internal medicine- Complete Inpatient experience, 2. Pediatrics- Teaching hospital affiliate and 3. family medicine – teaching hospital guarantee.
Internal medicine experience- They gave me the details of my rotation (doctors name, location, etc) one week before my start which I felt was quite a short notice. The doctor was a geriatric medicine specialist and the experience was at a nursing home and not a true hospital. At first, I was not happy with this. I felt that ive paid a lot and should get a better experience. Now, we did rounds at the main hospital as well- but never actually saw patients there. After a while I realised that at the nursing home, I was actually getting a good in patient experience- I used to take histories on my own, write them up, and then when the doctor arrived, we presented the cases to him. This way we used to take many cases and also follow them up with soap notes, which sometimes the doctor would see and actually put it in the patients file. The doctor was very good in teaching as well, and gave many lectures about different geriatric topics, and also gave us a few topics about healthcare in the US and insurance policies, etc. So, after a few weeks I actually started to have a great time, I saw the patients, got the experience I was looking for. Sometimes we used to goto his office to get some outpatient experience as well- but this was optional. I got a very good letter in the end.
Pediatrics Experience- Now, this rotation was completely outpatient and because the doctor is an affiliate of a teaching hospital meant that there was only a “chance” I could see patients there. Overall, I did not like this rotation. We used to usually just observe the patients- the doctor was quite scared in allowing us to touch the patients, although sometimes I used to just take out my stethoscope and start listening the heart and chest, and then give the “confident” look at the doctor. The doc let us take histories on our own a few times. After considerable request, I did go to the NICU at the hospital with the docs colleauge to “observe” a few patients there. And I attended a few conferences, and grand rounds. Overall, I wasn’t satisfied with this rotation and got an ok letter
Family medicine experience: This was a teaching hospital guarantee, which meant that I will see patients at the office, but I will atleast see 4 patients admitted to the teaching hospital during my 4 weeks there. For me, this was the best of the lot. Although, public transport meant that my travel time exceeds 2 hours each way but in the end, it was worth it. The doctor left me alone with the patients, I used to take histories examine the patients, write on their charts, and after I was done I came out, presented to the doctor and then we went back in, I completed the notes but the doc signed. As I was the only one doing a rotation with this doctor, I used to see almost all the patients for the day (from 9.30 to 5) and the doc even let me do some procedures like ear irrigation and take venous blood. This doctor went to the hospital every day before the office which meant that I had to leave my house at 5 in the morning and take the Amtrak to reach the hospital at 8. This also involved a 2 mile walk! I did examine the patients there with her after that we went to her office together. I could have stayed at the hospital by myself with the patients and would have taken the inpatient histories and examinations quite adequately while interacting with the residents there. But then getting back would have been really annoying. So, I chose not to.
Conclusion: When I was searching for us clinical experience, I had applied to a lot places for observerships. I didn’t have any contacts and got many rejections. I was desperately looking for some clinical experience. So, I contacted americlerkships and only after that I realized there were many other companies like this. I chose not to contact the other ones because I was getting a positive response from this one and overall I was quite satisfied with experience. I got good letters of recommendations and actually got some good clinical exposure, with the exception of a few, of the healthcare system in the us.
My suggestion: If you still are a medical student- please apply for a final year elective to those medical schools that are still offering them because that’s the best experience you can get. If not, then such an experience is something to take a look at but be ready for a hole in your wallet!!