Humility

[beyond all hope]

I've been told I'm arrogant from time to time. I don't take it personally. After all, as one of my wiser attendings once said: get your lovin' at home, 'cause you ain't gettin' it here.

However I have come upon a fresh cache of humility proctoring medical students. Not all, mind you. The fourth-years seem pretty much set on their paths, and are starting to get a little big in the heads themselves. The second years are just worried about the boards.

I have a third year now with whom I feel like I'm starting from scratch. In the middle of a shift where I'm supervising residents (and seeing patients primarily), I'm teaching EKGs from scratch (rate, rhythm, axis, intervals, hypertrophy, ischemia), CXR reading, physical exam skills, everything.

I'm starting to feel the pressure of enormous responsibility. Not only do I have to run the ED but I'm responsible for this girl's education.

The rotation system of the clinical years means that most med students have to figure things out on their own. I'd always assumed that everyone would eventually 'get it'. Not everyone does. I'm working with curriculum development and doing assessment of educational needs at our university. I'm surprised to find out what huge gaps there are in medical education.

I feel like if I don't get her started learning the basics that she may never learn them. In two years she'll be making life-or-death decisions for patients, giving them advice, altering their lives. I have to make sure she's ready for that.

That's a pretty humbling prospect, coming from someone who didn't really 'get it' just a few years ago.

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[BKN]

I've been told I'm arrogant from time to time. I don't take it personally. After all, as one of my wiser attendings once said: get your lovin' at home, 'cause you ain't gettin' it here.

However I have come upon a fresh cache of humility proctoring medical students. Not all, mind you. The fourth-years seem pretty much set on their paths, and are starting to get a little big in the heads themselves. The second years are just worried about the boards.

I have a third year now with whom I feel like I'm starting from scratch. In the middle of a shift where I'm supervising residents (and seeing patients primarily), I'm teaching EKGs from scratch (rate, rhythm, axis, intervals, hypertrophy, ischemia), CXR reading, physical exam skills, everything.

I'm starting to feel the pressure of enormous responsibility. Not only do I have to run the ED but I'm responsible for this girl's education.

The rotation system of the clinical years means that most med students have to figure things out on their own. I'd always assumed that everyone would eventually 'get it'. Not everyone does. I'm working with curriculum development and doing assessment of educational needs at our university. I'm surprised to find out what huge gaps there are in medical education.

I feel like if I don't get her started learning the basics that she may never learn them. In two years she'll be making life-or-death decisions for patients, giving them advice, altering their lives. I have to make sure she's ready for that.

That's a pretty humbling prospect, coming from someone who didn't really 'get it' just a few years ago.

We actually don't allow third years to rotate in our ED, only shadow. We think they need the basic info and techniques from OB, Med, Peds, Psych and Surgery before they attempt to synthesize and work at speed.