Advice for starting clinical rotations

[CantLiveWithEm]

My fiance is about to start year 3 and clinical rotations. I am just wondering if anyone has any advice on what to expect of clinical rotations in terms of schedule changes, emotional changes, and generally how to support someone in rotations as opposed to years 1-2. Thanks!

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[dpmd]

My fiance is about to start year 3 and clinical rotations. I am just wondering if anyone has any advice on what to expect of clinical rotations in terms of schedule changes, emotional changes, and generally how to support someone in rotations as opposed to years 1-2. Thanks!

There will be more variability in schedules and less control over their schedule. Sometimes they will be made to feel stupid and it will probably be more stressful overall. Best way to support them is to be understanding. Don't make them feel crappy if they miss dinner or can't be with you for a special occasion. Understand that they may forget to call to let you know they will be late and they may not have much time to talk or return texts during the day. Basically they may be unreliable, irritable, and not want to do anything around the house. Annoying, but hopefully you still love them and are willing to stick it out until they finish residency and it gets better.

 

[politeness]

There will be more variability in schedules and less control over their schedule. Sometimes they will be made to feel stupid and it will probably be more stressful overall. Best way to support them is to be understanding. Don't make them feel crappy if they miss dinner or can't be with you for a special occasion. Understand that they may forget to call to let you know they will be late and they may not have much time to talk or return texts during the day. Basically they may be unreliable, irritable, and not want to do anything around the house. Annoying, but hopefully you still love them and are willing to stick it out until they finish residency and it gets better.

True

 

[smq123]

My fiance is about to start year 3 and clinical rotations. I am just wondering if anyone has any advice on what to expect of clinical rotations in terms of schedule changes, emotional changes, and generally how to support someone in rotations as opposed to years 1-2. Thanks!

Make the most of the lighter (usually = outpatient) rotations. They'll still have to study, of course, but at least the hours are more predictable and most weekends will be mostly free.

I agree with @dpmd - don't expect them to be able to text much during the day. A med student caught looking at their phone (unless it's very obvious that they're looking something up or calculating a dosage or something) can get in trouble - it's easy for someone to assume that they're "not interested".

3rd year is a rollercoaster in some ways. There were times when I felt valuable, and then there were times that I felt dumber than a 1st grader. Reminding him that his personal worth is not related to his grades or test scores is really helpful (as dumb as that sounds, there were times when I forgot that).

 

[Soccer171983]

I can tell you my expectations of my 3rd years is to coming with an open mind, open heart, hunger to learn. That being said they often are following residents, helping with admissions, going to lectures and when they go home often studying to look as sharp as they can the next day. Students who are proactive and on the ball get to often assist/do more procedures and various activities that are often desired (central lines, intubations etc). Some rotations will have weekends off and some will have variable weekend requirements. some rotations may have calls requiring being in the hospital despite having worked a full day (aka when they come home they will be sleeping to catch up). Some attendings love teaching and are nurturing and some are not. There is often variability in amount of chaos going around (I'm not mean to my students but if I have a crashing patients I have no problem asking them to step a side to provide patient care). My best advice is talk to your significant other on early in the rotation because they will often have a general idea what its like. If its something like optho, derm etc, you may be correct to assume weekends are free. The other caviot is if the rotation is a place where the med student may apply for residency then they may work way harder than "expected" to earn facetime and get in good with people making the decisions on who to accept for residency. I can tell you that I notice a huge difference in med students who want to do residency at our hospital than ones who don't particularly want to, namely the amount of time they are present, level of preparedness, and initiative they take to show that they deserve to be there in 2 years. best of luck.