Offutt AFB
General INformation & Contact INformation
OFFUTT AFB Family Medicine Residency, Ehrling Berquist Hospital, 55 MDOS/SGOPR, 2501 Capehart Road Suite 1M00, Offutt AFB, NE 68113-2160
Program Director: Maj Stephen Cagle, MD, stephen.d.cagle4.mil@health.mil
Associate Program Director: Maj Anne Marie Kennedy, annemarie.kennedy.mil@health.mil
Program Coordinator: Ms. Karen Knowles, karen.r.knowles.civ@health.mil
Student Coordinator: Capt. (Dr.) Anna Wiley, Student Coordinator: anna.t.wiley2.mil@health.mil
Phone: (402) 294-9270 (DSN 271)
Fax: (402) 232-8856
Email: Offutt.med.stud.advisor@gmail.com
About This Program
Offutt is one of the two military-civilian combined programs partnered with the University of Nebraska Medical Center. This program is located in Omaha, NE. Offutt AFB/UNMC is one of the largest FM programs in the country taking about 16 civilians and 8 military residents per class for a total of 24 students. The Ehrling Bergquist (military) clinic is located in Bellevue, NE which is just a few minutes outside the city. Much of your first year training will be spent downtown at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC). During second and third year you'll transition towards spending less time downtown and more time in the Bellevue area.
What To Expect on this Rotation
You'll have one consecutive week on inpatient at Bellevue Medical Center (BMC) and one day on L&D at BMC. You'll spend at least one day at most of the procedural clinics (1 day on sports meds, 1 day in fracture clinic, 1 day doing colonoscopies, 1 day doing vasectomies, 1 day in acupuncture, etc). The rest of your experience will be spent with residents and attendings in the outpatient clinic in the Ehrling Bergquist clinic.
Morning lectures (didactics) are on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays before clinic hours. Generally the first and last Wednesdays of the month are reserved for Teach Days at UNMC. You'll receive more instructions on that when you arrive. At the end of the rotation you'll be required to give a presentation on a topic of your choice during one of the morning lectures.
Welcome to Offutt
Before you come you'll be sent a "Welcome to Offutt" email with instructions which can be found here.
There's a lot of info to sift through but here are the highlights with a few comments:
Pack civilian business attire for your inpatient days. Pack enough for an entire week. Your inpatient experience will be at a civilian community hospital in the Bellevue area and thus you won't be coming or going in ABUs.
On Day 1 show up to the clinic at 0800. I recommend arriving around 0730 to give yourself enough time to park and then find your way around. You can park on the side of the building. Go up the steps and follow everyone in through the side door. This will take you to the ground level. You can either take the stairs or the elevator and head up to the first floor. The Family Medicine Residency (FMR) will be there. Go to the counter and tell whoever is working that you are a medical student looking for Karen Knowles. On Day 1 once you finish in-processing you'll be free to leave around noon. If you get AHLTA access before you leave that day, hop on a computer and see if you can login with your credentials.
Morning lectures are on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings at 0715. These are held at the ground floor of the clinic in the FMR classroom. On the first and last Wednesdays of the month you'll head downtown to UNMC for teach day.
Come with a good attitude and be ready to learn!
Teach Day at UNMC
In the stack of papers you'll get during inprocessing will be a sheet with instructions on how to get to UNMC. You can follow those directions downtown or you can just type in "University of Nebraska Medical Center" into your phone's GPS.
When you get there, you'll park in the garage by the Durham Outpatient Center. After finding a parking space, look for the walkway that connects to the outpatient center. It should be on the ground floor of the parking garage. Go through there. Once you're inside, take the escalators up one level. Go immediately to your left and head backwards in the opposite direction. Follow the wall and there should be a door kind of hidden and tucked away on your right hand side. Go through that door. There won't be any sign or label that makes it obvious it's the family medicine residency teach area. Once you're in, just look around and ask someone where the medical students go.
Housing
Offutt Inns is the standard base lodging. You'll have access to a mini fridge, a microwave, mini coffee maker, TV, etc.
If you're staying off base, a popular option is Candlewood Suites Bellevue. It's about a 10 minutes drive to and from the clinic and includes a mini kitchen, fridge, and microwave so you'll be able to cook your own food. Ask for the military/government rate to ensure you're within per diem. It's an IHG hotel so you can create an account and collect rewards points for your month long stay.
Holiday Inn Express & Suites Bellevue (Omaha Area) is next to Candlewood Suites. There's no kitchenette but breakfast is included every morning with your stay. Ask for the military/government rate to ensure you're within per diem. They're an IHG hotel so you should be able to collect points for your stay if you create an account or if you give them an existing rewards account.
