anybody burnt?

[Sammich81]

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End of 3rd year, fourth year in sight, still on a really demanding rotation.

I just don't care anymore for my superfluous med student role. You help, but minimally. Your brain is overflowing and you are tired of trying to look perky and interested all the damn time.

Is anyone else starting to lose momentum? Maybe it's because the rotations I really liked (surgery and peds) were my first ones and now I'm not as interested but damn....dreading going to work everyday makes me feel like I don't even like medicine anymore. At least not medicine outside of an OR. And really I'm starting to think I don't like anything enough to let it be my whole life, for the rest of my life.

Thoughts?

 

[dfagod]

I am so burnt.

What I'm really sick of is getting screwed out of the grades I deserve in every damn rotation. Third year is such bull****. You are exactly right about the trying to be perky and interested all the time. It ends up being a waste of time, because I think I end up with the same grade I would have gotten if I had just done the minimum.

 

[loveumms]

Feeling the same. I am dreading every single day and can hardly find the motivation to do anything anymore (especially study for the shelf test that is rapidly approaching).

I also feel like I complain all the time and get very irritated with the classmates of mine who are still fresh and happy/perky. I wish I could be the same way but keep finiding myself trying to do the least amount of work possible to get by. Might be due ot the fact that the last two rotations I'm on I have no interest in. Only seven more weeks till third year is a distant memory 😉

 

[Pox in a box]

Feeling the same. I am dreading every single day and can hardly find the motivation to do anything anymore (especially study for the shelf test that is rapidly approaching).

Same feeling exactly. I live for the weekend now and my occasional one day off a week. I'm getting tired of waking up at or before 5 AM to be at the hospital to see patients. I'm getting nervous about my shelf exam because it's getting much more difficult to study these days.

 

[Sammich81]

Feeling the same. I am dreading every single day and can hardly find the motivation to do anything anymore (especially study for the shelf test that is rapidly approaching).

I also feel like I complain all the time and get very irritated with the classmates of mine who are still fresh and happy/perky. I wish I could be the same way but keep finiding myself trying to do the least amount of work possible to get by.

Bless you for sharing that. I feel so horrible when I get irritated at someone else's enthusiasm. I usually think, "Who the heck are you trying to fool, you saccharine kickass"...but I realize it's mostly my own bitterness at the pressure of feeling like you have to rise to a similar standard. Partially it's because whatever rotation you're on, no matter how much you dislike it, someone else has found their career choice.

I also live for time off. This medicine shelf is going to kick my a ss.

 

[ElZorro]

Thank God I am doing my FP elective right now, not because I love it but because it is soooooo easy. And, that is about all I can handle right now. The last 2 months I have been so done with this third year stuff. Hey, would you like to do this H & P for us? Oh yes, why I would love to do my 6th H & P today, and my 1000th in the last 8 months. The worst thing is when you have figured out in the first week of a rotation that you definantly don't ever want to do this as a career, and probably not ever again, but you still have to act like you want to go deliver that next baby, or talk to the next 24 y.o. female who says she wants to kill herself. Nevertheless, you can't forget how lucky we are to be doing this. It is alot cooler and more rewarding then sitting in cubicle E4 trying to increase your "synergy."

 

[Sammich81]

'Tis true. At least, ultimately, this job will matter...not what you're doing as a 3rd year but the career it'll get you to.

That being said, I still love my time off...

 

[Entei]

I was burnt out months ago. I fell in love with my first rotation, and nothing else could compare to it. I'm so tired of having to feign interest in other fields. I'm on Primary Care right now, and I can't stand it. I'm at the computer right now supposedly researching a topic for my Primary Care presentation, but I'm so tired of pretending to be interested that I can't even come up with a topic.
Whyyyyyyyy meeeeeeeee? 🙁
/emo

 

[sophiejane]

....dreading going to work everyday makes me feel like I don't even like medicine anymore. At least not medicine outside of an OR. And really I'm starting to think I don't like anything enough to let it be my whole life, for the rest of my life.

But...you have to know and do a lot of medicine to be a surgeon. You need to be as good as the medicine docs but also be able to operate.

