FULL SERVICE TRAINING
Chicago affiliations offer rotations and more
OUM’s relationship with Jackson Park Hospital in Chicago is proving to be beneficial to students on multiple levels. Attendees of the 8/9 September information session learned about their options at Jackson Park from OUM faculty, a Chicago physician, and fellow students who have gone through training at the medical school’s newest teaching facility.
Perhaps of most significance, Jackson Park rotations are available to all OUM students, both US residents and international students.
“I can assure you from my personal observations that Jackson Park is very IMG friendly,” said Dr. Sarmad Ghazi, OUM Dean for North America, who moderated the student information session.
“Jackson Park is a busy hospital in a major metropolitan city, certainly a better option than private office-based rotations,” said Dr. Ghazi. “Students will be exposed to a broader range of diagnoses, the curriculum is better structured for medical students, and they will have the chance to work with residents, attendings, and students from other schools who are also rotating at JPH.”
OUM clinical students who complete rotations at Jackson Park also have access to the courses and facilities of the Chicago Medical Training Center (CMTC), located a few blocks from the hospital. Through Becker Professional Education, CMTC provides clinical skills training, USMLE prep courses, and OSCE preparation. In addition to state-of-the-art medical education facilities, OUM students also benefit from assistance with housing and visa paperwork.
Variety, Diversity
“One of the things I especially liked was that most of the attendings at Jackson Park really enjoy teaching and they are sincerely there to help and support the medical students and residents,” says Wendy Chen, MD, OUM Class of 2017, now a first-year Internal Medicine resident at Mercy Hospital of Chicago. “I was also pleasantly surprised at the variety of cases we saw. I wasn’t expecting to have patients presenting with so many different symptoms and conditions, things I had previously only read about in books.”
During the info session, current students also shared their experiences at Jackson Park and CMTC from onboarding and pre-rotation documentation, to assistance they received for finding housing, and their experience working side-by-side with clinical students from other medical schools.
“I completed my clinical skills course at Chicago Medical Training Center, then began my first rotation with students from Ireland, the Caribbean, and other US medical schools,” said Terri Brewis, OUM third-year student currently completing her Pediatrics rotation at Jackson Park. “I was fortunate to make a site visit to Chicago a few weeks before beginning my course and rotation. I was able to find housing right next to the hospital,” she added. Terri also referenced the list of documents required by the hospital in order to begin rotations and recommended having them completed and organized prior to arriving in Chicago so transition into training can run more smoothly.
In closing the info session, Dr. Ghazi said “We work very hard to assure your success and Jackson Park and the Chicago Medical Training Center are now contributing to our efforts. I look forward to one day seeing you all as practicing physicians.”
The September information session was recorded for students who were unable to attend. The link may be found here and on the Moodle homepage.
