I highly recommend the ANMC rotation, as so many others before me have! It’s a fantastic clinical experience, and there are endless outdoor activities in and around Anchorage. Amiko Uchida and I did this rotation in April at the same time, which made it extra fun.  Spring in Alaska can be unpredictable (it’s historically rainy, muddy, and cold), but we lucked out and had snow in the mountains during our vacation week at the beginning of the month, and mostly clear, warm weather (~50 degrees) while in Anchorage.

I spent two weeks in the ICU, which is a very hands-on, procedure-heavy rotation. The critical care docs are great teachers, they give you tons of autonomy, and you’ll take care of very sick patients flown in from remote parts of the state. In my two weeks here, I did 4 central lines, multiple bronchoscopies, an intubation, arterial line, and more.

I worked in GI clinic with Dr. Bowers for my third week, and I had a cafeteria-style ambulatory block my fourth week. Dr. Bowers is a phenomenal teacher – you’ll see clinic patients in the morning and then he’ll teach you how to do EGDs and colonoscopies in the afternoon (I did at least 5 EGDs and helped with biopsies for multiple colonoscopies). There were multiple days in GI clinic when I was able to go home at 3PM, which gave me lots of time to explore Anchorage.

Overall, you can’t really beat this rotation!