Electives - Working with Hospital Coordinators

How many times have you tried to find a clinical rotation, had to deal with the clinical coordinator at the hospital OR your school and they've been unpleasant to deal with. In fact, you maybe lost a little of your politeness while working through your rotations.

Look, I know rotations scheduling can be stressful. I see medical students getting stressed out over it everyday. Today, I decided to do a little SALES for clinical coordinators. We'll call it Coordinator Sales 101. Whether you think you're in sales or not, you have to do it, so here we go.

I see a lot of medical students that see the clinical coordinator as the obstacle standing between them and the elective they are trying to get into. I want you to adjust your thinking a bit and see the clinical coordinator as your bridge to the elective you are trying to get. Don't focus on the rotation, focus on the bridge; focus on the clinical coordinator.

Clinical coordinators have a lot on their plate. Try this: Ask them what they're doing this weekend. Get personal. If you focus on them, they will get you where you need to go.

STOP focusing on what it is that you want. This sounds counter-intuitive, but the more you focus on the interests, needs and passions of the person you are dealing with, the easier it is for them to go out of their way to get things done for you. You will get better electives and better service by talking about things like their kids and personal life. Guess how many times during the day they get to talk about the stuff that is really important to them? Hardly ever. They're usually working with stuff that is only important to you.

So, flip the table and give this a try the next time you have to schedule an elective. Take the opportunity to take an "off-ramp" with the coordinator. Get personal and you'll be surprised what they can pull off for you. You might just get every rotation you ever wanted in every city you ever wanted. Good luck.