General Q&A

[IntlMed]

So far on this site, I have seen that Houma is possibly the only site where SABA students could do all Cores and possibly all electives that are greenbook.

Has this changed?

Have there been any CALIF hospitals that have joined the wagon since the CA approval?

Thank You,
Intl.

[Diana Hansen]

Hi,
This is my first time using Value MD - I haven't, in the past, used internet forums - but I thought it was about time that I added my two cents to the conversation.

I am a Saba student in my clinicals. I am on a temporary leave of abscence (for my own personal reasons), but I can tell you that right now Saba has enough clinicals in local areas that a majority of our students don't spend much time travelling and moving around. You can pretty much do all your clinicals in Kansas, Louisiana, or NYC. You can even do all but one core in other cities, such as Baltimore.

I did my cores in Baltimore (except OB/GYN and Peds, which I still have to take - I'll probably do them in NYC) and thought it was an amazing learning experience. The hospitals we trained in were first rate. Now, I can't comment on other hospitals (since I only trained in a few), but if you get to know people at the hospitals you do your cores in, you don't even have to do much travelling for electives - as most of the hospitals (assuming you did well during your rotation) are more than happy for you to do electives with them.

Hope this helps anyone who is considering coming to Saba. Not everything about Saba is great, but I had/have no complaints about the clinicals we have available.

[IntlMed]

Thanks for your feedback Diana. That was really helpful. I do have one more question for you. You said "You can pretty much do all your clinicals in Kansas, Louisiana, or NYC." All are these Clinicals Greenbook? (can we do all greenbook cores and electives at these locations?) I am planning to work in California and I know they are pretty strict about this Greenbook thing, so I thought I'd ask.
BTW, for those interested in Kern, CA; I called their office and was told there is no formal affiliation with SABA yet.

[dianatri]

Can someone tell me what the clinical rotations are like??
Also, do you take additional courses while you do your clinicals?
Are there regular hours of work?

Regards,
D

[TommyMD]

does anybody have a COMPLETE list of affiliated hospitals? can we do core or elective rotations at non-affiliated hospitals..thank you

[OlderStudent]

Are you allowed to set up rotations with other locations other than those that have agreements with SABA. I ask because the school looks like it can help me achieve what I want ( which is become a doctor in CA ) but the sites are too limited.

[lovevasi]

Hi guys,
Though I am only applying to med school now, I would like to know if one can do all the rotaions either in Buffalo or Detroit. I would love to settle by the border for family reasons..... anyone who has done rotations in either buffalo or Detroit....

thanks,

[ttwl]

I don't think you can do everything in those two cities. I don't know or haven't heard of anyone who actually rotated in Detroit or Buffalo....

[swinginislanddoc]

Okay,
I don't know of any affiliations in either Buffalo or Detroit, although something might come up soon - but no, not all clinicals can be done there unless you have a connection and can set something up through Sandy.

As for clinical hours, it ALL DEPENDS. Depends on what rotation you're on, depends what hospital you're at, and depends how hard you want to work (for instance, if you want peds, you work harder and longer in peds - if you want to be a surgeon, you live at the hospital). Surgery typically has long hours, but my surgery rotation (Hollywood, FL - three month of trauma surgery) wasn't as bad as most - unless you were on call you went home around 3-4pm. That's unusual for a surgery rotation. For medicine I typically got there at 6am or so, depending on patient load and how fast I was, and left anywhere from 4-6pm on most days, sometimes later. Right now I'm on Rads, by FAR the easiest schedule of all - I get there around 8:30 or 9am and leave around noon. No joke (and it's my LAST ROTATION). Therefore there's no real way to tell you what your schedule will be like until you get there.

Most core rotations will require you to take call and weekends as well. Most electives, so far in my experience, will not. Like I said, it all depends.

Clinicals - lots of scut work, lots of pimping, lots to learn. Come ready to work and learn and you will. Read when you can at night - sometimes you'll be too exhausted (the first day of every rotation wore me out for some reason - I think on my first day of OB I was in bed by 7:30 or 8pm). Saba students have a good rep at the places we are established at because we work hard to prove ourselves. Just yesterday, my first day of Rads, the attending told the two students from the local school they would have to work to keep up with me, simply because I'm from Saba. He said, "I used to think people only went to Saba because they were too stupid to get into a US medical school. Then I worked with several over the years and realized they're not stupid at all!" Oh yeah - he practically dissed the local school.....

At any rate, I will soon have to saunter into the rads reading room and attempt to not fall asleep in the dark, so I'll leave it at this.

Best of luck all! Soon to post on my interview experience and what I would do differently/the same.

~S

[rdecastro]

Posted in the general forum because I can't start a thread in the clinical forum.


What sort of experience do students have at the various surgical clinical rotations? Is it all on general surgical services or are there opportunities for subspecialization rotations like urology, orthopedic surgery, etc?