For international medical trainees with family in the United States, a rotation with AMOpportunities is a chance to spend extended time near, or even with family members. For other medical trainees, the staff at their clinical site is so welcoming that they feel like family. In the case of Rodolfo, the winner our July Photo and Blog contest, it was both.

From Mexico, Rodolfo arrived early in southern California to spend time with his family. However, shortly after starting his rotation, the staff at his clinical site welcomed him, further inspiring his medical education journey.

Read Rodolfo’s story below.

 

Finding family

At the beginning I was a little afraid about doing a rotation in the United States, especially because of the situation related to the pandemic. I’m an Internal Medicine resident in my country, Mexico, and I wanted to do a specialty in the United States because a clinical experience in there is extremely important. I was specifically looking for a rotation in California because I have family in southern California. Luckily, I found the Lompoc Valley Medical Center, and even more luckily, I found a Cardiology rotation, which is my favorite subspecialty. As soon as it was possible, I registered for the rotation and started to schedule everything necessary for my trip. I arrived in the U.S. about 18 days before the start of my clinical experience. This gave me time to visit my family and get familiar with the area.

The work started the very minute I entered the clinic, and I loved every second. I learned a lot of clinical skills, such as how to interpret a stress test, how to interpret Holter studies, and I did a lot of follow-ups related to a broad range cardiac diseases (hypertension, cardiac failure, valvulopathies, etc.). We also saw a lot of patients in the hospital, including the emergency department and the critical care unit. I had the chance to meet doctors in other areas like Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology. The doctor also showed me educational videos with high yield information about the different cases that we saw in the clinic and the hospital, something that helped me to understand a lot of concepts.

I am not exaggerating when I say that it was one of the best moments of my life. My experience exceeded all my expectations. From the first day they made me feel comfortable. Both the doctor and the staff were very kind and helped me at all times. After finishing my rotation I feel very grateful, happy and inspired to continue my journey.