Site information
Alaska Women's Health
3260 Providence Drive, Suite 322
Anchorage, Alaska 99508
Contact
Paige Morrow
akmedicalstaff@providence.org
907-531-2039
Historical Perspective
The WWAMI clinical clerkships provide key opportunities for the medical student to return to or become acquainted with Alaska. Recruiting future physicians for Alaska is a recognized goal of the program and the major reason of continued governmental support.
The Anchorage medical community for women's health care has had close ties with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Washington. During the early 1970's, clinical faculty members traveled to Seattle to participate in the teaching program at the University Hospital. Interest in an Anchorage clinical clerkship in OB-GYN led to the first clerkship rotation in the fall of 1978.
Geographic Considerations
Anchorage, located at the head of Cook Inlet, is the major medical referral center for Alaska. Lying 1500 miles northwest of Seattle, Anchorage had to develop medical facilities to handle most major medical problems. By the early 1970's, the facilities and the medical personnel were in place. Continued recruitment assures excellent health care for Alaska's population. The results: an exciting combination of sophisticated health care within a few hundred miles of vast wilderness.
Opportunities for outdoor activities abound. Anticipate cool, wet and cold weather—including snow from November until May.
Teaching Hospitals
Providence Alaska Medical Center and The Sisters of Providence have a long history of pioneering health care in Alaska. The medical center with its modern facilities and well-trained staff of specialists is able to manage most medical problems. The Maternity Center couples a family-oriented staff with a sophisticated "hi-tech" facility. The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is one of the largest on the west coast, staffed by experienced nurses and seven neonatologists. To insure expert care for the high-risk mother and fetus, Providence Alaska Medical Center sponsors LIFEGUARD ALASKA, a system of maternal and neonatal transport teams. Often high risk mothers are referred to Anchorage for evaluation and care by the specialists at the medical center. At other times, the maternal and neonatal transport teams travel to remote sites to evaluate, stabilize, and transport patients to Anchorage.
Statistical summaries of the OB-GYN service at Providence Alaska Medical Center have shown peaks in recent years, secondary to the pipeline boom. However, conservatively, approximately 2400 newborns per year are delivered and approximately 1000 gynecological procedures are performed each year.
We use Providence Alaska Medical Center as the main teaching hospital. In-hospital patient care is under the direct supervision of the preceptor physician. The patients' health care is managed by the team--you and your preceptor.
Providence Contact Information:
Paige Morrow
Students will also spend time at Alaska Regional Hospital.
Alaska Regional Medical Staff Contact Information:
Main Contact: Laura Nixon
All students spend a week with Gyn Onc at Alaska Women's Cancer Care.
Alaska Women's Cancer Care Contact Information: Melissa Hardesty, MD
Credentialing
CREDENTIALING PAPERWORK IS REQUIRED AT BOTH Providence Hospital AND Alaska Regional.
1.) You will need to contact med staff personnel at BOTH hospitals for applications and credentialing requirements:
Providence Hospital
Paige Morrow
Alaska Regional
Laura Nixon
Please check in often w/ the med staff to stay up to date on what is needed from you.
Fill out the Pre-Application Request Form
2.) Complete Medical Student Application & Supervising Physician Form and Scope of Practice form
Please fill out your portion of both of these and SCAN AND EMAIL (no photo scan apps please as the quality is NOT suitable for this documentation) them back to Ciera Stafford, the Alaska WWAMI Program Coordinator.
Upon receipt Ciera will collect the required/necessary physician signatures on your behalf and return to med staff at both offices.
*Dr. Amanda Beery is your clerkship director/supervising physician.
4.) Providence Hospital requires ALL med students to complete Alaska State Background Checks.
***Alaska WWAMI Students: Your background check should already be current. Please request your background check from Nancy Hall (njhall@uaa.alaska.edu) and forward to Shyla (sdema@uw.edu) with your other forms.
You will need to complete a background check through Providence, for which they have their own system and process. Please contact Paige Morrow for more information about this.
5). Alaska Regional requires ALL med students to submit annual TB records or 2-step PPD test.
6.) DRUG TESTING IS REQUIRED FOR ALASKA REGIONAL--NO MORE THAN 30 DAYS PRIOR TO ARRIVAL. Students should see the UW SoM Drug Testing Procedure: https://www.uwmedicine.org/education/Pages/Drug-Testing-Procedure.aspx
This site requires drug testing as apart of their credentialing requirements. According to the SOM drug testing policy, all drug testing needs to be done through the SOM. Please go to the SOM Compliance drug testing webpage where they can order a drug test online: https://www.uwmedicine.org/education/Pages/Drug-Testing-for-Select-Clerkship-Rotations.aspx
7.) IF YOU ARE A RETURNING MEDICAL STUDENT, please submit the following:
Clinical Setting and Faculty
The clinical faculty are board certified specialists with a keen interest in teaching. The student is assigned to a preceptor for six weeks. During this period of time, the preceptor and student coordinate their schedules. The days are busy with office hours, lectures, weekly conferences, labor / delivery call, and surgery.
Call & Pagers
The students take call from home with their preceptors to attend after-hours births, surgeries and Emergency Room consultations as they occur.
Final Exam
Students will have the option of taking the final written examination in either Anchorage or in Seattle. Students who are returning to Seattle are not released from duties until NOON on the last Wednesday of the rotation, as they need to check out at UAA and with Dr. Beery from 9am -noon (this may change due to new 4 week rotation schedule).
Student Housing
Arrival / Check-In
Students may check into AK WWAMI housing after 3pm on the Sunday afternoon prior to the start of their rotation.
Departure / Check-Out
Students must vacate AK WWAMI housing on Friday afternoon, after they complete their testing, by 3pm.
*Early arrivals and late departures require prior approval. If such approval is not sought or granted, housing accommodations and expenses will be the student's responsibility.*
Please contact Ciera Stafford for more information.
Transportation
Students may rent a car for the rotation and the cost will be reimbursed. For more information: https://depts.washington.edu/gowwami/driving.htm