There is absolutely no reason why medical students should bear the whole responsibility of managing all 25 patients on a team with no help from the intern.
How about this reason - there are still sick people in the hospital who need
someone to take care of them. Right now, that "someone" is a third year med student. And these people are actually sick, and some could die from lack of care - these aren't standardized patients.
Is that a good enough reason for you?
The senior on the team despises the intern, as do the rest of the residents in the program. Incompetency is incompetency.
I constantly even have to correct the intern's mistakes and at times even stick up for him because he gets ripped on so much and told how incompetent he is by the seniors and attendings.
If the senior and the attendings know that this intern is so crappy, why do you waste your breath and time sticking up for him? It's not like your input is going to change their minds or anything. If they dislike him, they dislike him, regardless of what you have to say.
I doubt you would want to get in at the hospital at 6am and leave at 7pm every day and do the whole job of the intern.
Actually - I don't know if I'd mind working from 6AM - 7PM, if it meant that I actually got to do STUFF. I hated being in the hospital from 8 AM to 3 PM, and realizing that I did nothing all day except sit in a corner and try not to get yelled at. (Or else sit in a corner and swallow my rising resentment at being ignored by the resident for 7 hours.)
As MeowMix said - someone ACTUALLY wants to hear your opinion! You actually matter!! Revel in it, because this will not happen on other rotations. (Seriously - on my last rotation, the only thing that the resident said to me was, "Oh, you're still here? What's your name again?")
Do you manage 25 patients on your team? I doubt it.
a) Do you manage all 25 patients by yourself? I doubt it.
b) I realize that your original post was meant to vent. And that's fine. But this is starting to cross the line into whining. And I think that, as 3rd year med students, getting out of the habit of whining about stuff that is beyond our control is a good idea.
I'm truly sorry for you that your intern sucks. (Actually, I'm even sorrier for the patients on your service.) And, yes, you're being put in a position with more responsibility than 3rd years usually get, which I agree - that's scary. But the patients need help. All you can do at this point is realize that your intern is incompetent, suck it up, and try to help out the patients as much as you possibly can.