101 Biggest Mistakes 3rd Year Medical Students Make

[Jaded Soul]

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As a surgery intern, who is interested in teaching

Isn't that an oxymoron?

I hope you keep it up. It'll make you one of the "good" residents later on. In 3 months of surgery and about 12-15 residents, I only had 2 who took the time to actually teach.

 

[freshity]

is there anyone who could venture a guess as to the average, or appropriate, or acceptable, number of clerkships in which a third year might hope to honor? is there such a number? if it's been discussed elsewhere, please point me in the direction. thanks!

 

[doc05]

is there anyone who could venture a guess as to the average, or appropriate, or acceptable, number of clerkships in which a third year might hope to honor? is there such a number? if it's been discussed elsewhere, please point me in the direction. thanks!

you should honor all, or at least most, or your clerkships.

 

[AF_PedsBoy]

Man am I glad I walk into my rotations with the mindset that "everyone is worth respecting," (later I make my judgements and treat them like crap! 😀 )
After wandering through my first day of rotation where the entire office staff and nurses introduced themselves by their first names, I found out several things:

1) The receptionist is the main attending's wife;
2) The other receptionist is the main attending's sister-in-law and one of the
other attendings' mother
3) The nurse is the adoptive mother of all three attendings

Ok, ok, number 3 isn't true, but 1 and 2 ARE, and boy, nothing cheeses an attending off like a clueless med student bitching out his mom. I'd imagine.

And boy, I got a lot of s**t from the docs, but half my angst on surgery was from one of the medical students on my team. We'd split the surgeries up and then she would randomly decide not to show up. Then, for some reason they'd come and bitch me out about "med students not being in the surgery." Then after I get bitched out, she'd page me about two or three times a day asking me everything from "How do I do this" to "Where do we go now" For the love of God, I was the same year she was!!!! And of course the crowning irony was when we had a student on call for general surgery and one for trauma, she asked him, "Hey, do you want to take both calls since you're there anyway?" And he said, "Why, is there something important you need to do?" Her answer was, "No I'm just tired and need to relax." We just looked at her a loooong time. Because of course you never get a trauma and some bs consult at the same time...

The point? Absoluuuuutely nothing, I just needed to vent because the alternative is finding said medical student and beating her slowly to death with my stethoscope...

 

[medstudent2005]

dude, that is absolutely ridiculous 🙂 do ppl actually do that?? i mean, i hear about this kind of stuff once in a while and im' like "this can't be true!" i was not the best clinical med student, and i was definitely not interested all the time, but never did i even think of doing something like that...weird...how do ppl get away with it?

 

[roja]

So, this is all retrospection from a resident.

I have always been incrediby thankful that I was lucky enough to have a really great 3rd and 4th year. I didn't have any bad/nasty/crazy-assed residents. I did have one delusional and insane attending, but he was covering for a week and wasn't taking care of patients so it didn't matter. He was a total ***** and was off our team quickly.

Having said that, I think there are some crucial things that can not only get you through third year ( and beyond) but help you excel (professionally and personally)

-Its not necessary to suck up. No one looks good in crap-brown lipstick. However, you theoretically worked your ass off to get where you are because you like medicine. Its all relatively interesting so show some interest. Keep in mind, although you may know there is no way in bejeesus you will ever be in the OR again (as a gasser or surgeon) remember you will never see some of this stuff again, and it can be pretty cool. This can be said about any of the specialties. Also, its all connected, one way or the other. It doesn't HURT you to know some of the basics about the major fields of medicine.

- When you are on a rotation, one of the best ways to a- learn and b- look good is to take a patient of yours and log onto pepid or MD consult. Print up an article and then bring it in (of course, having read it). Ask a question about it.

- Realize that there are poor educators and crappy angry people in every career.. you will encounter them in EVERY stage of your career... You just have to learn how to deal with them and the luck of the draw.... Some days youll get a great resident, other days you won't. This is part of being in a profession. The sooner you come to terms with this, the less frustrated and aggravated you will be. (and when you do have great residents and attendings, you should let people know... the only way they will get any appreciation is if people share this info).

- Realize that those nasty residents/attendings have thier own issues. Dont' take thier crap personally. its probably not about you.

- Having said that: don't let anyone (even an attending) abuse you. You are a professional and should be treated as one. Likewise, you should make sure you act professionally... show up on time, do your work, be polite.

- Know your limitations and don't EVER lie. You are there to be taught. If you knew everything, there would be no reason to go through the wards. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

- Make sure you have away time. Its crucial to have a life outside of medicine and to do things to help you decompress.

