As OUM students progress into the clinical curriculum, they must complete 72 weeks of clinical training – 56 weeks of core rotations and 16 weeks of elective rotations. A graduation requirement is to complete one four-week elective at OUM’s primary teaching facility, Tupua Tamasese Meaole Hospital (TTM) in Samoa.

Construction on TTM was completed in December 2014, and it is the only hospital in Samoa with the facilities and scope to teach Medicine. It provides primary, secondary, and tertiary care in a wide range of medical and surgical specialties, as well as in its outpatient clinics.

“The rotation I did in Samoa was the best thing I’ve ever done. You see things and treat things you will likely never see again,” says Marika Stubbs, MD, OUM Class of 2018 who practices in New Zealand. “It is a unique environment that offers amazing hands-on experience that will help you with all your other rotations,” she adds.

OUM students work with their regional dean and the Dean for Samoa, American Samoa, and the Asia Pacific to arrange Samoan electives at TTM, based upon rotation availability. OUM’s Samoan staff also assist students in finding accommodations, securing their visas, learning the local culture and customs, and shopping for all the items necessary for making their stay comfortable and productive.

Perhaps a little envious

During her U.S. clinical rotations and as a resident, Patricia Graham, MD, FACP, OUM Class of 2008, says her colleagues were shocked when she shared the medical conditions she saw during the rotations she completed at TTM Hospital. 

“I saw patients with leprosy, rheumatic fever, and typhoid, conditions I’ll likely never see here at home,” says Dr. Graham, who became the first Oceania University of Medicine graduate to earn a US medical school faculty appointment. Since 2016, she has been an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at Rush University Medical College in Chicago, Illinois, USA. 

Another graduate, Jennifer Allen, MD, OUM Class of 2012, praised the attending physicians at TTM Hospital, saying they are wonderfully educated, skilled clinicians, and proficient teachers. 

“Going to Samoa really seemed like an impossible, daunting task, but it was one of the greatest four weeks I have ever spent,” she said, adding that she was a married mother of three while in medical school at OUM. “I really wanted to deliver babies and that’s something medical students simply don’t get an opportunity to do in the US. Teaching hospitals have too many residents and fellows trying to get into delivery rooms, plus there is so much liability involved today in labor/delivery settings,” she adds. 

Dr. Allen was a very experienced nurse practitioner, prior to enrolling at OUM, and delivered a baby at TTM during one of her first days in Samoa. The parents of one baby she delivered insisted on naming their daughter Jennifer.

From a non-medical standpoint, Dr. Allen had more praise for the Samoa experience:

“Samoa is like Hawaii on steroids,” she said. “It is a very beautiful place with some of the nicest people you will ever meet. I learned a tremendous amount in my time there.”