It's an exciting day down here at the Florida campus; today the
NUHS Whole Health Center - Pinellas Park outpatient clinic is
open and ready for business. The other interns and I walked up this
morning to a fresh, state-of-the-art facility, which even has that
new clinic smell. It's an incredible facility, equipped with 10
treatment rooms, a physical therapy room, separate lab room, an
interactive classroom, and super-cool conference room. I am typing
this now from our very own intern lounge--pretty fancy.
Yes, we are very excited about all the brand-spanking-new
equipment, but we are also enthusiastic to have an outpatient
facility. Up until now, the Florida campus has had to get by with a
4-room clinic that only caters to the faculty, staff and dependents
of those affiliated with St. Pete College and the University
Partnership (which includes NUHS, Barry University, Florida State
University, University of Florida and others).
The new facility will now allow us to treat anyone and everyone.
The services we provide will still be free to the population we
would see at our student clinic, but will be at a very minimal cost
to anyone else who would like treatment. We are hoping that this
will open up a whole new population of patients, and bring some
more real-world cases through the door. The more practice we can
take on while in school will just help us feel that much more
confident once we graduate and are on our own.
Speaking of being on our own, I've started the process of
outfitting my clinic once I'm out of the NUHS nest. As many of my
colleagues and professors around here know, I've signed on to be an
associate with a great doctor, have signed a lease for my future
practice (opening in South Tampa, April 1, 2013...shameless plug),
and last week even bought almost all the physiotherapy equipment
I'll need. These things were a learning experience in and of
themselves. Finding the right location that you believe you can
succeed in is very important. I staked out the building I wanted
for nearly 2 years before it finally opened up about 2 months ago.
Then I was very fortunate to make a relationship with a local MRI
rep who clued me in on a practice that was downsizing and needed to
get rid of a lot of equipment for a very discounted price. From the
experiences I've had, I would recommend starting to make
relationships as soon as you can, and maintain them, even its just
a text or a phone call once a month to touch base. It goes a long
way.
I hope everyone has a productive week, and best of luck to
everyone taking Part 4 boards this coming weekend. Please everyone
wish us luck. I know we are all prepared, but a little luck never
hurts either. If anyone needs any help or advice about the new
clinic, or starting his or her own, please shoot me an email, its
fresh in my head, so hopefully I can help.
Good Luck this weekend,
Dex