Clerkship Survival Tips

Hi, my name is Eva! My husband is in the army and will graduate in 2015. As he starts his "fourth" year (from January of MSIII to graduation), we are really enjoying the post-clerkship period. Third-year rotations were challenging for both of us. He was gone for 4 rotations (or 20 weeks), and even when he was around, he needed to devote most of his non-hospital time to studying for shelf exams and Step 1. Fourth-year rotations have (so far!) been much lighter in terms of hours at work as well as the amount of studying that needs to be done in the evenings.

As I look back over the last year of rotations, I thought it might be helpful to give some tips about how to survive the clerkship year:

Plan! Picking rotations as part of the lottery is challenging. I work full-time and was only able to do short visits for any away rotations, so my husband and I wanted to maximize his local rotations. We factored in what times of year he wanted to be local (summer more than winter!), what other people in his class wanted to do (to avoid wasting points trying to get "expensive" rotations), in what order he wanted to do his rotations (he wanted to do the rotations he was most interested in last), and which bases/programs he wanted to see because he was thinking about them for residency. 
I also highly recommend having both of you attend the lottery info session that the SSC will host. There's a LOT of good information that the SSC has put together over the years.
 
Stay on top of paperwork. My husband did all the travel paperwork himself, but I made sure to send him any government credit card bills immediately so we always paid off the card. The government card is in the student's name so you need to be prepared to pay this off (and it can get expensive if you're gone for multiple rotations) even if there are delays in getting reimbursed. Also, you are eligible for Family Separation Allowance if you are apart for more than 30 days, but you have to file manually for this.
 
Visiting: If you visit, be prepared to entertain yourself. I visited for my husband's rotations in Tacoma, Hawaii, and San Diego (I skipped Fort Hood). These were all great, really fun places to visit, but I was usually only around for a weekend so we were able to see the cities together. When I was there on a weekday, my husband's schedule was not conducive to spending much time together. He had to go to bed fairly early to be ready to go to the hospital in the morning, then he worked all day, and then he had to study at night. 
If you are going to be visiting during the week, make sure you have a plan for how you'll spend your time. Also, most of the hotels he stayed at were on bases and there wasn't much to do within walking distance. You're not allowed to use the students' rental cars, so you also need a plan for how to get to all the fun activities you have planned for yourself to do!
 
Be flexible. This really applies in multiple ways. First, rotations are never final until you're actually doing them! My husband had one additional rotation in San Antonio that was cancelled and moved to Walter Reed. This worked fine for us, but some of the other people who needed to move back had issues with housing in Bethesda or personal commitments in San Antonio. You need to be prepared for a rotation to get moved/cancelled/etc. 

Also, be prepared to be flexible about what specialty your student chooses. My husband had a general interest when he started, then he switched to something else, then back again, then onto a new specialty, and now I think he's finally decided (in March of the next year!) It can be a little frustrating and nerve-wracking, but just remember that they will choose a specialty eventually and that almost everyone goes through this.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask me or anyone else in the SSC - the SSC is an invaluable resource! 

Eva has been elected as Treasurer for the 2014-2015 term.