burnout after only 3 months!

[marie337]

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Wow, I've been in the hospital since July and I'm already losing interest in medicine. I did okay for the first 3 months, but my current rotation is just pushing me over the edge. I'm on anesthesia with a group of 25 providers and everyday I'm in a room with a different provider and different expectations. I have serious confidence issues right now and I'm just getting terribly burnt out! Does anyone have any tips? I have Ob/Gyn next, so it's not going to get any better for a while. I'm at a point where if I wasn't in debt I would probably find a new line of work 😡.

 

[chocolate-e]

Keep your chin up. It's definitely tough on anesthesia never getting to settle into a group ... other rotations will be better. I spent my first few weeks of the year having to remind myself as I left the hospital every day that I was not *actually* a completely worthless person. It will get better ...

 

[chagall]

I had a similar experience on anesthesia, and it was towards the end of my 3rd year! Rotations can be very different in the way they're structured, and constantly being required to meet someone new each day to work with, and be evaluated by, was not my thing either (plus I didn't like anesthesia!).

So you may not even be burnt out...you may just not like this rotation or the way it's structured. So give yourself some time and permission to try out different rotations without having to like them all...that's how you figure out which one is for you. And if you do still feel burnt out or down or just unsure, there's nothing wrong with talking with a counselor or someone at your school...they deal with it every day. Good luck!

 

[subtle1epiphany]

Wow, I've been in the hospital since July and I'm already losing interest in medicine. I did okay for the first 3 months, but my current rotation is just pushing me over the edge. I'm on anesthesia with a group of 25 providers and everyday I'm in a room with a different provider and different expectations. I have serious confidence issues right now and I'm just getting terribly burnt out! Does anyone have any tips? I have Ob/Gyn next, so it's not going to get any better for a while. I'm at a point where if I wasn't in debt I would probably find a new line of work 😡.

Hang in there!
Some rotations just aren't for some people, and some situations aren't for some people. You'll be done in a finite amount of time, then you're done with this. Keep telling yourself that.
You'll be fine. Promise.
If you need some reassurance of your interest/love of medicine, remind yourself of that by spending some extra time with a great patient or volunteer in a free clinic (yeah, I'm biased...). Find something, anything, that brightens your day and relates that experience to medicine. You'll go home happy and loving the world.
All the best and I hope things work out!

 

[getunconcsious]

I don't mean to sidetrack the thread, but I'm shocked that any school requires an Anesthesia rotation! I mean my God who gives a poop about anesthesia?! Isn't it completely irrelevant to anyone not in anesthesia itself (obviously) or one of the surgical specialties or OB/Gyn?

 

[marie337]

I don't mean to sidetrack the thread, but I'm shocked that any school requires an Anesthesia rotation! I mean my God who gives a poop about anesthesia?! Isn't it completely irrelevant to anyone not in anesthesia itself (obviously) or one of the surgical specialties or OB/Gyn?

Well, the nice thing about the rotation is that all I do all day long is intubations and LMAs and at some point I'll get to start some lines. Our school requires 2 weeks of anesthesia, but my hospital requires 4 which kind of sucks. Today was definitely a better day than yesterday so hopefully things are swinging in the right direction. The problem is that there are so many providers and there's no consistency at all.

I really prefer outpatient medicine which I won't start until January. So, right now I think I just need to get through Christmas and then I"ll switch gears a little!

 

[RockfordWF]

Wow, I've been in the hospital since July and I'm already losing interest in medicine. I did okay for the first 3 months, but my current rotation is just pushing me over the edge. I'm on anesthesia with a group of 25 providers and everyday I'm in a room with a different provider and different expectations. I have serious confidence issues right now and I'm just getting terribly burnt out! Does anyone have any tips? I have Ob/Gyn next, so it's not going to get any better for a while. I'm at a point where if I wasn't in debt I would probably find a new line of work 😡.

Tips?

Don't specialize in anesthesia. It clearly doesn't fit you.

 

[Acherona]

Wow, I've been in the hospital since July and I'm already losing interest in medicine. I did okay for the first 3 months, but my current rotation is just pushing me over the edge. I'm on anesthesia with a group of 25 providers and everyday I'm in a room with a different provider and different expectations. I have serious confidence issues right now and I'm just getting terribly burnt out! Does anyone have any tips? I have Ob/Gyn next, so it's not going to get any better for a while. I'm at a point where if I wasn't in debt I would probably find a new line of work 😡.

I know what you mean it is really annoying when you get corrected/reprimanded no matter what you do. When I was on psych consults the first two weeks I was with a Dr. who insisted on never reading charts before seeing the patient because it biases you. The second two weeks I was with another Dr. who bitched me out the first day for not reading the chart before seeing the patient and not having the pt's entire medical history committed to memory. He then watched over my shoulder as I flipped to the progress notes section and told me I should start reading a chart at the beginning not the middle. 😡😡

I get reprimanded on a daily basis by residents for not getting the right information or enough information from patients when often it's not even possible to get what they want.

I don't think there is any way to avoid these things except to ask very explicit questions from the beginning about what is expected and try to get an idea of the Dr. you are working with. Also, it works to preempt a criticism with a question if you can. Try not to take things personally, I think these are very difficult situations we are put in and anyone would feel frustrated by them. I want to drop out too, but then I think about how annoying it would be to apply for a job.

 

[marie337]

Tips?

Don't specialize in anesthesia. It clearly doesn't fit you.

Obviously....but it's extending beyond anesthesia at this point.

 

[RockfordWF]

Obviously....but it's extending beyond anesthesia at this point.

Surely you haven't rotated in every specialty.

I absolutely hated every single rotation my 3rd year, and was burned out after about a week or two in each month.

However, I have loved every minute of my emergency medicine rotations during my 4th year.

You know it when you find it.

 

[akpete]

I don't mean to sidetrack the thread, but I'm shocked that any school requires an Anesthesia rotation! I mean my God who gives a poop about anesthesia?! Isn't it completely irrelevant to anyone not in anesthesia itself (obviously) or one of the surgical specialties or OB/Gyn?

We have a required rotation in anesthesia too. The first week of the rotation is ACLS training.

I'm thinking we have an anesthesia rotation so we learn intubations and IVs, etc.

 

[RockfordWF]

We have a required rotation in anesthesia too. The first week of the rotation is ACLS training.

I'm thinking we have an anesthesia rotation so we learn intubations and IVs, etc.

Anesthesia rotation is the best for learning intubations. All medical students should have to do it. You will be expected to intubate as an intern in the hospital, regardless of specialty.

 

[71263]

I dunno, this year seems to be zipping right by... Im currently on OB/gyn, which definitely is not one of my more favorite rotations, but Im still already halfway through, somehow! Its not even the nature of the field or the hours that bother me as much as the drama filled, bitchy residents and attendings.

Anytime I feel like things are slow or what not, I jus think back to the absolute HELL that was 1st year and thank GOD that I am now in the hospital, seeing patients and procedures, rather than reading some dry textbook about intracellular pathways... 😀

On the whole, 3rd year is WAY better than 2nd year, which was WAAAAAAAAY better than 1st year.

 

[getunconcsious]

Anesthesia rotation is the best for learning intubations. All medical students should have to do it. You will be expected to intubate as an intern in the hospital, regardless of specialty.

Nope, refuse to learn it and shouldn't have too. Pathology>>Psych are my specialty choices.

 

[RockfordWF]

Nope, refuse to learn it and shouldn't have too. Pathology>>Psych are my specialty choices.

You probably don't need to learn much on any of the rotations really. I wouldn't single out anesthesia.