Thread: Important Concern about Ross Clinical Affiliations..

I have talked to a few people doing clinicals now and I have been told that not all clinical affiliations that Ross has and obviously you get sent to
are teaching hospitals. By the same token, I know for a fact that your core rotations have to be completed in a teaching hospital associated with a U.S. medical school to be valid for many state licensing boards. How does this affect future graduates from here like myself and others when time comes for licensing?

CAN ANYONE WHO IS MORE KNOWLEDGABLE ABOUT THIS SUBJECT EXPAND ON MY COMMENTS AND CONCERNS?

I appreciate the time and effort people take to respond.

Thanks you guys

I'm a bit confused. I never took a "shot" at Picard at all. I asked another user why they would listen to somebody (anybody) that never went to Ross before thinking to ask the Dean of that department. I didn't discount what Picard said, but I know that the Dean of Clinical Sciences will have the best information about our clinical affiliations and Helicon stated that he/she didn't think the clinical dean was a good source for that information. (???)

Anyways, Picard, if you felt that I was picking on you, I apologize for not being clear. Thank you VitalSigns for pointing that out.

-M

Helicon, you are correct that there should be a clear path for the clinical rotations! Just like you ought to be able to pick up a road map in the US and plot your direct path cross country. But if you have ever tried to do that, you know there is always construction someplace and you have to take a detour or alternate path. That is what hapened TX. We had a clear path for rotations and licensure in all 50 states, but TX did some "construction" on theirr rules and we are now in the process of sorting out how to get you to your destination again. As soon as we know what that path is, we will get out the word. One of the The FIRST people to know that will be the Dean of Clinical Sciences.

Yo VitalSigns, go acgme.org. From there you can choose any hospital from any state that is accredited and see what residencies are at that hospital. You can cross-check that with the clinical affiliated hospitals on the Ross homepage. Ross has so many affiliations in NYC (some places like Maimoniades and Brookdale and Bronx-Lebanon have just about every residency there) that it doesn't seem tough to be able to do all ACGME rotations in NYC.

Mitch,

No, you were fine. And yes, I do encourage people to ask questions.
I don't know what Ross is like currently as it has changed hands twice since I was in school. The Ross I knew back in the mid-1990's was... scary. And being a second year student, you missed that part of Ross's history (fortunately).

There's nothing wrong with school pride, and standing up/defending your school. Yes, Ross, along with other well established Carib schools are giving us a chance to practice medicine when the US establishments have turned us away. And I for one is very grateful for my education at SGU. But, when I was a basic science student, I was very sheltered on the island, and knew nothing about what the "real world" of medical politics are like back in the US. And this is why I'm posting here... to challange people to ask tough questions, to take a realistic look at the road IMG's must take to achieve our dreams. And from time to time, I'm going to disagree with certain schools' practices... and I'm going to call it the way I see it, now that I'm sitting on the other side of the fence. Hindsight is always 20-20... So, I'm simply offering my "hindsights," and hope they help some of you to avoid a few potholes I had stumbled into when I was in your shoes... that's all. Life is unpredictable. Keep your options open.

Best Wishes,

Picard

Picard, would you mine sharing how Ross was in regards to clinicals in the mid-1990s?

i know when i started in fall of 99, supposedly half the students went to great britain. that may have been why thinsg were so cut throat then. good grades meant the states. by the end of my second semester, ross had so many acgme licensed sites in the US that they dropped all england spots. i actually had a friend who wanted to go there, and they would not let her!! and now maybe thats one reason why ross isnt very cutthroat at all. we always helped each other out for the most part. there were a few jerks who nobody would help as they wouldnt help anyone either, but for the most part, everyone was pretty cool.

Thanks for your insight Jim. Its nice having a Ross graduate here to answer questions having actually experienced the school instead of people telling us what they heard or believe (from an outside perspective).

-M

Originally Posted by jim

i know when i started in fall of 99, supposedly half the students went to great britain. that may have been why thinsg were so cut throat then. good grades meant the states. by the end of my second semester, ross had so many acgme licensed sites in the US that they dropped all england spots. i actually had a friend who wanted to go there, and they would not let her!! and now maybe thats one reason why ross isnt very cutthroat at all. we always helped each other out for the most part. there were a few jerks who nobody would help as they wouldnt help anyone either, but for the most part, everyone was pretty cool.

Picard, would you mine sharing how Ross was in regards to clinicals in the mid-1990s?

No, I don't know the current Ross. Yes, I know the Ross back in the mid-1990's, first hand. I have family and friends who went through Ross during that time frame. And in contrary to what many basic science students who have no clinical experiences would let you believe (about lack of "first hand knowledge"), many of us Caribbean students do rotations together in the same hospitals... so we do see first hand what other schools are doing to their students. No, you don't have to take any of what I have to say seriously. Everything I've posted about general requirements for IMG's can be verified elsewhere independently. So if you think that these general requirements do not apply to Ross students due to my "lack of first hand knowledge"... well... so be it. You will find out soon enough "first hand."

I'm not going to talk about in details what Ross was like in the mid-1990's. Doing so will only start a pissing contest. Let's just say that I personally know plenty of Ross folks from that era who are in careers "other than medicine" now, and Ross graduates from that era who are in careers other than medicine, not by choice. And this is first hand knowledge as some of you may ask. I gave a campus tour to a Ross biochem teacher from that era... and asked her why she didn't just go to Ross... I can't repeat what she said here... Ross was a different beast in that time frame. There's reason why there are 1900 unaccounted follks.

I'm sure Ross is very different now from the Ross I know. It has changed hands twice since the mid-1990's. I'm glad to see that the new and improved Ross is turning out successful graduates such as Jim nowadays... But my point remains -- ask questions, challenge the issues, and look out for your interest. We all share the road of being an IMG... And I hope many of you will learn from people who have gone before you. Believe it or not, we all share the same issues and challenges no matter which school you come from... and hopefully you will avoid the potholes we had to stumble across to get to where we are. That's all.

P

Originally Posted by MitchDC

Helicon, are you saying that asking the Dean of Clinical Sciences whos department coordinates all the rotations is not a good source to ask???

Mitch, I'm sorry for the misunderstanding. Dr. Perrie is a good source to ask about clinical rotation. What I meant was Ross have a thousand students. If every student have to call Dr. Perrie to understand the politics behind the clinical rotation, Dr. Perrie will be overwhelming. Some students are not even aware of the issue, they just blindly go to any clinical site that they're assigned to.
I hope the school will provide the following:
- A document that listed all questions and answers about Ross clinical rotation or a guideline to choose clinical site. This document should be posted on Ross website and is updated twice a year. This should take care of the "detour" issue that Dean Wagner mentioned.
- Give students a head up of the politics behind the clinical rotations in the new student orientation meeting.

Originally Posted by BIGOSUFAN

Yo VitalSigns, go acgme.org. From there you can choose any hospital from any state that is accredited and see what residencies are at that hospital. You can cross-check that with the clinical affiliated hospitals on the Ross homepage. Ross has so many affiliations in NYC (some places like Maimoniades and Brookdale and Bronx-Lebanon have just about every residency there) that it doesn't seem tough to be able to do all ACGME rotations in NYC.

Excellent Advice!