Malignant Pgm: IM resident remediated over one mistake

[medfield12]

One Mistake. That's all it took.



One mistake, and a committee came down to a split vote on outright dismissing me from the program, versus ultimately deciding to graciously allow me to continue, should I so choose, under probation. Demotion to r2 status with an extra year of residency. Guaranteed loss of the fellowship I spent months, if not years competing for.



One mistake, and I reap a year of humiliation and condescencion. Having to tell all my friends I'm not moving, then explaining why. Having to work side by side among the current second years who will be talking about how badly I screwed up. Being made "the example" for the hospital. Having to stay in the same situation while everyone else moves forward.



One mistake, and one that more likely than not would have been treated more favorably had I not already been on remediation.



I have spent the last 6 months arriving at work, waiting for the day to end so I can go home, telling myself I could put up with any of it as long as I had my fellowship waiting for me at the end.



But now?



Do I really want to put myself through that? An extra year, to what purpose? I am burned out. I'm done. Even if I decide to graduate, I would be in medicine only as long as it takes to pay back my loans, and then I would quit and go back to enjoying my life again.



I should never have gone to medical school. But I guess that was just one mistake as well.

See blog here:
http://rveblade.xanga.com/757188378/one-mistake/

P.S. sad story - the guy lost a GI fellowship he had landed.

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[Rendar5]

well, kind of depends on the mistake. is this you OP? I can't really tell from your posts if you're a resident, med student, or not yet in medicine (some post about being employed on a M-F job and wanting to join the national guard or something)

 

[medfield12]

well, kind of depends on the mistake. is this you OP? I can't really tell from your posts if you're a resident, med student, or not yet in medicine (some post about being employed on a M-F job and wanting to join the national guard or something)

It is not me. Go the link and you can see the blog. I am pre-med but working fulltime now. Graduated with chemistry major in 2011.

 

[LucidSplash]

If he was already on remediation (as stated) when this action was taken, then this isn't "one mistake." It was "one more mistake" on top of whatever resulted in the initial remediation in the first place.

 

[Top Gun]

If he was already on remediation (as stated) when this action was taken, then this isn't "one mistake." It was "one more mistake" on top of whatever resulted in the initial remediation in the first place.

Yes, and more importantly, what sort of mistake was this? If the error seriously endangered a patient, that could explain why the committee was split in deciding whether to allow him/her to continue on probation, or to be dismissed from the program. If the mistake was enough to cause the committee to consider dismissal and demote him/her to R2, it must have been a very serious one. And it certainly added fuel to the fire as the resident was already on remediation.

 

[peppy]

It looks like the guy posted an update just a few days ago saying that he is being allowed to finish his probation early and will be graduating at the end of this month.
It's hard to judge if the remediation was deserved without knowing why he had to remediate. If he just made a small mistake, then I totally sympathize - but if he did something seriously negligent that could have killed someone, then that is a serious matter and the program is justified in wanting to make sure he is safe to practice when they let him graduate. I think requiring remediation is better than just firing a resident outright without giving them a chance to improve.
Glad that things worked out for him. It's too bad that he lost his GI spot over this, of course. Hopefully he can pump up his application and reapply for GI.

 

[Raryn]

It looks like the guy posted an update just a few days ago saying that he is being allowed to finish his probation early and will be graduating at the end of this month.
It's hard to judge if the remediation was deserved without knowing why he had to remediate. If he just made a small mistake, then I totally sympathize - but if he did something seriously negligent that could have killed someone, then that is a serious matter and the program is justified in wanting to make sure he is safe to practice when they let him graduate. I think requiring remediation is better than just firing a resident outright without giving them a chance to improve.
Glad that things worked out for him. It's too bad that he lost his GI spot over this, of course. Hopefully he can pump up his application and reapply for GI.

I was curious, so read back to the week before the "one mistake" post.

http://rveblade.xanga.com/757021573/doubts/

Looks like he screwed up something while cross-covering a pt on night float. It's unclear what. He had already had a hx of requiring remediation. Don't really feel like going back in his archives to find out what necessitated the initial remediation.

 

[Rendar5]

medfield, might I caution you in the future about airing other people's laundry. I hadn't even realized that what you posted was over a year old. There is very little benefit and potential risk to the blogger to air it out beyond his that others might see, including potentially people at his own program who may not be amused (and who just decided to allow him to graduate). That said, he takes that own risk by even posting it on his blog, though it seems that was his coping mechanism.

 

[medfield12]

medfield, might I caution you in the future about airing other people's laundry. I hadn't even realized that what you posted was over a year old, and there is very little benefit and potential risk to the person who posted that stuff on his own blog to air it out that others might see, including potentially people at his own program who may not be amused (and who just decided to allow him to graduate).

Good points. Thanks. I do think that he must want it to be read. If he did not want it read why would he blog it on the internet?

 

[Rendar5]

Good points. Thanks. I do think that he must want it to be read. If he did not want it read why would he blog it on the internet?

That is very true and a risk he takes by posting it.

 

[Paddington]

I browsed through his blog. This chap seems to have an awful lot of time and $$$ to go jet setting/partying/traveling. Is there an exotic resort on the planet he hasn't been to? I doubt his residency was that bad.

 

[Raryn]

I glanced through some more of his archives too, there seem to be a number of posts plagiarized from anondoc.blogspot.com

ex: http://anondoc.blogspot.com/2011/07/what-you-say-what-we-hear-what-you-say.html and http://rveblade.xanga.com/752189573/what-you-saywhat-we-hear/

http://anondoc.blogspot.com/2011/07/i-see-youve-lost-15-pounds-since-your.html and http://rveblade.xanga.com/753583238/the-protective-effects-of-fat/

Anondoc (who is hilarious btw) had his posts come out a few days prior in all the instances I noticed. I also don't think they're the same person, given that one blog is years older than the other, Anondoc wasn't quite as burnt out, and from what I can see in Anondocs posts he actually started his fellowship on time.

 

[IlDestriero]

Looks like he made plenty of mistakes.