Third-year medical students at Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine (KansasCOM) hone their adaptability skills as their learning takes them on nine different clinical rotations over the course of the year, offering them opportunities to apply years of classroom study in real hospitals and clinics alongside experienced physicians in core areas of medicine.

KansasCOM partners with more than 350 preceptors, primarily in Kansas, providing students with hands-on experience across the state. Students can gain familiarity with rural medicine in Kansas towns and forge relationships in places where they may one day practice.

Clinical rotations are an essential part of any student doctor’s education, allowing them to work with actual patients in varied health care settings. Typically, medical students aid in patient examination, history taking, charting, and screening to reduce the workloads of doctors and clinical teams.

KansasCOM’s inaugural class, set to graduate in 2026, makes up the first cohort to go into rotations. During four weeks at each site, they translate academic learning into practical patient care.

Adjusting to a new hospital comes with a “trial period,” where preceptors gradually build trust with students, said Matthew Bevens, a third-year student doctor. By his final week on surgery rotation in Harvey County, he was able to assist in operations under observation.

“By the end of it, the surgeons were allowing me to use instruments in laparoscopic surgery,” Matthew Bevens said. “I mean, everything was overseen; the surgeon was there the entire time making sure that nothing went wrong. But for me to be able to hold a gallbladder using an instrument and to make the incisions to take the gallbladder off — I don’t know if we could have gotten that experience anywhere else.”

McKensie Bevens is also a third-year student and she’s Matthew’s wife of 10 years. They entered KansasCOM together and she experienced the same surgery rotation. Both hailing from Topeka, the Bevenses share a vision to open a health care clinic of their own in rural Kansas one day. McKensie said she wants to “return the investment” to the state that invested in her education.

Informing Residencies in Rural Areas

Kansas counties need more doctors, especially in primary care, however the physician shortage is projected to worsen nationwide over the next decade. Kansas Health Science University (KHSU) first formed KansasCOM to tackle this problem. One goal of KansasCOM’s clinical rotations in rural areas is to spark relationships that can turn into residencies one day, Heather Pierce, director of rotations, said.

“We focus on this state because a lot of our focus in KHSU’s mission from the very beginning has been to reach out to the underserved, whether that’s in urban or rural Kansas or it is in other communities,” Pierce said. “We really are focused on supporting Kansas and hopefully graduating doctors that will consider staying in Kansas and practicing here.”

The clinical experiences that inform the students’ coming residencies are essential to KHSU’s vision of creating a pipeline of students with love for Kansas to be the next generation of physicians in the state. Studies show most doctors of osteopathic medicine (DOs) who attend a medical school and residency in the same state, 86%, stay to practice in that state.

During rural rotations, student doctors can see the realities of health care access in underserved areas firsthand. Rural patients tend to experience prolonged wait times and can face daunting travel distances to access standard or specialist care. Students visiting these settings also see how differently sized medical staff adapt operations.

Rajendra Nidal, another student doctor on clinical rotations this year, said he wants to be a cardiologist in Kansas. Nidal grew up in Andover, and before his clinical rotations, he was mostly familiar with large hospitals.

When working at his rotation in Finney County, Nidal saw the challenges of rural care in a patient who required a pacemaker, which mandated a referral to a cardiologist.

“But there was no cardiologist in town or in the hospital,” Nidal said. “So they had to send them either to Wichita or a nearby state, like Texas, Oklahoma, or Missouri. I saw the ER physician, the internist, and all the nurses — everybody — trying to make phone calls. They called KMC, St. Francis, Wesley, to see if they had a bed ready. The first question: do you have a bed ready or not? The second: is the cardiologist there or not? Because there is a certain timeline that you have to work on. And after that, they needed to figure out air transport or ambulance because it could be four hours from here.”

Across KansasCOM’s classes, approximately 20% of student doctors come from Kansas. By introducing more medical students like Nidal and the Bevenses who are native to Kansas to training in these hospital systems, KHSU helps to position the state to increase its number of primary care doctors and specialists.

Next Steps for an Osteopathic Education

KansasCOM works to instill into its medical students the philosophies of osteopathic medicine, which emphasize a patient-centered approach and underline preventative treatment. Each student has at least one clinical rotation with a DO and must complete comprehensive exams.

“Osteopathy fosters this idea of trying to develop personal relationships with your patient instead of them being just a number that’s in for a couple of days,” McKensie Bevens said. “I think the most rewarding thing has been getting to flesh that out with my patients, and be with them, and spend time with them in some of their darkest hours and then, currently on OB (Obstetrics) with them in the most exciting times of their life.”

Student doctors following the rigorous rotation schedule throughout the year must also prepare for testing in core areas, which becomes critical for residency placement.

When it comes time for medical students to choose where to apply for residencies, Pierce said they can think about the personal connections they made during clinical rotations. And she said it will be a “great benefit” for them that doctors and other staff members have an existing impression of working together.

In the students’ fourth and final year at KansasCOM, they will embark on elective clinical rotations in which they can decide which generalist or subspecialist to work under.

Pierce noted that students often say their clinical preceptors offer compassionate mentorship and continue to be valuable resources long after rotations end.

Matthew Bevens echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that each rotation is an investment in Kansas’ health care future.

“A lot of these folks that we’ve worked with understand the importance of having very well-skilled students, who will then become residents, who then will become physicians,” Matthew Bevens said. “Because even though they’re at a completely different stage in their career, we all understand that we’re working towards the same thing, which is caring for our Kansas patients today and tomorrow.”

With guidance from their dedicated preceptors, KansasCOM students gain the expertise they need to be successful, holistic doctors. And for those born and raised in Kansas, these rotations in the state prepare them to care for the communities that raised them.