Flagstaff Medical Center - any better now?

Specialties Travel

Published

Specializes in Pediatric and Adult OR.

Accepted a contract here for May-August. I'm super excited as the weather will be lovely and I've never been to Arizona.

Everything I see on here about working at FMC is pretty outdated. Is it still as crappy as everyone says it is? I'll be in the OR.

I've always heard happy things about working in Flagstaff. Lots of travelers often makes for a nice workplace (or a huge red flag). I've wanted to go to the OR there myself for many years but never got around to it. I do stop there fairly often on my way across the country and go bicycling.

One count against it for me is the altitude. I've done a couple assignments at altitude in Denver and Mammoth Lakes and I never felt quite right for the entire three months.

Specializes in Pediatric and Adult OR.

Crap, good point! I am prone to altitude sickness. It seems to really only be when I hit 10,000+ feet but I didn't even think about that. I wonder if there's anything that can be done to prevent or combat it.

You do adjust. Docs I've talked to says it really takes over a year for something approaching full adaptation but many don't seem to consciously notice (except perhaps during aerobic exercise) and lots of others just take a few weeks. I expect altitude sickness would be the same. I don't know what you can do for it but I'm sure you have googled it already. If it is not bad, Flagstaff may be worth it. Mammoth Lakes was for me.

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