The thing I think we don't get enough of on rotations is really experiencing the life and lifestyle of the physician. We experience the residency, and not much else. I have heard of a fair number of people leaving surgical and other residencies after a year or two...I wonder if they had had more realistic expectations if they might have chosen differently...

 

[samyjay]

So today my resident was on paternity leave (Im on family medicine). The director is like, oh you can see patients with another resident, then i'm like, actually Ill just leave right now, do some "reading" Did i mention that is is 75 degrees and sunny outside 🙂

 

[buglady]

i was burnt out when 3rd year ended (ours ends at the end of February). i was burnt during my 1st month of electives, but i did a palliative care rotation in my 2nd month and that seemed to perk me up a bit...not because i saw a lot of people die, but mostly because i felt useful and helpful and i learned a lot about pain management and the team appreciated my input.

now i'm doing my mandatory medicine AI and it's amazingly ok. finally, the responsibility is there, the pages at 0300 from nurses about a patient in severe pain, the dictations, the decisions for patient management. i feel needed and i'm learning a ton each day. i'm still tired and never feel like reading, but whatever. at least i'm not the invisible clerkship student anymore.

4th year is supossed to be easier than 3rd year, so we'll see.

 

[Sammich81]

But...you have to know and do a lot of medicine to be a surgeon. You need to be as good as the medicine docs but also be able to operate.

The thing I think we don't get enough of on rotations is really experiencing the life and lifestyle of the physician. We experience the residency, and not much else. I have heard of a fair number of people leaving surgical and other residencies after a year or two...I wonder if they had had more realistic expectations if they might have chosen differently...

Yes, I'm aware that you have to know medicine to be a great surgeon. Some of the most "medically" knowledgeable attendings I've had this year were surgeons. My point was that I don't enjoy medicine in the absence of procedures, or rounding for hours.

I think it's the lack of exposure to lifestyle sometimes that makes people leave early. Good lifestyle specialties--ENT, urology, plastics--are still demanding surgical residencies.

 

[Sinnman]

You need to be as good as the medicine docs but also be able to operate.

Come on. I'll agree that surgeons know a lot about medicine but that's a ridiculous statement.

No need to flame, I actually like surgery.

 

[sophiejane]

Come on. I'll agree that surgeons know a lot about medicine but that's a ridiculous statement.

No need to flame, I actually like surgery.

I didn't make that up. It was said by a surgery residency program director.

Take it or leave it.

 

[Hoo\/er]

I didn't make that up. It was said by a surgery residency program director.

Take it or leave it.

The surgery resident program director is God too - or at least he thinks he is. Surgeons are asshats.

 

[sophiejane]

The surgery resident program director is God too - or at least he thinks he is. Surgeons are asshats.

That's why I'm doing FP. 🙂

 

[mdphd2b]

But...you have to know and do a lot of medicine to be a surgeon. You need to be as good as the medicine docs but also be able to operate. QUOTE]

LOL...our surgery directors said the same exact comment

 

[VincentAdultman]

OK so medicine is 12 weeks at my school, divided into 3 four week blocks. I started with inpatient. While on that service, the other students on medicine were doing their ambulatory block. They slacked and got away with the least amount of work. That's cool. Of course I can't be like that (I'm applying for ortho next year. Yay!). But good for them.

Now before my ambulatory block begins, I mean, daybefore my first day, I'm stuck because of car problems. I don't come in until the late afternoon. The next day, I have a dr's appt to get my PPD and immunizations up to date for aways next year (kind of important...again, the ortho thing.) Two factors, pretty much out of my control.

So the next day (day three of ambulatory) I'm called into the director's office, who promptly calls me out on my "enthusiasm for medicine."

In conclusion, thrird year is a total wank.

The surgery resident program director is God too - or at least he thinks he is. Surgeons are asshats.

Nice generalization chief!

 

[dynx]

Hey, would you like to do this H & P for us? Oh yes, why I would love to do my 6th H & P today, and my 1000th in the last 8 months.

