Nathan Foje, from Omaha, is a third-year medical student completing his family practice rotation at both Chase County clinics. (Johnson Publications photo)
Medical student on rotation at hospital, clinics
Nathan Foje completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Notre Dame. He is now a third-year medical student at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha. He will be studying family practice at Chase County clinics in Imperial and Wauneta over the next eight weeks.
Foje said family practice rotations are usually done in rural areas because the scope of practice covers a broader area of medicine in smaller towns than in a larger city. Large city practices have specialists in specific areas that are more readily available, therefore, patients are referred to them more often.
“Family practice rotations are so much different than in Omaha because of the proximity to specialists,” he said. Rural practice doctors have to address a variety of different situations before deciding to refer a patient to a specialist, Foje added.
The rotations medical students are assigned to broaden their skill base and help them decide what area of medicine they want to specialize in.
“I’m still deciding on what area I will go into, but I am leaning toward surgery. But we’ll see. I’m open to change,” Foje commented.
The fourth year of school is usually concentrated in one area of interest, but students can choose to continue rotations if still undecided on a specialty, he said.
Following his last year in medical school, he will begin three to seven years of residency.
Foje was born and raised in Omaha. His parents still reside there. He is single and has two sisters.
He was a cross country runner in high school, and he still continues to run about 10 miles a week.
He likes reading non-fiction books and is a fan of college basketball, especially his alma mater, Notre Dame, he said.
When offered a choice of rural communities to perform his family practice rotation, Foje chose Imperial because his dad had visited here before. He told him that the people here were nice, Foje remarked.
He said it made his decision to come here easy.