These rotations, which are required for all DO candidates, go beyond a student’s home institution. Examples include ambulance rides, autopsy suites, prisons, culinary medicine kitchens, organ procurement trips and aircraft crash simulations, the AAMC said in a Feb. 19 news brief.
NASA even offers an aerospace medicine clerkship, which provides students the opportunity to experience zero gravity as they study space medicine for four weeks.
Of the 15,000-plus away rotations on AAMC’s visiting student learning opportunities database, some include simulations on trauma events. Rescue simulations range from airplane crashes to rescuing a drowning patient.
For example, 26-year-old Eric Macaluso, DO, participated in a mock avalanche nighttime rescue operation and learned about wilderness medicine. Dr. Macaluso, now a family medicine resident at Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, Pa., spent a month in Colorado learning about hypothermia, plant toxicology and celestial navigation.
“This was one of the most meaningful experiences I had during all of med school,” Dr. Macaluso told AAMC.
Read more about how medical school curricula is changing here.
At the Becker's 11th Annual IT + Revenue Cycle Conference: The Future of AI & Digital Health, taking place September 14–17 in Chicago, healthcare executives and digital leaders from across the country will come together to explore how AI, interoperability, cybersecurity, and revenue cycle innovation are transforming care delivery, strengthening financial performance, and driving the next era of digital health. Apply for complimentary registration now.