AGGGHHHH!! The worst is when they ask you. Of course I don't want to write another H&P jackass. However, if you dont **** yourself with excitement and trip the medstudent next to you so you can get to the patient first they you are lazy and or a bad student in some other way. Listen, to any of you residents/attendings out there...just TELL me to write the damn H&P, dont make me stand there with a **** eating grin and act overjoyed to be doing more busy work.

 

[Sammich81]

AGGGHHHH!! The worst is when they ask you. Of course I don't want to write another H&P jackass. However, if you dont **** yourself with excitement and trip the medstudent next to you so you can get to the patient first they you are lazy and or a bad student in some other way. Listen, to any of you residents/attendings out there...just TELL me to write the damn H&P, dont make me stand there with a **** eating grin and act overjoyed to be doing more busy work.

Amen. My favorite was, "So, you wanna deliver this (fifth) placenta?" GROSS dude! GROSS and absolutely no glory. On the other hand I didn't mind retracting in surgery, so maybe it's just b/c I don't like medicine or OBGYN so much. I think the personalities in surgery (contrary to what some people have posted...just my personal experience) are entertaining enough to make up for it.

 

[moviefreak]

Amen. My favorite was, "So, you wanna deliver this (fifth) placenta?" GROSS dude! GROSS and absolutely no glory. On the other hand I didn't mind retracting in surgery, so maybe it's just b/c I don't like medicine or OBGYN so much. I think the personalities in surgery (contrary to what some people have posted...just my personal experience) are entertaining enough to make up for it.

i'd rather deliver the placenta over holding a pc of resected colon and then getting yelled at for trying to avoid dripping blood from the resected colon onto the floor or disempacting a bowel because you have the smallest hand

i hate third year

 

[sdnetrocks]

I dunno what all the big deal with placentas is. I didn't mind delivering them at all, and kind of enjoyed it. By that point, the attending's vitals had returned to normal and this was something I could do almost completely by myself (because after about 30 seconds of my firm but moderate pressure, the attending would get bored and give it a good yank...).

Seriously, guys, there are much nastier things out there than placentas... like nasty infected wounds, bad odors (feces, drunk breath, liver failure breath, melena), etc.

But back on topic - yes, we are all burnt out.

 

[VincentAdultman]

I dunno what all the big deal with placentas is. I didn't mind delivering them at all, and kind of enjoyed it. By that point, the attending's vitals had returned to normal and this was something I could do almost completely by myself (because after about 30 seconds of my firm but moderate pressure, the attending would get bored and give it a good yank...).

Seriously, guys, there are much nastier things out there than placentas... like nasty infected wounds, bad odors (feces, drunk breath, liver failure breath, melena), etc.

But back on topic - yes, we are all burnt out.

In terms of nastiness:

Sacral decub ulcers>>>>>>>>Placenta

 

[flipflopsnsnow]

😳 I cannot believe I came across this thread.....this is ALL of the things that I have been thinking lately.... actually I will take that back, um more like most of third year, which is really sad.
Ugh, the subjective grading has really gotten me more than frustrated numerous times....dont get me started on that one! 😡
Yeah, and skipping out? I was the queen of that on my ob rotation. I think I showed up for calls and deliveries. If there was clinic and I would just be following around yet another most-miserable-ever resident like a puppy dog, and they didnt even know who was supposed to be there or not, I would take off and nap. I did feel guilty every other time or so, but at least I was well rested!
For sure I'd deliver a placenta over debriding a nasty decub ulcer any day. SMELLY

So, the only saving graces that i have are: 1) that some days --but not all-- i really like talking to patients. I love to play with the little kids, give them stickers, etc. or flirt back with the old men, or chat with the old lady who really could just use an ear to listen. And that's fun, and it makes me feel good that even though the attendings are jerks, i can make the patients feel good, or more comfortable or make something unpleasant or scary feel a tad better.
2) days off, cancelled cases, patients that don't show, attendings and residents that are so miserable or awful that it is comical, cancelled lectures. i do love post call, cuz i can at least go home! 😴
3) comparing my life to either: first or second year, and realize i would NOT want to be sitting in a dark lecture hall 8 hours a day, or sitting in the library preparing for step I.....or my friends in a cubicle trying to force myself to think some stupid product is really exciting and important. neither one sounds very appealing!
4) we do get to see some interesting things that most other people we know outside of medicine wont ever see or experience. and funny thing is, they look at our lives as really exciting and fascinating, even though we feel its mundane, unfair, not what we want to do for the rest of our lives, etc...... i try and remember that on the worst days.
5) oh yeah, and this is TEMPORARY!!!!!!!!! thank goodness! 👍 🙂 👍 😉 👍

<6 weeks till 4th year!

