The Binghamton Transition

Top 10 Most Commonly Asked Questions

1. What are the hospitals that I will rotate in?

Wilson Memorial: Small-Medium Community hospital with Family Medicine and Internal Medicine residents. The various attendings present in the curriculum are largely warm, enjoy teaching, and quite knowledgeable. You will do the bulk of your clerkships in this hospital. Here you will do medicine, pediatrics, neurosurgery, possibly surgery, possibly anesthesiology.

Binghamton General: This hospital will be the least frequented by you. This is where you will do your psychiatry rotation, working on the inpatient units with significant patient interaction.

Lourdes: This is more of a private hospital, very modern with recently a recently built cancer center. Here, you may do your anesthesiology rotation, your surgery rotation, or your Ob/Gyn rotation.

2. What and where exactly is "Guthrie"?

Guthrie Health Systems or "Guthrie" is a collection of health care providers. The site that you are located at is Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, Pennsylvania (approx. 30-40 minutes west of Binghamton. Every clinical campus student is at this site for one month of Internal Medicine and may or may not choose to do their Surgery rotation at Guthrie. While at Guthrie, students are provided with housing and a meal stipend to use at the cafeteria. The housing is located across the street from the hospital and is quite convenient when required to be at the hospital early. The housing is a converted "motel" where each student has his or her own "room/apartment". The room is in decent condition, good-sized, and consists of a double bed, small table and chairs, TV (with cable), phone, lamps, desk, full bathroom, small fridge, and a microwave. Parking and use of a small gym is also provided. While at Guthrie you are still required to attend your weekly family practice rotation. The town is somewhat "rural" but a supermarket, fast food, and some restaurants are a short drive for those adventurous enough to try.

3. Should I do my surgery rotation in Binghamton or at Guthrie?

Doing your surgery rotation in Binghamton consists of you, the student, working one-on-one with the surgeon that you are paired with. Often times, that surgeon will specialize and you will largely see surgeries related to one area. This is a unique experience, because given that you like whom you are working with, you can establish a wonderful mentorship and gain great surgical experience. A negative is that you are not exposed to any surgical residents or the ideals of a surgical residency.

Guthrie is an extreme surgical experience. They have amazing residents and a large variety of surgeons, all of whom love to teach and have students. At Guthrie you spend 2 weeks in vascular, 2 weeks in general, and 2 weeks in trauma. You receive tons of attention from the attendings even though you are largely with the residents. As they do during your month of Internal Medicine, they supply you with a food stipend that will cover three, albeit unappetizing, meals a day and housing. At Guthrie, you will work extremely hard and get very little sleep. Still, even if you do not want to do surgery, this is an amazing learning experience.

4. Where should I live?

There are so many different apartment complexes of all price ranges available in Binghamton. It is unlikely that you will find high-rises such as Jefferson or Madison, but there are many nice places to live. Most of the students tend to cluster in either Indian Ridge on Reynolds Road, Johnson City or Westminster Gardens, off of Vestal Parkway. I lived in Indian Ridge, and though costly, I was extremely happy with my choice; it is spacious, pretty, and 1 minute from Wegmans and the Mall.

5. Do I really need a car in Binghamton?

Unfortunately, the answer is a resounding ... YES!!! Unlike Syracuse, the hospitals are not in walking distance and there is no public transportation available to the hospitals. Between traveling to Guthrie, back-and-forth to your family practice site, and between the 3 different hospitals ... you are actually in the car quite a bit. This is taken to account in our financial aid packages and we are allotted a slightly larger amount for gas and car payments, but still be sure and budget for this additional cost.

6. Do residency directors frown upon a student who went to the Clinical Campus as opposed to staying in the larger urban setting of Syracuse?

While there is no blanket answer to this question, I have found along my interview trail that interviewers, whether in a large urban hospital or a smaller community center, were consistently pleased to know that I had had such a unique training experience. It was a nice conversation piece and they were very impressed with the amount of hands on experience and attention I had received from attendings. If you are planning on going into a field other than medicine, I recommend you doing away electives or electives at Upstate so that you are exposed to what it is like to be a resident in that field.

7. How does the Family Practice Rotation differ?

The Binghamton Family Practice rotation is very unique. Instead completing the rotation in a block of time, Family Practice is spread over the entire year. You are paired with a community family practitioner early in the year and attend your physician's office for one half-day per week. The idea of this set-up is to foster continuity of care with your patients. The location of the family practitioner's office vary and can range anywhere from 5 to 40 minutes away. This opportunity allows you to not only form lasting relationships with your patients, but also with your preceptor. For many, their preceptor has become a sort of "mentor" offering valuable advice and is a great resource for letters of recommendation.

8. Why do we have to do a required Geriatrics rotation in our 4th year?

The concept of this required clerkship puzzles many students, both Binghamtonians and Syracusians alike. Still, rather than ask why, we must just accept our fate. In truth, though I went kicking and screaming, I learned a ton that month and the unique concept of working in a nursing home is something I will never forget. You will be assigned to one of a variety of nursing homes. During this rotation, you are acting largely as a sole intern, where the nurses come to you with questions and tasks that you are responsible for. Aside from geriatrics, you will see a ton of psychiatry, dermatology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology, general internal medicine, urology, and even gynecology. Likewise, many of those POM ethics cases that you learned about will come to life right before your eyes; competency, disgruntled family members, palliative medicine, you name it. Some tips for Geriatrics, you will be given a typed up study guide, know what is in bold. If you choose to move back up to Syracuse 4th year, and your rotation is later on in the year, Ekleberger towers, the Wilson resident's housing is very accommodating and will let you rent out an apartment for the month.

9. Where do we do our 4th year electives?

Fourth year is a great time. Aside from the required Geriatrics rotation, you have the choice of what electives to take. This includes the decision of where to take electives. Most students choose to do the majority of their electives back in Syracuse, taking advantage of the academic nature of the hospital and the experience of working with actual residents in preparation for residency. While not everyone returns to Syracuse, almost everyone chooses to do at least one elective at Upstate for this valuable experience.

10. Who do I go to for help?

The actual "Clinical Campus" is located at 425 Robinson Street, Binghamton, NY. You will become familiar with its location during orientation. Perhaps most importantly, it is the home of student affairs (a.k.a. Sean Esworthy, Kathleen Kimble, and Tara-Lynn Baker). These people are well equipped and willing to answer any question you may have. One of your most valuable resources is your senior classman. Feel free to ask them for advice regarding books, shelf-exams, physicians, etc. Everyone is well aware that the transition from Syracuse to Binghamton is not an easy one. However, it is one that can be extremely rewarding!!!