I need a hospital

[monkey68]

I'm trying to set up my 4th year clinical rotations right now, and we can basically go anywhere in the country (or even internationally), given that we meet all the graduation requirements. 4th year of medical school is generally known as an easier time once you submit your applications for residency and interview, most people look for a more laid back experience You can stop trying to impress people because you've already done all your electives in the field you're interested in, you've already applied and interviewed. So I figured what better time to see parts of the country?

So I'm looking to do some rotations in other parts of the country. I'm looking at going to Maine Medical Center, because I hear that Maine is gorgeous, and it seems like a good hospital. But I don't know of any other hospitals in other parts of the country. So if you live somewhere pretty, that's not near NYC, which hospital should I look at in your pretty town? Bonus points if it's near a lake, mountains, or ocean. Many places provide students with housing, so I'll look into what's available. I'm just not sure where to look, I want to go to reputable places, but also places in a pretty part of the country, places I might otherwise not go to. So if you kind folks wouldn't mind just throwing out the name of your town (or nearby town), the name of a nice nearby hospital, and what makes that part of the country so pretty. Remember, I can literally go anywhere, so it doesn't matter where you are, just throw it out there

 

[MichelleinMaine]

I've not worked at Maine Med (though Iwas born there, as was my grampa, dad, and son. My parents, grandmother, and aunts have all worked there. It was my second home growing up, lol.) It is a great hospital and this is a nice part of the country.

Mountains, ocean, decent sized city, not alot of traffic. And four lovely seasons. (Winter not so lovely come about, oh, February, but... )

 

[Rafiki31]

Where do you live now? What kind of climate do you want? Will you be ok with snow? I def recommend New England if you can handle the winter, the fall and spring are so beautiful.

 

[Disneylover79]

Well I live in Ft. Myers Florida, I work at our hospital (RN) I am not sure what type of medicine you want, I see a lot of Med students with our hospital group. The hospital itself is literally 5 minutes from the beach (the Gulf of Mexico). Feel free to ask me anything I will try to answer it....

 

[honugirl]

If you want outdoors with lakes, mountains and all that other jazz, Washington state is for you. Sure, it rains here, but it rains more in other places! It's true, it really does!

I had a fab time as a patient at MD Anderson. The staff there is terrific. I LOVE my surgeon from there. He's amazing! One of the best docs I know, so if you want a good teacher try there.

 

[Minnesota!]

Mayo clinic? Anywhere in MN guarantees you will be close to water.

 

[sharlon]

I will highly, highly, highly recommend Mission Hospitals in Asheville, NC. Beautiful area in the Appalachian mountains and a fantastic hospital. Also the only trauma center in Western North Carolina. We have all of the advantages of living in the mountains (skiing, hiking, etc.), great climate that doesn't get too cold, and we are about 4 hours from the beach in Charleston, SC. Also about 3.5 hours from Atlanta and 2.5 from Charlotte, NC. Oh, and Asheville is a great city. Very culturally rich and quirky.
Best of luck with whatever you choose!

 

[MoniqueU]

Scripps La Jolla

 

[monkey68]

Where do you live now? What kind of climate do you want? Will you be ok with snow? I def recommend New England if you can handle the winter, the fall and spring are so beautiful.

Now I live in NY. I won't be going to these fabulous places until the second half of the year, the first half I am going to do elective rotations in pediatrics (what I want to get into) at programs where I am interested in applying. Interviews generally start around November, go through December, maybe January, so I want to do as many rotations before that as I could in NY programs, since I don't plan on leaving NY permanently. So that leaves me from Jan-May to do rotations around the country. These are only 4 week rotations, so I could probably go to 4 or 5 different places.

I definitely don't mind snow though, I love the snow, I think it's the most gorgeous thing ever, so I wouldn't mind going up there in the winter, although I wouldn't have to.

This is actually starting to feel like a lot of fun, I figure I'm not going to have the chance to do something like this later on, so why not do it now?

 

[golfgal]

Mayo clinic? Anywhere in MN guarantees you will be close to water.

I was going to say the same thing. The Mayo System is just simply amazing. MN in general is wonderful for medical care and we have outstanding hospitals everywhere.

OP, if you are going into pediatrics, one thing to think about when you start looking for jobs is that rural areas are desperate for doctors and many of them are forgiving loans, etc. for doctors that will commit to staying for however many years. I know our old town in SW Minnesota was one that did that.

 

[smkiya]

Scripps La Jolla

I second the San Diego area! Lived in SoCal for 3 years and wish I didn't have to leave. I'm an RN in a NJ hospital and if I was single with no kids I'd definately head back there. You may just change our mind about NY!