 

[cabinbuilder]

Try having 3 weeks to go of fourth year. I am on internal medicine for the last rotation and I haven't looked at an EKG in 18 months??? Talk about looking stupid when the third year studying for boards is up on all that stuff in medicine world. Ugh, I haven't thought about renal failure, CVA, CHF, insulin sliding scale, whatever in over a year. It's gonna be a very very long 3 weeks. They are trying to teach me what they can but it's so exhausting my brain is shutting down.

 

[DHMO]

:

So, the only saving graces that i have are: 1) that some days --but not all-- i really like talking to patients. I love to play with the little kids, give them stickers, etc. or flirt back with the old men, or chat with the old lady who really could just use an ear to listen. And that's fun, and it makes me feel good that even though the attendings are jerks, i can make the patients feel good, or more comfortable or make something unpleasant or scary feel a tad better.
2) days off, cancelled cases, patients that don't show, attendings and residents that are so miserable or awful that it is comical, cancelled lectures. i do love post call, cuz i can at least go home! 😴
3) comparing my life to either: first or second year, and realize i would NOT want to be sitting in a dark lecture hall 8 hours a day, or sitting in the library preparing for step I.....or my friends in a cubicle trying to force myself to think some stupid product is really exciting and important. neither one sounds very appealing!
4) we do get to see some interesting things that most other people we know outside of medicine wont ever see or experience. and funny thing is, they look at our lives as really exciting and fascinating, even though we feel its mundane, unfair, not what we want to do for the rest of our lives, etc...... i try and remember that on the worst days.
5) oh yeah, and this is TEMPORARY!!!!!!!!! thank goodness! 👍 🙂 👍 😉 👍

<6 weeks till 4th year!

I find myself with the exact same saving graces. Out of curiosity, what field are you going into? Thank God there is only 5 weeks left till this horrible year is over.

 

[cdreed]

I really feel for you all. BUT I am ectastatic... just finished my last day of MSIII rotations yesterday!!!! I was over third year about two weeks ago. I would round on my patients at 5AM, check in with my intern and chief, and then hide in the library studying for the rest of the day. We have a comprehensive exam before we progress to fourth year.

Good luck! It will end soon...

 

[ImaMedStud]

End of 3rd year, fourth year in sight, still on a really demanding rotation.

I just don't care anymore for my superfluous med student role. You help, but minimally. Your brain is overflowing and you are tired of trying to look perky and interested all the damn time.

Is anyone else starting to lose momentum? Maybe it's because the rotations I really liked (surgery and peds) were my first ones and now I'm not as interested but damn....dreading going to work everyday makes me feel like I don't even like medicine anymore. At least not medicine outside of an OR. And really I'm starting to think I don't like anything enough to let it be my whole life, for the rest of my life.

Thoughts?

I second that... the year went by fast but the last 6 weeks feel like the Bataan Death March, I notice that I've been using the words rat and ass quite a bit more than I did this time last year. I see the MS1s and keep thinking to myself, just you wait my pretties, with a big grin on my face. I listen to my lil sib c/o Step 1 and can't help but laugh at his anxiety over 1 exam, as if he hadn't take the MCAT and doesn't realize that each June for the next 2 years he's going to be in the same kind of pain. I don't even have the intiative to get out of bed anymore, I just roll on to the floor in my scrubs , stumble in the dark b/c I'm too weak to turn on the light and grab a cup of joe while cruising out the door b/c, lets be honest, with all the debt and work we've put into this endevour, I've got no where else to go but the damn hospital. I listen to O' Fortuna from Carina Burana while driving the medstudent mobile at o dark thirty while hogging the far right lane b/c I have no interest in getting to VA any sooner than necessary. I'm so burnt out, all I want to do is get over the hump of IM, enjoy my breezy week of IR and then indulge my penchant for photo and phonophobia for 4 weeks as I prep to let Step 2CS/CK take it's pound of flesh... ahh crap, just remembered I owe the regents $76 to keep my leash, ie pager, working and I've got to do a preliminary copy of my deans letter at the end of the month.

