Attending's perspective on what makes a bad interns in Internal Medicine?

[Redpancreas]

For any of you who've had the chance to work with IM residents, I think we all know that knowing when to ask for help, knowing your patient in and out, promptly identifying sick patients (i.e. knowing who to ask or what to do), and accuracy in orders/documentation are highly desired traits of interns.

I'd be curious to here in depth some perspectives from attendings on what specifically irks them with residents, particularly interns? What feedback do you find yourself giving that's oftentimes not well received?

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[whoknows2012]

For any of you who've had the chance to work with IM residents, I think we all know that knowing when to ask for help, knowing your patient in and out, promptly identifying sick patients (i.e. knowing who to ask or what to do), and accuracy in orders/documentation are highly desired traits of interns.

I'd be curious to here in depth some perspectives from attendings on what specifically irks them with residents, particularly interns? What feedback do you find yourself giving that's oftentimes not well received?

1) lack of enthusiasm to be taught
2) lack of organization
3) poor efficiency
4) poor clinical judgement (hard to teach)
5) overconfidence
6) lack of humility receiving constructive critique on any of the above

most interns and residents I’ve worked with have been very receptive to feedback and this nearly (but not completely) mitigates many small to moderate deficiencies I’ve noticed, even if it takes some time to show improvement.

 

[rokshana]

1) lack of enthusiasm to be taught
2) lack of organization
3) poor efficiency
4) poor clinical judgement (hard to teach)
5) overconfidence
6) lack of humility receiving constructive critique on any of the above

most interns and residents I’ve worked with have been very receptive to feedback and this nearly (but not completely) mitigates many small to moderate deficiencies I’ve noticed, even if it takes some time to show improvement.

Agree though number 5 and 6 should be 1 and 2...you can’t fix that...and those are the dangerous interns...they will kill someone.
3 and 4 can be worked on.

 

[gutonc]

The only truly bad resident is the unteachable and/or (it’s usually and) arrogant resident. Everything else can be taught.

 

[bobow98]

Echoing what everyone said: The ones who don't want to be taught (usually think they know more than they actually do) and the ones who actually don't have ownership/care about their patients are the ones to keep a close eye on. Everything else can be taught.