Disclosing ADHD To medical school?

[letsgetstarted1234]

Hello All,
I am going to be an M1 this year and have had accommodations for ADHD since high school.
Heated discussions about ADHD aside, is there danger in me disclosing my diagnosis/ADHD to the school student services for reasonable accommodations?

I have heard a lot of horror stories, and am not sure whether it is safe to do so.

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[deleted978973]

No. Do not. There is no reason to and it's none of their business. The horror stories about things involving mental health like abuses by physician health programs, discrimination by residency programs, problems with medical licensure once out of school, etc. are very real. Do yourself an enormous favor and just keep it to yourself.

 

[letsgetstarted1234]

No. Do not. There is no reason to and it's none of their business. The horror stories about things like physician health programs, problems with medical licensure once out of school, etc. are very real.

what about if I have received accommodations for it throughout college?
Do the risks just outweight the accommodations?

 

[deleted978973]

what about if I have received accommodations for it throughout college?
Do the risks just outweight any potential benefits?

What potential benefits do you envision getting by disclosing a psychiatric disorder to your medical school? Because I can't think of any.

 

[DrStephenStrange]

what about if I have received accommodations for it throughout college?
Do the risks just outweight any potential benefits?

If your school offers accommodations for students with disabilities like ADHD, I would disclose it. If not, you don't have to. I know many people in my class that do receive accommodations during exams (Not sure what kind of disabilities they have though).

 

[DrStephenStrange]

What potential benefits do you envision getting by disclosing a psychiatric disorder to your medical school? Because I can't think of any.

People do receive accommodations for exams when they have disabilities such as this. They even receive accommodations for their Board exams too.

 

[letsgetstarted1234]

What potential benefits do you envision getting by disclosing a psychiatric disorder to your medical school? Because I can't think of any.

In the past i have received accommodations. I am not sure if I would be allowed to in medicalschool but I have since high school.

However after reading that other thread and other stories about what happened after disclosing, I am a little scared.

 

[deleted978973]

In the past i have received accommodations. I am not sure if I would be allowed to in medicalschool but I have since high school.

However after reading that other thread and other stories about what happened after disclosing, I am a little scared.

You're really, really, REALLY better off just keeping it to yourself, amigo. In med school, in residency, (especially) when applying for licensure, and as an attending. It's no one's business to know and telling people about it can only bring you pain. There are reasons why physicians are willing to drive hundreds of miles just to see a therapist.

 

[letsgetstarted1234]

You're really, really, REALLY better off just keeping it to yourself, amigo. In med school, in residency, (especially) when applying for licensure, and as an attending. It's no one's business to know and telling people about it will only bring you pain. There are reasons why physicians are willing to drive hundreds of miles just to see a therapist.

Really good to know. This is exactly why i asked. Thank you! I will try to bite the bullet and deal as is.

Do you think getting medical care at your home institution is okay?

 

[Hopeful101]

Is it also a bad idea to disclose a chronic illness (not mental)?

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Guess it depends on the school. My school is extremely supportive to my classmates who have ADHD.

 

[deleted978973]

Really good to know. This is exactly why i asked. Thank you! I will try to bite the bullet and deal as is.

Do you think getting medical care at your home institution is okay?

Depends on what it's for, use common sense. For anything psych-related I personally wouldn't.

 

[Mass Effect]

All right, everyone just needs to calm down. You can look up my post history to see my take on PHPs and the violated rights of physicians, but OP, if you need accommodations get it.

We need to be logical here. Telling the school is a hell of a lot better than not telling and failing exams/courses/med school because someone told you the world will end if they know you have ADHD.

ADHD is a run-of-the-mill diagnosis (overdiagnosis aside) that is very common and deserves accommodations if it's legit. No one's going to put you in PHP-mandated inpatient rehab because you have ADHD.

 

[Oedipa Maas]

I know some classmates with ADHD who disclosed and some who did not disclose. Those who disclosed were able to continue test accommodations. You may want to review the details on applying for accommodations for step exams, it looks like the school has a form to verify that you have been receiving accommodations from them. United States Medical Licensing Examination | Test Accommodations

Find out what exactly the policies are when you see your school psychiatrist - at my school there were only brief handwritten notes kept by the psychiatrist or psychologist that the school did not have access to and the school was not made aware of who was receiving care. Whether or not you disclose, it's probably a good idea to know how your information is being handled. Some of our rotations required drug tests so if you are medicated for ADHD, you may need to provide further information on that front when that happens.

 

[Doggeronie]

Hello All,
I am going to be an M1 this year and have had accommodations for ADHD since high school.
Heated discussions about ADHD aside, is there danger in me disclosing my diagnosis/ADHD to the school student services for reasonable accommodations?

I have heard a lot of horror stories, and am not sure whether it is safe to do so.

I’m so confused by the horror stories here.
There’s people at my school who openly discuss their ADHD and are given accommodations for it.
One member of my class takes all quizzes and exams by himself with extra time due to his ADHD. I’m not sure what the problem with disclosing it is.

 

[samac]

Aren’t PHP programs usually geared toward substance abusers? That’s most of the horror stories I’ve seen.
I know quite a few people who had adhd in my class. Some had accommodations and some didn’t, but I know they’re all in residency now. Do you take stimulants? You’ll have to disclose that to the drug test, and if your school uses an independent company it might not get back to them but ours were performed by a company owned by a school administrator.