 

[flipflopsnsnow]

haha! carmina burana? that is a good one to listen to! 😉

i'm 99.8% sure i am going into peds. except i had this psycho epiphany one day that maybe i wanted to instead be a peds surgeon or peds plastics. its quite tempting, esp on those days when i dont want to talk to people in clinic and the idea of listening to my favorite cd's singing along in the OR sounds amazing.... but then i think, do i really want to be celebrating my 40th birthday and finishing residency after being a PGY 100 at the same time????

but i shouldnt even complain. plastic surgery right now is a joke rounds at 7am, cases cancelled, "lecture" every day that i selectively choose to attend. but my last 4 weeks will be the worst ever, i have squeaked by in my sugery rotation with really nice teams, attendings and all (prob why i actually like it 😍 ) so when the real malignancy hits for my last 4 weeks, i may need to download some of that carmina burana onto my ipod!!! 😎

 

[Sammich81]

Is the Bataan death march the part from Carmina Burana that movies always use for the big dramatic scenes?

 

[Dunce]

I second that... the year went by fast but the last 6 weeks feel like the Bataan Death March, I notice that I've been using the words rat and ass quite a bit more than I did this time last year. I see the MS1s and keep thinking to myself, just you wait my pretties, with a big grin on my face. I listen to my lil sib c/o Step 1 and can't help but laugh at his anxiety over 1 exam, as if he hadn't take the MCAT and doesn't realize that each June for the next 2 years he's going to be in the same kind of pain. I don't even have the intiative to get out of bed anymore, I just roll on to the floor in my scrubs , stumble in the dark b/c I'm too weak to turn on the light and grab a cup of joe while cruising out the door b/c, lets be honest, with all the debt and work we've put into this endevour, I've got no where else to go but the damn hospital. I listen to O' Fortuna from Carina Burana while driving the medstudent mobile at o dark thirty while hogging the far right lane b/c I have no interest in getting to VA any sooner than necessary. I'm so burnt out, all I want to do is get over the hump of IM, enjoy my breezy week of IR and then indulge my penchant for photo and phonophobia for 4 weeks as I prep to let Step 2CS/CK take it's pound of flesh... ahh crap, just remembered I owe the regents $76 to keep my leash, ie pager, working and I've got to do a preliminary copy of my deans letter at the end of the month.

damn that was funny.
I think we have an eerily similar sense of humor. Also, if you hear me bitching about Step 1 anytime in the next few weeks, please feel free to e-slap me right upside the noggin.

 

[Medical123]

I must be burnt. I have my clerkship exam in two weeks, a Medicine Shelf exam in four weeks, and two big projects due next week. I am on the easiest rotation of the year (outpatient medicine) and I actually have time to study. What am I doing? Playing around on SDN! 😀

 

[flipflopsnsnow]

😳 Why is it am soooooo good at finding ways to procrastinate? I have a presentation tomorrow that I found out is basically the basis of my grade for the rotation..... no pressure.... but yet I cant seem to get myself to do it, or care, or even really be worried that I might suck and I could very well do a poor job and make a fool out of myself. SDN is waaaaay more exciting. And well, the sad likelihood is that regardless of how well or how badly i do, i will end up with a pretty little P on my transcript anyway 😡 😡 😡

Almost senior-senioritis is kicking in waaaaaaaaaaaaaay to well. 😴

 

[gunit07]

YES!!! i completely agree!!!