Another option with a kitchenette is WoodSpring Suites Omaha Bellevue, also about 5-10 minutes away from the clinic. It's a smaller and more "affordable" option so you'll notice it's not as nice as Candlewood Suites, but there's almost always a room available. It's nearby the grocery store and Target.
Microtel Inn & Suites by Wyndham Bellevue is next to WoodSpring Suites. There's no kitchenette, but breakfast is included every morning. Ask for the military/government rate to ensure you're within per diem.
Note: Many of the hotels during the College World Series will be completely booked, even out in the Bellevue area. Some hotels that have availability will be charging higher rates for rooms even if you're military and have orders on you. These rates will exceed per diem and might not be reimbursable so beware of this. You may have to try calling around to multiple hotels to ask for their availability and rates.
EHR Access
You'll only get access to AHLTA in the outpatient clinic for this rotation. For your inpatient experience you'll hop on with a resident to review patient info prior to rounding on them.
For OB, it's mostly a shadowing experience just to get you exposed to how they operate there so don't worry about reviewing chart info that day, but definitely come in prepared and know some general OB delivery stuff. If there's not a lot going on that day, you may get a spontaneous OB lecture from one of the faculty.
For your inpatient week get there early around 0630 or 0700 and ask a resident to log into EPIC for you. There's not enough time for them to get you set up with your own EPIC access so you'll have to ask one of the residents to log on for you when you need to look stuff up.
For the Ehrling Bergquist clinic you'll get AHLTA access by the end of day 1 or day 2. I believe most people get it on day 2. Try and hop on a computer with your CAC card and see if you can get access. If you've never used AHLTA before, ask someone to help you get set up with the TSWF CORE template. You'll use this for nearly all of your patient encounters in clinic.
To sign into windows at the clinic: insert your CAC and click sign-in options. There will be three options. Select the shortest option. You'll know what I mean when you see it. If you select the wrong option too many times you'll be locked out and will have to go upstairs to get your account unlocked.
Interview Format
You will be interviewed in one room by 8-10 individuals consisting of mostly faculty and possibly one resident.
Things To Do in the Omaha Area
The Omaha area offers lots of fun things to do. Below you'll find only a small list of personal recommendations.
The Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium
Highly raved by many to be the best zoo in the country. Admission will run you about $22/adult ticket.
Omaha is home of the College World Series. This is usually hosted around mid-late June. Tickets are fairly reasonably priced. Even if you're not a baseball fan, it's a fun experience to see at least once if you happen to be rotating there when the CWS is taking place.
Side note: Many of the hotels during the CWS will be completely booked, even in the Bellevue area. Some hotels that have availability will be charging higher rates for rooms even if you're military and have orders on you. These rates will exceed per diem and may not be reimbursable so beware. You may have to try calling around to multiple hotels to ask for their availability and rates.
The Storm Chasers are the farm team for the Kansas City Royals. This is Omaha's minor league (AAA) baseball team. They're usually active throughout the entire duration of the ADT season. It's a cheap, fun experience to go to with other students rotating with you. Bring cash for parking.
If you're a fan of craft beer, check out the Penny Pack! It's basically a "buy one drink, get another for 1 cent" sort of deal. It's a fun social way to explore the downtown area with friends for cheap.
Downtown
So many great shops, restaurants, bars, and breweries here to check out.
Blackstone
Neat little area near midtown with a very active night scene. Lots of bars, and breweries to try here.
Coneflower Creamery - one of the best ice cream places you'll ever try.
Outdoor area with several shops, restaurants to check out.
If you're into Dim Sum, check out the New Gold Mountain Restaurant. They put a modern twist on Dim Sum.
A good dessert option in this area to check out is Freezing Thai Rolled Ice Cream.
The best movie theater chain ever. They serve food and drinks including full entrees, side dishes, and alcoholic beverages to you at your seat so you can fill your belly and enjoy a good movie all at the same time. They also remove people who talk, make too much noise, or pull out their phones during movies so you can watch in peace.
Throughout the year they host several fun special events at their theaters. Check their website calendar to see what's going on.
They're military friendly so ask about a military discount at checkout.
September is military and first-responder month so regular priced movie tickets are completely free, just bring your CAC with you.
There's two locations in Omaha: La Vista and Midtown.
This is the largest gym complex in the entire DoD. They've got an indoor track, indoor tennis courts, basketball courts, volleyball courts, weights, machines, etc. Beware of the heat. It can get extremely warm inside during the summer months. There's no indoor air conditioning, only fans dispersed intermittently throughout the gym.
Seeking Student Feedback / Experiences
We are lacking information for this page. If you have rotated through this program and would like to share your experiences with other students, please contact us at medstudent.USAFP@gmail.com. We are looking for information about what to expect for the rotation, what things you should pack with you, things to do for fun in the area, etc.