- Let go of the gunner crap.... the culture of medical school is permeated with fear. You will get a residency. You will succeed in life. If you don't relax, you will die of a heart attack at 30... you will also become infertile, grow nose hairs and yoru breath will stink of rotted meat.

- When it gets really horrible, try to remember what it was like when you were studying for the MCAT, terrified that you would never get into medical schoola nd the thought of any one calling you dr. ____ seemed eternally far away.. and realize that you are almost there.

 

[Blade28]

roja - great post, both inspirational and informative!

 

[Seaglass]

the DONT EVER LIE is crucial. I've seen lots of students bury themselves with this one. If you forgot to do something or ask something, it's OK to say so.

C

 

[Aloha Kid]

If you ever need to do a rectal, NEVER forget the lubricant. 😱

 

[daisygirl]

roja-

That is a really great post.

Let go of the gunner crap.... the culture of medical school is permeated with fear. You will get a residency. You will succeed in life. If you don't relax, you will die of a heart attack at 30... you will also become infertile, grow nose hairs and yoru breath will stink of rotted meat.

I particularly love this statement. It is so true. I swear I felt that every test I took in second year would lead to a failure. I wound up honoring many of my second year courses, but to no avail, I still felt that I was somehow on the verge of failure. The horrible anxiety that I had by the end of the year led to terrible heart palpitations during exams. I guess everyone deals with the culture of med school in their own way, and I know that I dealt with it badly during the first two years. I'm going to strive my best to make sure that I deal with third year better.

I think it is quite sad how med school (at least the first two years from what I saw) seems to not only breed, but also foster, a culture of fear. Additionally, I don't think you need to be a gunner to find yourself drowning in that fear- I'm definitely not a gunner.

Off my soapbox, and back to studying for step one so that I can go from being a pseudo-third year to a real third year student 😀

 

[AF_PedsBoy]

However if you DO forget the lubricant saliva works in a pinch. ...on the GLOVE you ninny, the GLOVE! Sheesh what dirty minds some people have...

However NEVER forget to glove for a testicular exam. I made that mistake during my first year in med school and I still have the scars on my hand from the bleach and steel wool I used

 

[Justin4563]

what dont you all try the scut monkey book... Its kentuckys prelude to the wards... The first line in that book is.. "we dont drive the trucks, we only load them" Nick pavona. class of 1980.....

 

[no-see-um]

Kinetic, you so bitter...they could pickle your balls and sell them as sour grapes.

It's usually the bitter people who are right. But being "right" doesn't always get you anywhere.

 

[asianpride]

anybody want to sell a copy of:


(1) 101 Biggest Mistakes 3rd Year Medical Students Make (December 2002)

or

(2) How To Be A Truly Excellent Junior Medical Student (6th edition)


??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

thanks

 

[Blade28]

4)Telling the med students to write down vitals for patients they don't know and are not responsible for, then proceed to read the vitals aloud off the sheet after the students went to all that trouble in addition to seeing their own patients before 5 am.
...
6)Providing vague or no feedback at all. Yes, we should try to ask more, but it seems a little much for me to be constantly asking what I can do better and never expecting to hear about what I can do well for 40K tuition a year.

Ah, this happens all the time. Med students running around, collecting vitals for every patient on the residents' service.

Feedback usually consists of "you're doing fine...just read more." 🙄

More advice that I can offer (some after learning the hard way 🙁 ):

*When doing a rectal exam, GLOVE BOTH HANDS! I discovered this after needing my (ungloved) left hand to spread the guy's butt cheeks...and then I discovered why they were stuck together. 😱

*It's been stated before, but don't just be (extra) nice to the residents and attendings. Don't forget the patients, patients' families, nurses, techs, other hospital staff, PLUS medical/nursing students!

*Do your best not to contaminate the sterile field (or yourself). I mean, really. And don't touch the Mayo stand/tray.

*If a resident/attending teaches you something, try to remember it so that when they ask you the next day, you haven't forgotten already. That looks bad. (Trust me, I know. The look of disappointment on my chief... 🙁 )

*When doing a pelvic exam (or rectal), and you're wondering how much lubricant to use...more is better.

*DON'T take progress note pages out of the patient's chart, so that you can write your note and stick the page back in later. People do this so that their note is in "proper chronological order," but if there were other notes on that piece of paper, you could get caught.

*An obvious one, but DON'T be late. Pre-round on time. Meet your team on time. Be at the OR, ready to scrub in on time. Etc, etc, etc.

*When your residents are getting slammed, ask if there's anything you can do to help. Collect vitals? Talk to the family? Xerox the H&P? Transport the patient? Go out and get take-out? Whatever your team needs.