(except i loved medicine cause my team was fun🙂)

third year SUCKS.
i was reading the other thread about "do you regret going into medicine" or whatever it is. and everyone's like, "no i love the art of medicine" blah blah blah. clearly those people arent Med3s 😛
this year sucks!!!
I have two days left! i cant wait.
i got through OB w/o delivering a single baby (thank you god) or placenta. and i plan on never looking at a woman's va-jayjay again. (i'm a girl btw).
(yes i know i have to put in foleys blah blah blah)

i love how on surgery one of the attendings actually asks me to come back next year and do another month on service and tells me i should stay at my school for residency, and yet i get a big fat pass. and the clerkship director is like, "oh your evaluations are average" i'm like, umm did you read the "excellent student... i hope she comes back next year"?

but yes, i'm burnt out. i'm on OB, and i could care less about if their lochia is decreasing and what kind of birth control they want to use.
and seriously, residents want me to do triages? why???? so i can r/o labor for the 500th time???

but it's almost done!! two days left!!!

Amen. My favorite was, "So, you wanna deliver this (fifth) placenta?" GROSS dude! GROSS and absolutely no glory. On the other hand I didn't mind retracting in surgery, so maybe it's just b/c I don't like medicine or OBGYN so much. I think the personalities in surgery (contrary to what some people have posted...just my personal experience) are entertaining enough to make up for it.

 

[GoofyDoc]

i'd rather deliver the placenta over holding a pc of resected colon and then getting yelled at for trying to avoid dripping blood from the resected colon onto the floor or disempacting a bowel because you have the smallest hand

Or getting screamed at for cutting the suture 1 mm too long or 1 mm too short or not doing it at the speed of light. Give me a placenta anytime...though my OB evaluation was a piece of crap - "Works hard when asked to" 😡 Of course, I couldn't sleep at all during call, not because I was so busy delivering babies, but because I had to deliver the blood specimens to the lab. This is slavery, plain and simple. Yea, third year really sucked.

 

[stebb]

Stick A Fork In Me Already...i'm Sooooo Done With 3rd Year Its Not Even Funny. But You Know What Sucks???? I Friggin Have Ob/gyn Left....motherf--r

 

[Caffeinated]

Review books to help me get through shelf exams: Hundreds of dollars.

Comfortable shoes that I had to throw away after my OB rotation: $65

Hours of sleep and time away from family lost doing absolutely NOTHING: too numerous to count.

Finishing 3rd year: absolutely PRICELESS.

I'm going to go catch up on my sleep. 😴

 

[Sammich81]

yesssssssssssss oh yesss yess yessssssss

I'm not faking 😉 I finished third year yesterday!

Sweet lovin', Monday I'm back in the OR and will never ever do OB again.

 

[Dr. Will]

It's so much better being on this 4th year side. You definately get a little bit more respect and freedom from everyone around you than as a third year. Plus, they let you do cooler procedures. The best part about it though, less stress and no more shelf exams! 😉

 

[Pox in a box]

Third year is much better than second, which was much better than first. I was getting a little tired but I'm going to have to do the same thing in 4th year so what's the point of getting bent out of shape. I finished 3rd year and don't feel any different.

 

[flipflopsnsnow]

🙂 👍 🙂 😎 👍
I am done!
This is very exciting, however it hasnt really sunk in yet. I am hoping that in a few hours when I am wasted beyond belief it may help, but likely when I am looking at the oh-so-confused little 3rd years as I am a FOURTH year I will really feel it!
In the meantime, I will just enjoy endless hours being in and out of conciousness sleeping/drinking/eating/repeat on my comfy couch!

 

[miscalculated]

Review books to help me get through shelf exams: Hundreds of dollars.

Comfortable shoes that I had to throw away after my OB rotation: $65

Hours of sleep and time away from family lost doing absolutely NOTHING: too numerous to count.

Finishing 3rd year: absolutely PRICELESS.

I'm going to go catch up on my sleep. 😴

That Mastercard ad always makes me smile.

 

[fang]

To me this game doesn't end till I send in my apps, and that's not till August. Till then, I'll have to keep trying to muster up enthusiasm. However, this is the 4th straight month of Q5 calls, and it's getting tough to care about anything but sleep.