ACOFP Blog
For Family, By Family—ACOFP Blog
The Student Association of the ACOFP is partnering with Resident Council on a number of exciting initiatives, including the Resident Council Spotlight series of interviews and articles. For our next article in the series, students sat down with Loc Nguyen, DO, to learn more about his residency program, what being a part of ACOFP means to him and what advice he has for students.
The Student Association of the ACOFP is partnering with Resident Council on a number of exciting initiatives, including the Resident Council Spotlight series of interviews and articles. We’re excited about the insight and perspective residents are able to provide to help students plan for residency and become active with ACOFP.
For our next article in the series, students sat down with Brett Prestia, DO, to learn more about his residency program, what being a part of ACOFP means to him and what advice he has for students.
For me it was about finding the right location that aligned my professional goals, passions and hobbies. I wanted an academic hospital within the Southeast in a small-medium sized city with a diverse population known for having unique experiences. I have a BA in History so finding a city that had plenty of museums and historical sites would be a welcomed bonus. Fortunately, I found such a place in beautiful Savannah, Georgia, which incorporated everything I was looking for. Savannah is an amazing town with a storied past and an evolving future. It is filled with amazing restaurants, museums and breweries to enjoy when you’re not in the hospital. There is a reason it is called the Hostess City! Memorial Health University Medical Center is affiliated with Mercer University and is a level-one trauma center with nearly a dozen residencies and fellowships. It is a fantastic place to train and learn from some incredibly impressive mentors and faculty. I’m very pleased that I chose to come here.
This depends entirely on what rotation I am on. Our program is one of a handful around the nation that is participating in the Clinic First Model Trial. Our rotations are two weeks long with every other rotation having you back in the outpatient clinic full time. It is nice knowing there is some consistency with my schedule and being able to sleep in every two weeks is a very nice thing, plus those grueling inpatient rotations are only two weeks long, which makes it much more pleasant and doable. When I’m in the clinic, my days are 8-5:30 seeing my continuity patients. When I’m out of the clinic, I’m with the rotation attending all day and their hours vary. It’s a very nice blend of outpatient and inpatient medicine, which has much improved my work-life balance.
I chose family medicine simply because I craved the long-term continuity with patients, families and communities as well as putting most of my medical knowledge to use daily instead of forgetting a large chunk of it if I specialized.
I thought it would be a great opportunity to get more involved within ACOFP and help advocate on behalf of my fellow residents. I have not been disappointed.
Know that as hard as medical school can be, it gets better every year. Once you graduate, you’ll be amazed at how fast it went, how much you know and how close you are to some of your new friends.
ACOFP is a community of current and future family physicians that champions osteopathic principles and supports its members by providing resources such as education, networking and advocacy, while putting patients first.