*Let your residents know when you're going home, or going to conference, lecture, the library, etc. And always make sure it's OK before you go home for the day...ask them if there are any last-minute jobs you can do.

*Even if you aren't planning on entering that particular field, show you're interested in learning for learning's sake.

*Then again, DON'T be a brown-noser and say that you're thinking about that particular field when you're not. We had a classmate say "I'm very interested in OB" during our OB/gyn rotation, then "I'm definitely thinking about medicine" during our Medicine rotation, etc. Don't do it.

 

[Jaded Soul]

*DON'T take progress note pages out of the patient's chart, so that you can write your note and stick the page back in later. People do this so that their note is in "proper chronological order," but if there were other notes on that piece of paper, you could get caught.

Just take out a blank sheet and put it in the chart where it belongs. Put a big X through any blank space that you follow and through any blank space at the end if there are notes after yours. But yeah...don't ever take any of the notes out of the chart once they are in there.

 

[Blade28]

Just take out a blank sheet and put it in the chart where it belongs. Put a big X through any blank space that you follow and through any blank space at the end if there are notes after yours. But yeah...don't ever take any of the notes out of the chart once they are in tehre.

Oh, yeah, that's definitely fine. I guess many students (1) are too lazy to find a blank, stamped sheet, or (2) don't want "proof" that they inserted their note in at a later time, regardless of the date/time on said note.

 

[velo]

Probably, but they'd be pretty big grapes. 😉

Anyway, I'm being serious. You guys think you're the first two people to every say, "man, those attendings ignore us" or "man, those residents hardly acknowledge our presence"? In the history of residency training, everyone else was all happy and fine with things? Obviously not. The question is: if that's the case, why does nothing ever change? Answer: because people are all the same.

You think attendings know they are acting distant and pompous? Maybe, but if they do they don't care. And most of the residents who act that way are the same. And by the way, most medical students are pompous jackasses, too - take them into the general population and all they do is brag about how smart they are, how they are "future doctors", flash the bling, etc.

Do I support the way things are? No. In fact, I tried to be different. I actually followed through on the promise that every medical student makes ("I won't act like this when I become a resident."). But students just find other things to complain about. It's human nature.

And if I am bitter, I have reason to be: medicine has taught me to follow the lock step rather than to follow your dreams.

hahahaha...for those of you who don't know kinetic, I would view his "i'm a resident" claim as highly suspect...from what I've gathered I think he's a pre-med...probably applying this cycle.

 

[oudoc08]

hahahaha...for those of you who don't know kinetic, I would view his "i'm a resident" claim as highly suspect...from what I've gathered I think he's a pre-med...probably applying this cycle.

Velocypedalist and I disagree on almost everything, but I'm a funny feeling about this as well. Based mainly on "maturity" demonstrated in posting language. If I'm wrong, well then, it's just ironic that someone made it that far without growing up a little.

 

[Blade28]

He's not a pre-med. 🙂

 

[velo]

oh do you have more info? What is the mystery motion man?

 

[Seaglass]

He's posted his personal history a couple of times on SDN. He is not a premed.

 

[Methyldopa]

*Then again, DON'T be a brown-noser

One of the students (I was working with) was SUCH a brown-noser, it's unbelievable. Every single day, she complimented the attending ("oh those are nice shoes, oh that's a great color on you), always cut the rest of us off when we were trying to answer a question, whenever any procedure was being performed she would be the first one there without telling any of us, and gave no credit to anyone who helped her.

This student was so neurotic that whenever a patient was getting X-rays done, she'd run out of the room (in fact one time she pushed me out of the way). She was afraid that the X-rays will damage her ovaries and give her mutant babies!!!!

And Brown-Nosing seems to work, because she got Honors and the rest of us got a High Pass!! 😕

 

[Blade28]

And Brown-Nosing seems to work, because she got Honors and the rest of us got a High Pass!! 😕

See, these are the kinds of people that make me sick. I'm sorry you had to put up with classmates like this. 🙁

 

[Trillgirl]

If you ever need to do a rectal, NEVER forget the lubricant. 😱

And as I learned in my surgery rotation in med school there are only TWO reasons NOT to do a digital rectal exam - no finger, no rectum.

Trillgirl
PGY-2 OB/Gyn

 

[Carb Addict]

okay, here's my word of wisdom while finishing up ob/gyn:

don't ever tell a woman what sex her baby is if you see it in the chart!

omg, i felt so dumb today mentioning it in passing - so don't be a ******* like me! always ask if they know or want to know first. 😳