back-to-the-wards support thread

[tr]

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Anyone else out there feeling old, fat, and stupid next to all these bright-eyed young whippersnappers with their rapid-fire recall of obscure clinical factoids? 🙁
Any helpful strategies for coping/catching up? 😳

 

[thos]

I'm not sure I ever felt I completely caught up with the "instant recall," and youth, well you know. However, to sound old, I really thought the extra couple of years and experience made a huge difference. Granted, what kept me from an "A" in several clerkships was a mediocre Shelf exam, but my evaluations were never anything but raves. Besides, you'll eventually get a hang of those tests. And the knowledge deficit isn't always so obvious. Comments will range from "appropriate for a 3rd yr" to "fund well above peers." Plus, most everyone will assume you're smarter than the average bear because you're an MD/PhD. Believe it or not, there will be some day on rounds when you can go into painful detail about some topic (ventricular wall stress, in my case) and leave them all awe struck. Modesty is important, but never deny the work you've done. The final thought, third year is all about being willing to work your buns off, not how many obscure factoids you know. I think it's best summed up by something Theodore Roosevelt said,

"When you are asked if you can do a job, tell 'em, 'Certainly I can!' Then get busy and find out how to do it."

 

[mdphd2b]

Anyone else out there feeling old, fat, and stupid next to all these bright-eyed young whippersnappers with their rapid-fire recall of obscure clinical factoids? 🙁
Any helpful strategies for coping/catching up? 😳

Dude, I hear ya! I'm going back to a class that's 5-10 years younger than me!!!! (I took time off doing research before med school)

Plus at Pitt you can come in later in the year, but that means joining a 3rd year class with up to 6 mos more clinical experience than you have!!

Geritol, anyone??? 😴

 

[tr]

Plus at Pitt you can come in later in the year, but that means joining a 3rd year class with up to 6 mos more clinical experience than you have!!

Yeah, I just got through this experience. Just finishing up my first rotation, with med students who are already most of the way through their third year. 😱 The little buggers have their routine down pat. I'm like, which way does the ophthalmoscope face again? 🙁

 

[thos]

Forgot to mention most of my new classmates were in high school when I started the MSTP.

 

[tr]

Forgot to mention most of my new classmates were in high school when I started the MSTP.

Are you on the 9-year plan, or did you take some time off in between?

 

[thos]

A little of both. I had one year off before starting the program, then took 8.5 yrs to complete.

BTW, I tried to register with the username TR, now I see why it was taken. And I use a homer pic as an avatar on another site. Separated at birth?

 

[kassie]

Congrats on coming back! It's not that bad a transition. The beginning sucks, but it gets better real fast!

Having gone through this twice recently (for myself and then my husband), I can give some small advice:

1. The shelf exams are the worst part. They remind you that you haven't taken an exam in many years and normal students run out of time so....DO PRACTICE Q's before your first shelf so you're not shocked.

2. Know your patient better than you know yourself, and look up anything they have now or did have. You'll learn a lot and save someone a complication or an "adverse event" at some point. Use your thesis training to deliver the info in an organized story.

3. Pay attention on rounds for all patients and look up their conditions too. You'll learn more faster. But don't boast info that info your learned if another student is following the patient - let them shine with their patients and they will help you with yours...

4. Don't think the PhD gives you a ticket to intelligence/respect. It often has the opposite effect as many MDs have a preconceived notion on what a PhD entails. Some think it's impossible and you must be brilliant, others think you took a year off to come in at 1pm and go home at 5pm...

5. And please don't forget, this is a place of PATIENT CARE. Respect the patient and everyone who takes care of them - it can make the difference between a positive and negative experience. Without you life will go on. Without the nurse that ticked you off, it won't. You're just an accessory in this whole process - you can run out to study at every possible second or spend time with your patients to calm them down, explain things in plain english, find out those little factoids the resident forgot to ask that matter. I can't tell you how many times I've run into patients outside of the hospital. I didn't necessarily remember them but they remembered me and smiled when we talked. That's better than any of my pathetic grades 🙂 (and they were pathetic)

Good Luck!

 

[tr]

Congrats on coming back! It's not that bad a transition. The beginning sucks, but it gets better real fast!

The funny thing about this is that I am actually enjoying it, far more than I expected to. Granted I haven't been here very long yet, but I heard so many horror stories about third year that I guess I was expecting something like Armageddon. But I am learning an enormous amount, and I admit I am somewhat surprised to find how much I enjoy patient care. (It isn't hurting that, since I started with the easy stuff, for now the hours are far more relaxed than they were in lab.)

The annoying thing is that, even though I like it, I just suck at it. I'm chronically ******ed at filling out all the little slips and requisition forms and sheets that circulate around here, and while the other med students are running around being competent, I'm constantly - constantly! - asking stupid questions and begging people to help me fill out forms. My thesis research has certainly not taught me anything about how to present a patient in a coherent and organized manner, and the details that make one SOAP note better than another elude me completely.

 

[tr]

BTW, I tried to register with the username TR, now I see why it was taken. And I use a homer pic as an avatar on another site. Separated at birth?

Must be. I'd be willing to give up my silly vowel-free handle (if I had thought at the time that I'd still be around 7 years later 😱, I'd have gone for something with a little more pizazz), except by now I've got a reputation to uphold 😛 .