It’s when we get to put our Preclinical Sciences knowledge to work. It’s crazy to see how much more information there is still to learn. After Step 1, I felt like I was really prepared and ready for the wards. I feel like I’m able to apply the knowledge now and organize it better. Learning the criteria for diagnosis and proper assessment and plan techniques really makes things stick. It gets easier to remember the large amount of information for me at least because I can see it in practice.

Brooklyn is nice. There are lots of great places to visit and plenty of good eating spots. There is always something going on and it’s easy to find free events when you make the time to go relax. I’m pretty sure there are always people in Times Square giving out free comedy show tickets every day.  It’s easy to get sucked in and spend all day at the hospital or studying, but it’s important to take some personal time. Some rotation schedules might be 7AM-7PM while others it’s normal business hours. I budget time around my schedule.

My rotations have been scheduled back-to-back so that means there is one weekend between the end of a rotation and the start of the next. I’m grateful that they have been scheduled smoothly. It’s important to keep paperwork in order so that you don’t have an expired ACLS card or out-of-date physical form that would prevent you from starting a rotation. The coordinators work with you to schedule rotations in the same area if you want to avoid moving a lot, and if you have no preference, you can move around and get a feel for different programs. To some extent, I believe it is a good idea to visit several hospitals for rotations because it gives you an opportunity to impress directors.  If you can get a director’s letter of recommendation then you stand out when you apply for residency at that hospital. Every little bit helps.

by Christopher Buelvas, Class of 2013