What its like
Rotations are so much different from didactic for many different reasons. The main one is that you have a 40 hour “work” schedule. The studying does not stop after didactic, it definitely continues during rotations, but its more manageable. Rotations to me is like having a new job every 6 weeks, the first week you are lost, you have no idea what’s going on, you’re the new person, by week 3 or 4 you get the hang of things. By the 6th week you tell yourself “ Okay, I can do this,” then it’s DONE and it’s time to take your end of rotation exam and move on to the next rotation.
It happens so fast, you are working basically a full time job + you get home to study as a full time student. Don’t let this scare you, you have a TON of studying to do, topics to cover, but it’s manageable. You are no longer studying for 3-4 exams a week or quizzes like you were in didactic, let’s be honest that was torture. Now you can space your studying and have way less pressure. It actually feels weird when you start because you have been on grind mode since day one of didactic, but it feels amazing to know you can balance it so much better.
It’s all on your own
Instead of having a set class schedule and a ton of tests and quizzes on your planner, the only thing you have to keep in mind during didactic is the date of your End of Rotation Exam. Not to mention, we have a million other assignments and requirements, but you have 6 weeks to complete them. It’s important to know how to balance your time efficiently and be independent. During rotations, you won’t feel the pressure to study or finish assignments like you did in didactic because it was all a huge cramming session. It can be easy to fall behind and procrastinate, if you don’t have the initiative to study. It’s great if you are self-dedicated, and can manage your time, but it can hurt those that need the extra push or pressure to get things done when they don’t find the need to.
I try to make a study schedule at the beginning of each rotation that has all of the topics I need to cover for my exam, the write ups we are required to have, papers, any extra projects, or assignments and I just space it out in 6 weeks so that its more manageable. I personally enjoy rotations and the self-study schedule I got going on. I feel like I do better when I am in control of my own time rather than having to attend lectures where I might not get anything out of it.
Rotations are solo, I quickly realized I did not have my PA friends around to vent to or crack up with. You are on your own during lunch and in the hospital wherever you complete your rotations so it can get lonely. Be open minded about meeting other people and socializing with whoever you got by your side, this is the time to grow, network, meet other professionals, and keep discovering yourself. You’ll also get to know your preceptors a little more than you might wish. You are literally 24/7 with them so you can get pretty close and then all of a sudden it’s that awkward moment of saying goodbye to them the last day of your rotation. It’s like I know you quit a bit, but like do I hug you, shake your hand, it can get weird LOL.
Freedom feels
Rotations was probably the most waited adventure of PA school. During didactic, we started a count down until those days were over. They were just draining, the amount of volume, the 90+ exams, 60+ quizzes, long hours spent in lecture and in the library, the endless study sessions, those days were just such a blur and thank god those days are over. People always told me“ you get your life back during rotations” and now I’m starting to realize that. I say this because it took me a minute to slow the “grind mode” I had developed during didactic during my first few weeks of rotations. At first, I felt like I was behind, I felt like I had to get through every topic in 1 week, I was trying to study 5 hrs a day while working 8 hours long, but then I quickly realize I needed to give myself a break. I realized I had 6 weeks to slowly get everything done, then, I was able to pace myself and enjoy have more freedom in different aspects of my life.
It finally feels good to not feel guilty when I am not studying every single hour of my day. I am able to break my studying up, enjoy time with my friends, dedicate more time for the gym, take little traveling trips after each EOR exam and just enjoy life a little more without the pressure of having to cram every single minute of my life. It finally feels like I get a little bit of my life back. I have even found myself watching a “novela” on NETFLIX, this is the weirdest thing for me because I don’t normally watch TV but I guess I’m starting to feel a little human again and I like it =)
Living off campus
Being in new city, new apartment, having to actually drive to rotations and to school, this is all somewhat new to me. I guess I was lucky enough to live right across my PA school, I rarely had to use my car, I would just cross the street and I was already in class. Having to pay bills, grocery shop, pay rent? What is this? I am not used to this because I was spoiled enough to live in a scholarship house and now it’s like real adulting, like I’m finally doing this at 26 years old LMAO Not going to lie, it was hard to adjust at first because I am definitely wasting a lot more money than I was while living in my scholarship house, but it was certainly time for this and I love it. I'm pretty blessed to not only be getting all of my PA school loans paid for, but also receiving a monthly stipend for living expenses =D. Having my own place, enjoying my own room, and really having that balance between my own home and work it’s a great feeling and I guess I never really experienced this because I literally lived at the library during didactic year.
How is my School Different?
What is really cool about my entire rotation experience or my curriculum is that I work alongside with the physician in most of my rotations or a PA. My school does not have its own hospital, which is a good thing because we don’t get to experience rotations being in the back end along with other residents and other medical students and not getting to do much. We get to do it all as long as the physician allows us and the fact that we don’t have any other students with us allows us to get tons of hands on experience with patients in every rotation. This is something I love about our program because this can vary depending on your PA program.
My school has 6 different campuses in Florida where we have basically a mini medical school or a regional campus and that’s where we are assigned for our rotations. We have our own support, our own campus where we do our rotations, and our own staff to help us through the process in that specific campus. The rotations are assigned for us and they can either be inpatient or outpatient and that varies depending on the specialty. We have a weekly doctoring course with the medical students and weekly meetings with clerkship directors where we go over material and topics besides what we learn in clinic from our regular rotation schedule.