I've been a guest for this website for quite a while now, but I think this is my first post... so here goes...
Hope I can get someone to clarify this matter for me...

1. Why does my carrib. med school need to have a "formal contract" with the hospitals where we will do our rotations in? I've heard from quite a few people who set up their own rotations with the hospitals they chose independently, and they didn't need any "contracts" from whatever school they came from because their schools were never involved in setting up the rotations in the first place.

So we NEED a formal written contract if we are students at any of the Carrib. med schools and let our school set up our rotations, but we DON'T need any of those if we set up our own, or graduated students from other parts of the world, say... Asia?

2. I've talked to one of the Clinical directors from one of the Carrib. med school, and he said that as long as the clinical site is approved for at least one of the core rotation specialties(ie. surgery, or IM), then we can do ALL of our rotations at that site and it wouldn't be a problem.

I've specifically asked him about this matter very throughly and he assured me that he was correct, saying "we shouldn't be too concerned about the 'site', because the most important thing is that whoever teaches me there be the board member and are able to certify me come a licensure time." But now I come here and read a few posts here and there, and I'm not too sure if he WAS correct...

Can anybody tell me what's going on?
Does state licensing board really care about where we did our rotations that much? Washington State for example, (yes, I'm from Seattle and I plan to come back here for residency and licensure) only requires that I do my residency with the ACGME approved programs, not my rotations...

Any input on this matter will be helpful...


Thank you