 

[lemondog]

Tennessee is beautiful! And you have some great hospitals in Nashville. We are the health care capital of the country for a reason! Vanderbilt is the first one that obviously comes to mind, but there are several other excellent, nationally-ranked hospitals here as well.

 

[pipersmom]

UVa..Charlottesville, Va..there's a bit of everything around..mountains, lakes, skiing, all without the -20 weather a lot of other places. It's also a great hospital, with an awesome Peds program Also tons of student housing since it's in a college town, and Charlottesville itself is a very cool town to hang out in.

 

[tink_lover]

I was going to say the same thing. The Mayo System is just simply amazing. MN in general is wonderful for medical care and we have outstanding hospitals everywhere.

OP, if you are going into pediatrics, one thing to think about when you start looking for jobs is that rural areas are desperate for doctors and many of them are forgiving loans, etc. for doctors that will commit to staying for however many years. I know our old town in SW Minnesota was one that did that.

I'm guessing neither of these MN posters live in Rochester. It is the only county in MN without a natural lake. There is not much water, and definately no mountains here. It's a great town to live in with a family. Not much to do for med students. It's a great place to work as a physician due to the low/no call but very limited in the arts/culture/restaurants/things to do. Good luck with your choice!

 

[goofy!]

Boulder Community Hospital, Boulder, CO

Boulder, CO - waking up to this view every morning doesn't suck:
Using the CU Stadium as your center, the small red building closer to the foothills, at about 1:00 is approximately where Boulder Community is (if that isn't BCH.)

Gorgeous blue skies over 300 days a year, nestled in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, great quality of life, you can be skiing in less than half an hour, a little over an hour for the major slopes, awesome weather, world class hiking and biking (a mecca for elite athletes to train), great night life (busy college town with CU Boulder), Denver is only 30 minutes away for cultural get aways.

www.bch.org. Home to Rocky Mountain Cancer Center (one of best in state), Boulder Center for Sports Medicine (used by lots of elite athletes training in Boulder), and others. For a small hospital, it is considered an excellent hospital and very innovative.

If you need a bigger hospital, there is always Denver Children's Hospital, one of the best, especially in pediatric heart transplants or Pres/St. Lukes. Pres/St. Lukes is in the process of creating the Rocky Mountain Children's Hospital, which should also be an excellent hospital if the pediatric specialists there are any indication. (DD's cardiologist and heart surgeon are at Presbyterian/St. Lukes.)

 

[TheBigBadWolf]

I second MD Anderson hospital. We think it's the best cancer hospital in the world. The warm winter weather in Houston is great too. Roses blooming in January, hard to beat. On the Gulf of Mexico, though the beaches aren't so great there.

 

[pigletgirl]

Arizona!
University Medical Center in Tucson AZ...
There some also great ones in the Phoenix metro area....

St. Louis MO, Nashville TN, Kansas City KS/MO, Denver CO (Health Sciences)

You have lots to choose from!

Lucky duck, I hope to be in your shoes in about 4ish years from now!

 

[monkey68]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far! Definitely keep them coming, I have some research to do! I won't be able to any more peds rotations in the second half of the year when I plan on going to different places around the country because I'm using most of my electives, plus my "Med/peds" requirements in the first half of the year in peds to showcase myself at programs I like. The second half of the year, I have to fulfill the other requirements, like emergency medicine, radiology, a couple surgical or Ob/gyn rotations, and I think I still have a free elective or 2, but I would like to use it to do something out of the ordinary, just because it would be my last chance to do so. But that's my issue to figure out, I just need to know where to look.

Hmm.... I wonder if NASA allows students to do an aerospace medicine rotation... that would be very cool. Must find out later.

 

[Livi'sMom]

Cleveland Clinic. Lake Erie is very beautiful and so is all of Northeast Ohio.

 

[LJC1861]

I will highly, highly, highly recommend Mission Hospitals in Asheville, NC. Beautiful area in the Appalachian mountains and a fantastic hospital. Also the only trauma center in Western North Carolina. We have all of the advantages of living in the mountains (skiing, hiking, etc.), great climate that doesn't get too cold, and we are about 4 hours from the beach in Charleston, SC. Also about 3.5 hours from Atlanta and 2.5 from Charlotte, NC. Oh, and Asheville is a great city. Very culturally rich and quirky.
Best of luck with whatever you choose!

Sharlon,

You took the words RIGHT OUT OF MY MOUTH!!!

To the original poster.....she is right. Asheville is a great place and the Mission Hospital System is one of the best in the country.

Linda