My month in anchorage at the Alaska Native Medical Center was a really wonderful! Most of the nuts and bolts have been posted by Kanishka so I won’t belabor them. I went in December in the middle of my R2 year and despite being shorter days (yes there is about 7 hours of light at the worst), the city in the snow was beautiful. There are multiple trails within the city if you enjoy cross country skiing, showshoeing, nordic skiing.  Its also very close to Alyeska, the local ski resort.

In terms of my medical experience, I did 2 weeks of ICU and 2 weeks of hospitalist. I think one of the biggest advantages here is that the internists do nearly all the procedures and I had the opportunity to learn to  intubate, do a lot of lines, and EGDs.  All the specialty services that you consult are just the attendings (no fellows) so often times they will allow you to be a part of any procedures they may do as well (I was able to go to the O.R. w/ ENT to help w/ a trach). The teaching in the ICU is great as well. On the hospitalist service you are able to be fairly independent and many of the attendings you work with are pretty close to residency so you can really see the transition if that’s what your interested in for a future career.

I would definitely recommend this experience to anyone. It’s a great opportunity to work very closely with attendings and they are very excited to have us!

Zita Shiue, R2
zshiue@uw.edu