PNWU-COM third- and fourth-year osteopathic medical curriculum delivery occurs through the regional sites located in a five-state target area of Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. Regional site placement procedures are designed to support the mission of PNWU-COM thus meeting the health care workforce needs of the rural and medically underserved in the Northwest.
In the admission process, preference is given to students from within the Pacific Northwest region, rural, or medically underserved areas. It is the goal of regional site placement to return students to areas within the Pacific Northwest region where they have significant ties as much as possible. In this process, students may be placed in regional sites that strengthen PNWU-COM’s program rather than areas of their preference.
The site selection process will occur during the fall of the second year. Students will be notified to review the clinical rotation site information on PNWU.edu and on SharePoint. Students will complete a JotForm submitted to Student Affairs that will rank the sites and identify three (3) preferred sites, with a narrative about why they would like to be placed at each site. Students who want to be placed together at a rotation site may select to be “paired.” Paired students understand that their desire to be paired may be given more weight than narratives. There is no guarantee that students will be placed together.
Student Affairs will review the submissions and narratives. When placing students, we will be looking at things that tie them to the community. Examples of what we will look for are listed in this document.
The following are criteria that will be looked at and considered when processing the selections:
- Student lived within 30 miles of the city/region for at least a total of ten years across your lifespan
- Student (and/or partner/spouse/chosen family) has an identified non-PNWU student support system in city/region
- Student has a spouse/partner who is employed full time in the city/region, OR spouse/partner who is enrolled in school full time as defined by the institution, OR child/ren living in the city/region apart from the student
The Greater Oregon site requires that the student set up their own rotations. A prescreen for eligibility is due before site selection opens. If you are interested in this site location, please contact studentaffairs@pnwu.edu for more information.
Students will be notified of their regional site placement, by Student Affairs with an appeal period. Students will complete appropriate paperwork. At the end of this period, the site placement process will be considered complete.
Any appeal based on documented extenuating circumstances must be submitted during the appeals process. Changes will be processed by Clinical Education.
If there is an unexpected, unavailability of rotations in a regional site the Clinical Education Department will communicate with the students affected and provide options to complete core rotation requirements.
Once a student is assigned to a region for their core rotations, they remain in that region through the entire third and fourth year, and the assigned assistant dean will maintain responsibility for the student during both years. Although students can travel to other regions and other locations during their fourth year, the advising reviews and the overall schedule remains the responsibility of the assigned regional site.