Internal Medicine - Saint Lukes Hospital, Kansas City

St. Luke's Hospital is a beautiful tertiary center situated in the heart of the Plaza, Kansas City. The surrounding area is littered with fountains, shops, restaurants, and the nearby hipster town of Westport (amazing food & bars) is also within walking distance.

Within the hospital, you will meet some of the most friendly people you have ever met in your life. From the management, to the janitorial staff, to the nursing staff, to the attendings, to the patients themselves. Everyone will come to know your name within just a few short days. You will truly begin to feel like a part of the St Lukes team.

You will begin with one of three rotations (each lasting one month):

 Orange Crush 

The. Bomb. There's a reason they call it "crush". First of all, you will never learn so much in your life. The attendings want to make you LITERALLY PERFECT. It can be stressful... You might cry. You might feel really really stupid. But you WILL come out of this rotation feeling as though you legit "crushed" it. If you are lucky, you will work with the Program Director in this rotation. He is amazing. And he watches your every move… he is assessing whether or not you will be good enough as a resident one day. So be good!

The other incredible part about orange crush is, it is only offered to Saba students. UMKC students have to directly apply to do this rotation. You work with some of the best hospitalists at SLH. And the incredible staff at the office work SO hard to make sure of one thing: That you get to see the most interesting cases in the hospital that day. You'll see what I mean when you do this rotation. Oh, you thought you wouldn't ever see Familial Mediterranean Fever in your life? Well you thought WRONG, SON!

 Purple 

Internal Medicine, Multi-Specialty. Another incredible month. Lots of more attendings to impress. You will be admitting and discharging patients all day. You will get really good at your H&P's and discharge summaries. The turn-over is very rapid, and rather than seeing "the most interesting cases", you see the most standard, common hospitalized cases. Pancreatitis. Acute exacerbation of COPD. Pneumonia. Chest pain. I could go on! But this is a great way to get comfortable with diagnosing and treating such common conditions.

 Nephrology 

Initially, this month was many students favorites.. Many indeed referred to it as the "Ping Pong" rotation (because of the amount of time spent perfecting ping pong skills in the student lounge). The weekends are completely off. You had a ton of one-on-one time with attendings and lots of teaching time. But, unfortunately, the nephrology program has been COMPLETELY revamped at this hospital. There used to be a one hour teaching session for students and residents which apparently was over-the-top-amazing. However, they recently got rid of funding for extra residents on this rotation. What this means is, the attendings are INSANELY busy, your resident (who is just a lonely intern… no fellow, no supervisor) is insanely busy, and you can't make suggestions on dialysis because… well duh. What do you know? Instead, I encourage you to utilize this month. Yes, read the little "nephrology handbook" you are given -- it will come in handy since most of the attendings on this rotation are very pimp-y [on basics of nephrology/fluid/electrolytes]. But really use this month to a) get ready for orange/purple by looking up ALL your patients health problems - not just the ones your team is consulted for b) getting to know labs, fluids, electrolytes, anemias, vasculitis (yes, lots!), acid/bases, [they aren't going away!!!] and c) study for your shelf exam, of course.

Thats your general overview. Here is a brief overview of the pros and cons of rotating here for IM.

 Pros 

- you work hand in hand with UMKC residents, fellows - who teach almost as much as the attendings do

- free lunch everyday - includes pizza, sandwiches, hearty salads (if you get bored of these meals, the cafeteria is good too)

- free lunch is accompanied by a free lecture, whether it be a case presentation, or just a presentation on an educational topic

- internal medicine here is very student-based. You will perfect your presentations and physical exam in "Orange Crush". You will master the H&P in "Purple". And nephro is okay too. The attendings want to grade you, they want to see you improve at the end of every week, and you want to improve you too!

- no call!

- if you are interested in internal medicine, electives here are FREE!!!!

- the hospital uses EPIC computerized charting. Bring your ipad/iphone/android as there is a great accompanying app that you can bring along on those long rounds, look things up on your patient or on the internet! Super handy.

- every Friday morning there is a "journal club". Here, resident's and attending's describe the most up to date literature there is on current hot-topics. Yes, there is a free continental breakfast.

 Cons 

- the absolute worst part about rotating at St Lukes (depending on how you look at it) is the "full month" policy. Students must rotate from the 1st of the month to the last date of the month. This means that even though you hate OB, and you only technically have to do 6 weeks of it - you will do 8 weeks of it here. (Those two weeks will go towards your electives -- but what if you wanted to save those electives for another hospital? Too bad.)

- as with most rotations, you work most closely with residents. This means that - if your resident is kinda bad, you will end up picking up their slack, or working harder, or just having an all around bad time.

- "no call" means… Working the weekends on orange & purple. Yes you will be putting in 6 day work weeks (dividing up between Sat/Sun with the rest of the students). But no fear, the attendings want to get out ASAP on Sat/Sun too. So you will usually be out around 11am, latest 1pm (also attending-dependent) on weekends

Thats all for now. If you have an opportunity to rotate at internal medicine here, pat yourself on the back. This rotation is a "hidden gem" in the heart of a beautiful city. Be here to learn, be enthusiastic, and you will learn a LOT.~