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Questions about programs/clinical rotations


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For those of you who have attended either Yale, Emory, Duke, or Rosalind Franklin...

1)Which school did you attend, and can you tell me a little about your clinical rotation experiences?

2)Are you satisfied with the clinical rotation sites/the variety or number of rotations you are doing?

3)Do you feel like your didactic courses prepared you well for rotations?

4)How prepared do/did you feel for the PANCE?

5)How happy are you overall your program?

 

Please PM me if you don't want to publicize your answers. Thank you!!

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I am at Rosalind, half way through my second year now. I'm happy to chat with you a bit, but you should know that if you are invited to interview you get to chill with several second-year students who fill you in on everything and answer tons of questions.

 

I'll PM you with more details when I have time, which honestly might be a while. I've been super busy this rotation. For now....

 

1. RFUMS. The second half of your question could take me hours to answer.

 

2. I have enjoyed all of my clinical experiences so far. Rosalind has six core rotations (FM, IM, Peds, WH, Surgery, and EM) and two elective rotations. The school is well-established in the area and has preceptors throughout northern Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana in most of the major healthsystems and hospitals around here. We also have a variety of "travel" sites, most offering housing, and at least two international rotations that I know of (plus one in Hawaii that might as well be international, LOL). You also have the option of setting up your own elective rotations with new preceptors and in some cases you may be allowed to use those as cores (but that is at the discretion of our clinical coordinator, who has to be sure you get the most out of your core experiences). There are several other schools in the area, but I have only been with another student two times. Once, it was another PA student from my own school and I never saw him except in the very early morning when we both arrived. The other time it was a medical student from another school. We got along really well and it was a tremendous help to have someone else with me. I guess what I'm saying is that we are not over-saturated with students here at the Rosalind sites. I have had tons of one-on-one teaching from people who like what they do and know about PAs.

 

3. Yes. I have felt more ready for some things than others, but that has been a completely internal realization and possibly a reflection of my own interests rather than my preparation. All of my preceptors have been pleased with my medical knowledge, and have specifically told me so.

 

4. I can't hear you. What? PANCE? Eh? Seriously though, I have a lot of studying to do which is all leading to that test. I haven't started studying for it specifically yet but I do have one PANCE review book that has been cracked open a few times as a reference.

 

5. I loved it, all of it, and will be happy/sad to be done.

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Hi,

1. Attending Duke. We complete 2 8week rotations in Primary Care & Internal Medicine, 1 four week block writing an Evidence Based Medicine research paper, 2 four week electives and a four week block for all the other required for accreditation electives (Peds, Behavioral Med, OB/GYN, etc). We are in the 5th month of rotations and it has been a great learning experience so far.

 

 

2. I am satisfied with the sites so far. Of course Duke has plenty of established rotation sites here in NC, and a couple out of state (Flint, MI and Williamsburg, VA) as well as global health elective rotations in Tanzania, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, and Honduras. We are required to complete at least 2 rotations in an under served area, and 2 rotations that are more than 50miles away from the school. This really helps with variety in our rotation experience. I love that we didn't have to find our own rotation sites (though I know some like that freedom of finding their own preceptors). Duke also received a grant for having students complete a 6month Primary Care rotation (where you'd stay at one location for 6 months and get primary care, Peds, OB, etc all at one place plus $$$ toward your tuition). There are lots of options and everyone gets a breadth of experience.

 

 

3. Didactic year is extremely fast and furious, but I do feel that the "clinical pearls" we received from faculty and guest lecturers who are still practicing and are leaders in their field really did prepare us. I think it's fascinating how much you know, even when it feels like you don't remember anything from didactic year (you will see what I mean...it's like a little person pulling files from the back of your brain when you need it). Of course I'm learning things on rotation that I never heard of in class as well...PA school is really only giving us a foundation to build on. Definitely can't teach all of medicine in 1yr of didactic and 1year plus of clinicals!!

 

 

4. I feel like everyday we're preparing for the PANCE. I like that our program administers the PACKRAT once after didactic and once after Clinical Year so that you can see how much you've grown, as well as see what content areas you need to focus your studies on before taking the actual PANCE. I appreciate that we have "Callback Days" throughout Clinical Year to refresh our exam skills, catch up on new guidelines, get coding/billing tips, etc. Their first time PANCE pass percentage is consistently above 98% or so....so I'm just trusting the process, I'm sure it'll be fine.

 

 

5. I'm quite happy. It feels like I'm being groomed to be a great practitioner and leader, can't wait to see the end of the tunnel soon;)

 

 

 

 

Best Wishes

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