bad clinical evaluation

[badman]

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Hello all,
I'm currently an MS3 set on going into anesthesia, and just got my psych eval back where the attending gave me "inadequate" for a couple of things. How much will this affect me if this gets on my MSPE, and also is there anything I can do about this? any advice would be helpful. Thanks

 

[Noyac]

Hello all,
I'm currently an MS3 set on going into anesthesia, and just got my psych eval back where the attending gave me "inadequate" for a couple of things. How much will this affect me if this gets on my MSPE, and also is there anything I can do about this? any advice would be helpful. Thanks

Personally, I'd have some serious reservations with regards to accepting someone that had "inadequate" on any of their evals. It's just so damn easy to get at least an adequate eval.

 

[RxBoy]

Some med schools will only put positive comments in your MSPE. Others will put good and bad. If you fail the rotation, then it will have more serious consequences then just negative comments.

In any event, if you apply Sep 1, you'll get most of your interviews way before Nov 1(when the MSPE is made available). When you go to the IV, you'll have the opportunity to explain this "inadequacy" if they include it in your MSPE. Some will buy it, some won't. Anesthesia is more laid back than something like derm, so I seriously doubt it will destroy your chances. Maybe at some of the really competitive programs. Don't stress too much about it. Keep pushing and make it a goal to never get bad evals again.

Hope that helps.

 

[error404]

Hello all,
I'm currently an MS3 set on going into anesthesia, and just got my psych eval back where the attending gave me "inadequate" for a couple of things. How much will this affect me if this gets on my MSPE, and also is there anything I can do about this? any advice would be helpful. Thanks

1. Whether it shows on the MSPE is a choice that will be made by your dean-- some include only selected statements from evaluations, while some insist on including evaluations in full. You can always ask your dean what her/his method is.

2. Your actual grade may be more important than your evals, as reading a whole MSPE (including psych evals) can be quite time consuming.

3. Its psych. You're not going into psych. As long as you pass it, it shouldn't hurt you (except maybe at the most competitive programs.) And if its the only clerkship where you have negative comments, it really shouldn't play a major role in applications.

 

[bubalus]

I agree with Noy. I don't want anyone that's inadequate in my program. That's not to say that you wouldn't be a great anesthesiologist and a great resident, but it's not worth it to take that chance when I can get plenty of people who aren't inadequate. That said, it depends on what the specifics were and what else was in your evaluations. If you had stellar, walk-on-water evaluations in everything else and the inadequates were clearly outliers, I could look beyond that. If it's something that indicates a larger problem, I'd be concerned. It's probably not going to keep you out of anesthesia entirely, but it's still a red flag in my book.

 

[DO4lifer]

if its coming from psych, its really tough. They are doctors of human behavior and thought, so giving a bad eval, reflects those thoughts.

If you're doing pathology, it wouldnt matter.

i would make sure to get a really good eval on every rotation, and possibly talk to the doc and find out what your shortcomings were so it doesnt happen again.

i had my evals discussed on the trail. the rotations were honors, but i was asked about the doc's comments "what did he mean by this...?" kinda silly, especially if you look that i got freakin' honors...maybe thats why that program is at the bottom of my rank list.

 

[maceo]

I agree with Noy. I don't want anyone that's inadequate in my program. That's not to say that you wouldn't be a great anesthesiologist and a great resident, but it's not worth it to take that chance when I can get plenty of people who aren't inadequate. That said, it depends on what the specifics were and what else was in your evaluations. If you had stellar, walk-on-water evaluations in everything else and the inadequates were clearly outliers, I could look beyond that. If it's something that indicates a larger problem, I'd be concerned. It's probably not going to keep you out of anesthesia entirely, but it's still a red flag in my book.

I have no idea what inadequate means. If you passed the class than you are inadequate. YOu know how ****ing crazy these psychiatrists can be. I say it means nothing. SOme people dont jibe with other people. SOme people hate people because you remind them of a childhood bully so they will give you bad grades. So I would interview you, see how you are, see other evals and make up my mind. I would put a composite picture of you ( im good at sizing people up) I think it would be really really short sighted and stupid to write someone off for a one word comment on an evaluation. compile other data and make up your own mind. BUt in this day and age nobody wants to think. They want others to make up their mind for them. They want others to think for them ..

In medical training, you literally have hundreds of hundreds of evaluations. its not unlikely you have a few lukewarm ones.

 

[maceo]

Personally, I'd have some serious reservations with regards to accepting someone that had "inadequate" on any of their evals. It's just so damn easy to get at least an adequate eval.

sometimes its not so easy.. Everything seems to come so easy to you, you must have a quality that most people dont have.

 

[Gern Blansten]

Yes, it will affect how many interviews you get and it will affect your position on many rank lists. It all really depends on the rest of your application. If it is otherwise stellar, it will probably be okay and viewed as an outlier. If you are middle of the pack, it could cost you some spots on rank lists and may be the cause for you not getting invited to a few programs. With so many competitive applicants, the program needs some way to weed out the applicants down to a reasonable number. Some programs may view that and decide that you should be weeded out of their consideration. Many others will not weed you out and you will probably get some good interviews and match somewhere. But it may not be your first or second choice.
As noyac said, why would programs settle for a potentially challenging resident when they could have one with no dean's letter issues who is more likely to be a worry free resident.
The advice not to worry about it may be accurate in that there is nothing you can do to change the fact that the comments are there. But they are not harmless comments. The fact that it is so rare to see negative dean's letter comments makes you stand out from others. If you have a good explanation, be prepared to discuss it during the interviews because you will probably be asked about it.

 

[Chrysanthemum]

first make sure whether ur school adds neg comments into ur mspe...
if they do then...
if you didn't deserve that inadequate comment then i'd confront him and say that you were trying ur best but that psychiatry was just not ur thing (with extra bs to fluff it up). then explain to him how bad a comment like that can hurt your future.
if that doesn't work (and ur still positively sure that u didn't deserve it) challenge him to a dual.

 

[Surfer]

It won't make a difference. Noyac thinks he hires nobody but dudes who spit diamonds out their ass because they're so anal retentive and their crap don't stink. But it's really just a big stick shoved up there. Everybody knows some people have bad days, and some people write bad evals. Most will look at your application as a whole, and not make judgments based on what one single person wrote about your psych rotation!

Seriously don't worry about it. Just keep working hard. pysch sucks anyways.

 

[Noyac]

It won't make a difference. Noyac thinks he hires nobody but dudes who spit diamonds out their ass because they're so anal retentive and their crap don't stink. But it's really just a big stick shoved up there. Everybody knows some people have bad days, and some people write bad evals. Most will look at your application as a whole, and not make judgments based on what one single person wrote about your psych rotation!

Seriously don't worry about it. Just keep working hard. pysch sucks anyways.

If you only knew.