A virtual clinical experience/ Clinical Rotations means you don’t have to worry about travel expenses and the cost of living in the U.S. for four or more weeks. Your only expense is the rotation, which can be as low as $1150 to $1350 for four weeks.
ARE TELE ROTATIONS HELPFUL AND DO THEY HELP YOU MATCH?
- Rotations though being Tele /Virtual still give you a good and strong understanding of the US healthcare system
- Through Zoom sessions you round in the hospital with your attending physician virtually interacting with patients and other personnel taking care of the patient.
- Through Zoom sessions you round virtually in outpatient clinics interacting with patients and other personnel taking care of the patient.
- You will get a Letter of Recommendation that you have interacted and managed patients on the hospital floors and in the clinics.
- You can follow the concepts of evidence-based medicine and show the execution of these concepts in a patient care situation including for example in case discussions and presentations with your attending physicians.
- You know how the patient centric and team approach works.
- Many students from overseas tend to do two different rotations simultaneously. If you think you need more Letters of recommendations in limited time, tele rotations are a very good option.
- Finally, tele rotations give you the opportunity to dive deeper into case discussions, literature reviews and build a stronger foundation.
So, in short YES, they are very helpful and YES, they help you match.
our students who have done tele rotation reported no issues during interviews. Many of them have also received pre match offers. A lot of students have not done any onsite rotation but only 3 – 4 tele rotations.
WHAT ARE THE IMPORTANT THINGS TO LOOK FOR IN TELEROTATION?
- How is it structured?
- How many hours/weeks?
- Have you had patient interaction?
- Examples of case presentations and discussions
- What did you learn about evidence-based medicine EBM & EMR in the tele rotation?
- Opportunities to present cases and participate in care of the patient.
PROS AND CONS OF TELE ROTATIONS:
First let’s understand that in many cases now tele-rotations may be more popular for the next couple of seasons because of the restrictions on travel/visa, hospital restrictions due to onsite visits by HHHS and Health safety inspectors, on onsite student elective rotations and even patients avoiding onsite visits due to Covid etc.
PROS:
- The first obvious advantage is the living expenses- if you are doing tele rotation, you don’t have to relocate, spend money in travel, housing in that city or on transportation so you end up saving quite a bit.
- The biggest advantage though, turns out to be flexibility. We have many students working full time- an OB-GYN physician in India, a researcher at Stanford, other physicians doing COVID duty in their home country. They all welcomed tele with open arms and were able to get acquainted with the US healthcare system without compromising on their duties.
- For those of you who may be preparing for the USMLE Step exams, tele rotations may have some other benefits. It will free up your time for studying.
- Also remember that a typical tele rotation does not last the whole day- it is about 2-4 hours maximum in a day on weekdays. So many students tend to do two different rotations simultaneously. So, if you think you need more Letters of recommendations in limited time, tele rotations are a good option.
- Finally, tele rotations give you the opportunity to dive deeper into case discussions, literature reviews and build a stronger foundation.
CONS:
- Of course, all the drawbacks you can think of if you are not physically present in the hospital. The teamwork aspect tends not to be as strong as in tele.
- Networking could be an issue, since you are not onsite and you may not be able to meet other attendings, residents informally and get guidance- which otherwise in an onsite setting is much easier.
- If you are looking for a rigorous 8-to-10-hour schedule- that’s not happening in Tele, and some students may not like it from that perspective.
WHAT IS THE QUALITY OF LORs IN TELE ROTATIONS?
Well turns out that even in tele you can get strong personalized LORs. The quality of LORs is no less than that of any other equivalent rotations in most cases.
WHO BENEFITS THE MOST WITH TELE ROTATIONS?
First is the category of recent graduates who could not do on site electives or externships are finding tele rotations quite useful and most of them have got interview invites based on only Tele United States Clinical Experience. Infact, some of them also got pre-match offers. The reason recent graduates’ benefit from tele is simple- they have either just finished their internships or are in the middle of their internships- they already have the clinical experience. Their goal is to understand the US healthcare system, the physician-patient interaction, the use of EBM, EMRs and almost all of this can be done in tele rotations.
The other category of applicants who benefit from the Tele are applicants with strong home country experience- may even be working full time- given the extensive clinical acumen, these students also benefit from learning the intricacies of the US healthcare system which they may be missing in their home countries- the EMRs, case discussions, EBM etc. These students have been getting interviews even without any onsite USCE- in, pediatrics and IM some have even got in family practice and psychiatry.
WHAT DOES A TYPICAL TELE-ROTATION SCHEDULE THROUGH MEDICAL STUDENT ROTATIONS.COM INCLUDE?
- Rotation Schedule:
- Time: 8:00 am to 10-11 am (EST)
- Telemedicine and Virtual Rounds (1-2 hours daily)
- Lectures Series (4-5 hours weekly)
- Student Presentations (Weekly)
- Feedback sessions by the attending physicians
- Guidance and Mentoring sessions as needed.
- Attending Physician access 24X7.
- Excellent Letters of Recommendations.