Blackshear Family Practice

[Eileen]

I was very, very pleased with my family medicine experience in Blackshear. You live in a great house—complete with cable tv, DVD player, high speed internet, washer/dryer, dining room to study in, living room, office, your bedroom with adjoining private bathroom downstairs, two bedrooms upstairs (one is a spare), and a roommate (works in office--not a medical student...) that cleans the house and insists on doing your dishes and cleaning your room/bathroom as well. You actually live in Waycross (and yes, they have Kroger, a stadium seating movie theatre, and a mall) and you work in three different clinics (Waycross-which is a 30 second walk behind the house you live in, Blackshear-which is a 10 minute drive, and Nahunta-which is a 25 minute drive but you are only there for 4 days); the hospital is a 3 minute drive from the house. Typical day: report to hospital sometime between 6-8am…round…morning report is at 8am…then head to the clinic…work there in morning…usually head to hospital for teleconference around noon…back to the clinic…done with clinic by about 4-5pm…then back to the hospital for evening rounds…out usually by 6pm. Average 9-12 hour days. You are on call one day per week and one weekend (Sat./Sun.), then you work one Saturday morning clinic. You will see a ton of pathology and you are the only medical student…so if you want to do something, just ask!!! There are several opportunities for procedures: to suture, cut off growths, cut out cysts, drain abscesses, freeze warts, perform and interpret EKGs, urinalysis (microscopic analysis), and interpret x-rays. There is a nice mix of patients—you will most likely have a trip or two to a nursing home…and to the local jail…but you also get children—whether you are seeing a majority of geriatrics or a majority of children depends on the attending you are with…which changes every 4 days. You will not see any obstetrics at all…however you may have a few pelvic exams in the clinic. There are plenty of pharm reps around giving you food, books, etc. The attendings are GREAT, they pimp gently—but never make you feel stupid…they do teach, most of them have you do your own patients dictations, and a couple will take you to their homes to play with their children and dogs…you will meet their families...attend Rotary club meetings…drive on dirt roads exploring their farms, etc.. (You get to know them well.) There is also a resident to keep you company and keep you informed, the beach is an hour away, the classmate in Jesup is 45 minutes away, the YMCA for working out is less than 5 minutes away, you get three free meals a day everyday of the week —just present nametag in cafeteria…sometimes they take you out to eat. Info if you are going: they provide a beeper, but don’t forget your alarm clock for the house…and don’t forget your otoscope (you will master every type of ear infection by the time you leave). Also, don’t leave food in your car and if a flood is coming then spray your car for ants. Overall, if you would be upset being away from everyone else, prefer to be lazy or have it 'easy', or don’t like the small town feel, then you may not enjoy it. Overall, if you are on your way, I would be excited--an excellent opportunity to experience small town family medicine in a very supportive environment.

Note to class of 2008 and beyond: I highly, highly recommend it…if you are in a lottery I’d rank it high (people tend to rank it low...probably because it's far away or small town...and it's sad because they end up with empty slots--I had heard it was awesome from a friend who got it (and had ranked it 17 out of 18)...she ended up loving it and said if she could go back, she would have ranked it 1st…I had ranked it 2nd...if I could do it again, I would rank it 1st). I think Blackshear is the best kept secret in the family medicine lottery...

[Hope this helps]

Although this was a good rotation, I was disappointed with my experience after reading the previous review. Family Medicine is on my list of possible fields so I was really interested in picking a good rotation. My biggest complaint was that I felt that I did not get very much teaching or structure so it was more self directed. This rotation takes place in a 9 physician group practice that is set up in three offices. You spend 5-7 days with 6 different physicians during your 6 weeks which can be good because you get to see lots of different practice styles but it is bad if you are looking for a recommendation because it was hard to form a deep relationship with anyone.

This practice is the site for the rural track of MCG's FM residency. They have two 2nd years and two 3rd years at this program. You don't work with the residents directly but see them in passing at morning report, and at lunch lectures. Morning report is not very educational as it usually only lasts ~10 minutes where a resident or attending breezes through the prior night's admissions and since they all have much more experience, they go through them with no discussion.

This rotation involved a typical clinic day being from 8-5 on most days and also, I followed a few inpatients during my rotation and every day walked around with whoever my attending was as they visited their inpatients before and after clinic. On call days you may help your preceptor admit a patient but the physician rarely comes back into the hospital after the leave for the night so you rarely come back in so it's not a true call experience. It was difficult to continue to follow patients because you switched attendings so often.

I spent two weeks at the waycross office which is a few blocks from the hospital, 3 weeks at the blackshear office which is a 15 minute drive, and one week in the nahunta office which is a 30 minute drive.

When you are not in nahunta, you drive back to the hospital on most days for a noon conference at the hospital. Most times, it was a lecture from a staff pharmacist who is great and very helpful or a video conference lecture from MCG's noon lecture.

All of the attendings were nice and it was not a stressful experience. There was not a lot of teaching, but they were happy to answer any questions you had. It requires more proactiveness since as a student you are not always sure of what to be looking for or what the right questions to ask are, and its tought when their patients are backed up.

I got lots of experience writing notes on the office's EMR. Satilla Regional was a pretty nice hospital.

The house is next door to the waycross office and a 2 minute drive to the hospital. It is an old two story house that is kind of creepy but it was nice because it had cable, internet, computer, printer, and I didn't have to share! It is close to the YMCA which costs ~$30 or you could just use the outdoor track there for free which was nice. You can eat every meal at the hospital which was very nice. I also got ~$75 for commuting costs.

I would make sure to bring full sized sheets. The kitchen has an antique microwave and fridge. I never used the range. No dishwasher. There is a washer and dryer that you can use which is convenient. The kitchen also has silverware, dinnerware, glasses, but I dont think there was any cookware. They have two space heaters if you go in the colder months although it does have central HVAC.

Overall, it was a good rotation but I would recommend it for someone who was not as serious about family medicine and just wanted a good rotation with nice and laid back attendings. Not good for trying to get recommendations but good for seeing how a private practice is run and what FP is like in the real world.