 

[Tenk]

Eh, ADHD doesn’t have much stigma attached to it honestly. Depression, anxiety, drug abuse, and psychosis are where you run into problems with schools and licensing. Never heard of anyone getting shafted cause of ADHD.

 

[Mass Effect]

Aren’t PHP programs usually geared toward substance abusers? That’s most of the horror stories I’ve seen

No, PHPs money-grubbers that they are, can be geared toward anything. Lately they've been focused on "the disruptive physician" as well meaning people who are unprofessional or cause problems at work. Ridiculous that they still exist.

But no one is sending someone to a PHP for ADHD. If they were in the ADHD business, that's literally all they'd do.

 

[Caribeari]

Disclosure: I'm not in medical school.

I'd look at what others already in your school say, though as others pointed out, you will want to disclose if you're prescribed stims and have to take a drug test. I'm in nursing school and while my teachers generally know I have ADHD and a few know I take meds, I have never needed accommodations because most of my issues are completely on me and workable-like forgetting to submit an assignment because I got distracted by effing Amazon or something. I guess in that case, it would just depend on the type of accommodations you've had previously.

 

[deleted978973]

Aren’t PHP programs usually geared toward substance abusers?

Let's put it this way: anyone from a disgruntled patient, to a scorned lover, to another doctor at a rival practice, to a spiteful admin with a grudge can anonymously make a false report about you to a PHP for something like alcohol or psych problems. They can say something as simple as you "seemed off at work", "they thought they smelled alcohol on you at work", etc. The report does not require any kind of proof. The PHP will call you and demand you be evaluated. You have no rights when it comes to a PHP. You have no means of recourse to appeal or fight their demands. If you refuse they can tell your state licensing board that you are non-compliant, at which point you will very likely have your medical license revoked and your career will be over. If you comply, you more than likely will be found to have a substance abuse or psychiatric problem even if one does not exist, at which point you more than likely will be referred to one of their "preferred centers" in another state. You will be forced to go through 30 to 90 days of "treatment" that costs anywhere from $500 to $1000 out of pocket per DAY. And after you are finished with their "treatment", there is a chance that you may be forced to go through years of additional monitoring with things like AA meetings, random drug tests, etc., all of which also costs money out of pocket. The PHPs do this because they have a financial incentive to make as much money as possible off of every physician reported to them.

To put it frankly, PHPs are involved in the type of extreme corruption that you'd expect to see in somewhere like Russia or Brazil, not here. They're essentially legalized, state-sponsored extortion rackets that have a gross conflict of interest when it comes to treating potential problem physicians, and they represent a major threat to every physician in the country. They are not out to help physicians and are absolutely NOT something you ever want to involve yourself with.

So if you ever develop some kind of problem, get it taken care of privately, never tell anyone about it, and for the love of God do not self-report to a PHP.

 

[Goro]

No. Do not. There is no reason to and it's none of their business. The horror stories about things involving mental health like abuses by physician health programs, discrimination by residency programs, problems with medical licensure once out of school, etc. are very real. Do yourself an enormous favor and just keep it to yourself.

I strongly disagree with this. Many students can handle med school fine with ADHD and medication, especially if they have accommodations.

OP, if you don't disclose this, which is your choice, don't count on doing well without some type of accommodation, especially since you have a history of having the latter.

 

[IMGASMD]

When I was in school. 15 years ago now, this wasn’t an issue. I cannot imagine 15 years later, this is a problem now.

As long as you have a “real” diagnosis and also been getting accommodations all throughout your schooling, you will be just fine. Also think about if you will need accommodations for USMLEs and even board exams. Once you give accommodations up, it may be very difficult to get it back.

 

[hallowmann]

I know residents with ADHD on stims. They got accommodations through med school. Its not that rare, and the only hiccup one resident had was having to delay one rotation across state lines, because the other state board required additional info from their physician about the ADHD diagnosis. A letter from doc and history going back to HS would honestly leave no further questions in the vast majority of situations.

If you are on stimulants, you should disclose. As others have said, it might come up in required drug screen, and its better to have that out in the open earlier rather than have to explain it in the context of a dirty UDS (and to be clear, even that won't be a huge deal, just more of a pain that the other way around).

 

[Jaxey]

A portion of my classmates are getting ADHD accommodations (they get more time for exams and get to take all exams at a disability center in individual rooms without other people around). That being said, I have not heard that any of them were able to actually get same accommodations for STEP1. But as far as school goes, nobody was treated worse because of their disability.

 

[ciestar]

A portion of my classmates are getting ADHD accommodations (they get more time for exams and get to take all exams at a disability center in individual rooms without other people around). That being said, I have not heard that any of them were able to actually get same accommodations for STEP1. But as far as school goes, nobody was treated worse because of their disability.

Ive heard that getting accommodations for step exams wasnt easy.
L

 

[NontradICUdoc]

If you have had accommodations through college, you need to speak confidentially to the dean of academic affairs. I have residents that have accommodations for their boards and they get accommodations for their distance learning assignments at this time.

Take the advice of the professionals who actually know what they are talking about. Don't threaten the career path you have worked so hard to achieve on bad advice.