Clinical Placements

Today is the day we put in our choices for clinical rotations!!

Last night there was a meeting about clinicals.  I didn't get to go...  I was busy playing with orphans, cooking dinner, watching crabs race, and a gorgeous fireworks display on Grand Anse Beach, but Lee of course went.  He said it was kind of a waste of time because we have already done so much research on the clinical process he didn't learn any new information but I thought I'd share with you what we through to be important:

1.  There are 4 main "clinical centers" - New York, New Jersey, Detroit, and Bakersfield California.
Clinical Centers are places where you can do your entire 2 years of rotations in one spot.  When I say New York and New Jersey there are multiple clinical centers within these states, but only 1 in Detroit and 1 in Bakersfield.

2.  There are several other places you can do clinicals, but these require moving around from city to city or to different hospitals, not ideal for a married couple or a spouse like me who needs a job!  Other areas include: Florida, San Diego, Maryland, and others within New York and Jersey.

3.  People who did the GSP NewCastle Program cannot go to New Jersey (I also learned from Amber that you cannot pump your own gas in New Jersey.lol)

4.  There are only 16 spots in Detroit!  Yikes!  That's a lot of competition for Lee and I to get in!! He's in a class of 500some and I'm positive way more than 16 want Detroit.

5.  Only people who started in January and/or finish in December can go to Bakersfield and you must have a 3.2 GPA.

5.  Detroit and Bakersfield are the only spots that care about GPA or USMLE scores.

6.   Things they do give preference for :  married couples, kids, where you are from, job options for spouse, family close by, pets, and things like that.

7.  They may only give you a 2 week notice before you start your clinicals!  They told Lee's class they'd know by April 16th and they may start May 1st!

8.  Having all your shots and medical records up to date are important to speed up the process, so is taking the USMLE earlier than other people.  The sooner they have all your information the sooner they can place you!

9.  The average (SGU) student needs/takes 8 weeks to study for the USMLE.

10.  The average SGU student does better than the average US medical student on the USMLE.

11. Last term 26% of the class got above a 240 on the USMLE, which is awesome!!

12.  You get to put 3 places down that you'd prefer to go.  They now do it by State, not town, hospital, etc.



Lee and I's 3 choices are as follows:

#1 - Detroit, Michigan - St. John's Hospital.  Reasons - Lee is Canadian, it is close to the boarder, he could easily cross over if something is wrong medically or a Visa issue, I am from Ohio it is close to Ohio, Lee's family is close by in Toronto,  Lee has a cousin in Windsor, I have lots of family nearby in Northern Ohio, we are very financially strapped and Detroit has a much lower cost of living than say New York.
My reasons for wanting Detroit - I really want to work in an underprivileged area and I think that Detroit is the perfect place

#2 - Bakersfield, California - Kern Medical Center.  Reasons - we really don't want to go to New Jersey or New York (ok that's not really what we're going to tell SGU but that's the real reason)

#3 - Any Clinical Center, meaning anywhere we can do the full 2 years without moving - SGU please don't  send us to New Jersey... but if you do, at least we'll be with lots of friends...

Here is the list of hospitals available to us for Spring 2012

Spring 2012 Hospitals for present 5^th Term students:

Location	Cores	Comments
New York
Brooklyn Hospital Center	IM, OB, PD, S, P	P –Metropolitan Hospital Center FM
Coney Island Hospital	IM, OB, PD, S, P	P - Maimonides Medical Center EM
Flushing Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, S	FM – Brooklyn Hospital Center
Jamaica Hospital & Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, S, P	FM – Brooklyn Hospital Center
Lincoln Medical & Mental Health Center/Brooklyn Hospital Center/Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center	IM, OB, PD, P, S	S – Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center FM – Brooklyn Hospital Center
Mount Vernon Hospital	IM
Richmond University Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, S, P	FM – Brooklyn Hospital Center
Sound  Shore Medical Center of Westchester	IM, PD	FM
New Jersey
Jersey City Medical Center	IM, OB, S	ATYR
Monmouth Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, S	ATYR
St. Barnabas Medical Center/Newark Beth Israel Medical Center/Bergen Regional Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, S, P	Students should expect to complete rotations at all 3 locations. ATYR
St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, S, P	FM
St. Michael’s Medical Center/Trinitas Regional Medical Center/St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, P	P – Trinitas Regional Medical Center Ob & PD – St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center
Michigan
St. John Hospital & Medical Center/Providence Hospital	IM, OB, PD, S, P	P – Providence Hospital ( limited availability ) FM
California
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center	S	FM
Kern Medical Center	IM, OB, PD, S, P	PD – Under FM residency umbrella.
San Joaquin General Hospital	IM, S	FM (limited availability)
Florida
Cleveland Clinic/Miami Children’s Hospital/Queens Hospital Center/Lutheran Medical Center	IM, PD, OB, S, P	PD – Miami Children’s Hospital OB & P – Queens Hospital Center S – Lutheran Medical Center
Maryland
Spring Grove Hospital/Holy Cross Hospital	P, OB
UK Start Dates
January 30, 2012

KEY:                                                                              

IM  Medicine                                              FM – Family Medicine                                                    

OB  Ob/Gyn                                   EM – Emergency Medicine                              

PD  Pediatrics                                ATYR – Additional Third Year Requirement 

P     Psychiatry                          

S     Surgery                                  Some hospitals require a 6 week ATYR for both educational and scheduling purposes.                            

Say a prayer for us that we are sent to Detroit!