Kern clinicals and Santa Clarita

[ym212]

I have a question for those of you who have done clinicals at Bakersfield. Would it be a bad idea to live in Santa Clarita and commute to Bakersfield everyday? Google map says that it's 1 hr and 17 min away, which sounds duable, but I wanted to know what you guys thought. I don't know anything about the area or how busy the schedules are at Kern.

Thanks!

[stateofequilibrium]

If it takes an hour 17 minutes to get there, or back.. imagine the worst starting at 6am or earlier and then getting out at night. Then imagine if there's traffic or an accident along the road. There's no excuse for getting there late.

[FOID]

if i can remember clearly, between santa clarita and bakersfield is the grapevine... a huge chunk of hill to get thru...

[FOID]

it might be a problem to go up and down... for 7 days in a row. and gas is expensive now.

it's doable but i wouldn't do it. (9,941)

[FOID]

btw, not really a hill, it's a mountain... goes up about 4,000 feet.

if it's too much wind, they'll close the freeway.

if it snows, they'll close it.

just becareful.

[stateofequilibrium]

Yeah, and the last thing you want to do is miss a day of clinicals unless due to dire-emergency (like you're dying somewhere waiting for the ambulance).

[FOID]

5 south/north... very important highway between SF and LA...

[ym212]

Thanks all for the input. They were very helpful. I don't want to do anything that'd interfere with my clinicals, obviously. My family and I cannot live in Bakersfield for health reasons, so I might have to go to other areas.

Thanks again.

[FOID]

lots of coccidomyces...

[stateofequilibrium]

If you think you can do it, then by all means. But it'll be very difficult, not to mention say if you're on call then trying to drive home.

[kemper6036]

yikes, that does not sound like a good scenario

[stateofequilibrium]

I know people often live far from their sites, and I'm not trying to discourage the user. Just making sure they know what could happen. I've done that drive on the 5/99 before. It's not an easy drive.

[FOID]

If you think you can do it, then by all means. But it'll be very difficult, not to mention say if you're on call then trying to drive home.

imagine after being up for 30+ hours and then driving... that'd be really horrible

[stateofequilibrium]

And that's why they made the resident's work law

[FOID]

i thought it doesn't apply to med students

[Scott1981]

i thought it doesn't apply to med students

it doesnt :evil:

[stateofequilibrium]

I was just mentioning how it came to be

[ym212]

From the information I got here and in St. Mary's thread, the "work" schedule seems long and unpredictable. It's definitely better to live close to your hospital. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like there are any towns with better air quality close to Bakersfield. I think that I really need to reconsider the location... Too bad because I really wanted to move to the west. I guess I'll try for some elective spots out there!

[FOID]

if you want a place like kern where you can do all your cores at, i suggest providence in michigan. you can do all your cores there as well.