Away Rotations: William Naworski, MS4, Shares His Experiences at Kern Medical Center, Keck Medicine of USC and Mammoth Hospital
William Naworski, MS4, at the Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University, plans to become an emergency medicine physician.
Willam Naworksi
Hometown: Bakersfield, CA
Classification: MS-4
Medical Specialty: Emergency Medicine
Away Rotations: Kern Medical Center (Bakersfield, CA), University of Southern California Keck Medicine of USC, Mammoth Hospital (Mammoth Lakes, CA)
William Naworski, MS-4 at Anne Burnett Marion School of Medicine at Texas Christian University, is no stranger to injuries that require emergency attention.
“I’ve had my fair share of concussions and broken bones,” Naworksi said. “Most of the broken bones were from snowboarding.”
Naworksi’s love for the outdoors and extreme sports has played a huge role in him wanting to become an emergency medicine physician.
“It’s fast paced. You’re always on and you have to know a little bit of everything,” Naworksi said . “That’s what attracted me to it especially if something were to happen in public or my family has a question.”
Last Summer, Naworksi did several away rotations in preparation for Match Day 2025 at Kern Medical Center (Bakersfield, CA), University of Southern California Keck Medicine of USC, and Mammoth Hospital (Mammoth Lakes, CA).
Each year, fourth-year medical students in the United States complete their away rotations and the interviewing cycle for Graduate Medical Education (GME)/residency positions. Those four-week auditions during away rotations carry a huge weight as they interview for residency slots at hospitals or health care centers.
Away rotations are not required to apply to a residency program, but they can give medical students a chance to distinguish themselves from others and leave a lasting impression on residency directors.
“Going into it, you really wish you could have a crystal ball,” Naworksi said. “I think the biggest thing is being genuine and showing up and being ready to work.”
Even without a crystal ball, Naworksi was equipped with much more clinical exposure than most medical students thanks to the Burnett School of Medicine at TCU’s Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship (LIC) curriculum. It pairs each student with a physician from the outset of their education and they get to see patients over a longer period.
“We got a lot of early exposure that I didn’t see in other curriculums so that attracted me from the beginning. It kind of kept you on top of everything,” Naworksi said. “You always have that strong base because you’re always having to work with everything.”
At Kern Medical Center, he worked with a lot of trauma cases. Being able to jump in and help when the residents were overwhelmed was something he received praise for from attending physicians, Naworski added.
He would be asked: “Hey, could you clean out this wound? or Could you do this laceration repair?”
Naworksi also had an away rotation in orthopedics at Mammoth Hospital in Mammoth Lakes, California. It was a different pace than working in the emergency department. In the emergency department, he would work 8- to 12-hour shifts, but in orthopedics some days could be four hours in the clinic while other days with surgery shifts could last from 12 hours to 15 hours.
For now, his time will be focused on finishing up his clinical elective courses and waiting patiently until Match Day arrives.
“Right now, the dream of becoming a physician is happening but that’s the next concrete step and I’m going to be an emergency medicine resident somewhere,” Naworski said.