Tips to Find Virtual Rotations
Written by Annie Kopera, DO
Virtual rotations started as an alternative to in-person clerkships for third- and fourth-year medical students as the COVID-19 pandemic began and forced students out of the clinical setting. Away rotations serving as auditions have historically been one way that fourth-year medical students were able to highlight their skillset in person, while getting to spend invaluable time with residents and faculty to determine if the environment was a good fit for residency. With travel restrictions set in place by most hospitals during the pandemic, virtual away rotations allowed students to continue their education while also getting time to build relationships with residency programs where students may want to match.
1. The first place to look for potential virtual rotations is the Visiting Student Learning Opportunities (VSLO) program sponsored by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). This website will allow you to filter rotations by institution, specialty, and duration of the rotation. Most academic centers will post their visiting rotation opportunities here. There are also some unique opportunities that can be found on VSLO such as virtual health policy or global health electives. Students typically do not have to pay to obtain access to the site or search for rotations, but do have to pay to apply, and often times have to pay an additional fee once accepted for the rotation, pending the institution. In recent years, students have always had to pay to apply for away rotations through VSLO, and this concept is not something exclusive to virtual rotations.
2. A different platform for searching for virtual rotations is called Clinician Nexus. Unlike VSLO, this service is free to students applying to away rotations. The majority of rotations available are located at community hospitals, and the choices are not as robust as VSLO. Regardless, this website serves as an additional avenue for students to find opportunities.
3. Another strategy for obtaining virtual rotations includes searching the website of programs that you are interested in for residency. Some programs will have virtual opportunities outside of the VSLO system. If they do not mention virtual rotations on their website, you can simply email the residency program coordinator or program director to ask about any virtual rotations they may have available. Also, some programs have used social media such as Twitter and Instagram to advertise virtual rotations, so be sure to check these out.
4. Sometimes networking will be done between medical school leadership to relay virtual learning opportunities to students. Check with your own medical school faculty, as they may know of virtual learning opportunities from communicating directly with other schools. For in-house virtual opportunities provided by your own school, check with your rotation coordinator or clinical rotation database.
During the COVID era of medical education, virtual rotations serve as a useful alternative to traditional clerkship learning. Students can start looking for virtual away rotations for fourth year as early as the second semester of third year. Virtual rotations may also be useful to fourth year medical students who need more flexibility in their schedule, especially during interview season or graduation months. With virtual rotations, students are able to stay focused on learning content in the virtual space, while also not missing out on networking opportunities prior to residency interview season.
