Every podiatry school has a unique curriculum regarding rotations during fourth-year. For DMU students, it’s fairly straightforward but is ever-changing year to year. Here’s how it went for the class of 2011.
In the middle of your third-year, you select where you want to spend your rotations and you need to fill 11 months, leaving you one month for vacation (any month you choose). Fourth-year rotations start in June 2010 and end in May 2011. Most people will also have all of June prior to residency off too so some will choose to do an elective in lieu of vacation.
Rotations exist all over the country, from Washington to Florida, so its a great opportunity to travel back home or to a new place during this year. There’s opportunity to stay or leave Iowa during your last year of podiatry school at DMU. As you can see, students have a lot of control (relatively speaking) of where to go for rotation.
We have what is called a “core” program, meaning the student spends four months under one preceptor/program site and that program chooses how you will spend your four months with them so this will vary with students and programs. (Note: Core requirements are also changing. For the class of 2012, core programs are now 3 months long.)
The remaining seven months include other podiatry rotations and non-podiatry rotations such as internal medicine as part of our well-rounded curriculum. An elective month can be fulfilled with a rotation of your choosing and can benefit dual degree M.P.H. or M.H.A. students wanting to do their internship during this time. Research at DMU is also available if you decide to go this route.
It’s both an overwhelming and exciting time in our career but our faculty are always available for questions and support if you ever need it. Our clinical director, Dr. Kevin Smith, will spend time talking to the class about what is required, what has changed, and what’s expected so you’ll never be out of the loop.
A lot of options, a lot of opportunities!
