Can I rant about 3rd year grades for a bit

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Would have to agree that it really comes down to how well you can grovel, fawn and bootlick the residents and staff. It's exasperating, but it's what I'm learning the hard way as well. I sent a text to one of the registrars on my rotation a couple weeks ago that said, "Dear Dr. X, it's Phloston, the medical student. I'm very sorry to bother you. I know you're busy. But is there a place we should meet?" And it was well-received. Then, last week, I showed up to morning rounds with coffee and tea, two days in a row, for three of my senior colleagues (the colleague who only drinks tea, I even brought her milk in a small cup on the side). And this is all because I used to most certainly come off the wrong way until I realized that wasn't going to get me through medicine. Third-year is about being affectedly deferential. Just deal with it.
 
Would have to agree that it really comes down to how well you can grovel, fawn and bootlick the residents and staff. It's exasperating, but it's what I'm learning the hard way as well. I sent a text to one of the registrars on my rotation a couple weeks ago that said, "Dear Dr. X, it's Phloston, the medical student. I'm very sorry to bother you. I know you're busy. But is there a place we should meet?" And it was well-received. Then, last week, I showed up to morning rounds with coffee and tea for three of my senior colleagues (the colleague who only drinks tea, I even brought her milk in a small cup on the side). And this is all because I used to most certainly come off the wrong way until I realized that wasn't going to get me through medicine. Third-year is about being affectedly deferential. Just deal with it.

Didn't the other 3rd years with you want to kill you for the coffee and tea stunt? I think if I'm ever going to do that, it would be established at the start with the other person(s).
 
Didn't the other 3rd years with you want to kill you for the coffee and tea stunt? I think if I'm ever going to do that, it would be established at the start with the other person(s).

No, because you get them coffee too. And also ask for their advice/input as if they're brilliant and you don't know anything. I've found that coffee is the #1 most important tool in the hospital setting to getting people to like you. And the more excessive you are about it, the better ("here's your skinny flat white with a mote of cocoa.").
 
No, because you get them coffee too. And also ask for their advice/input as if they're brilliant and you don't know anything. I've found that coffee is the #1 most important tool in the hospital setting to getting people to like you. And the more excessive you are about it, the better ("here's your skinny flat white with a mote of cocoa.").

speak english
 
Would have to agree that it really comes down to how well you can grovel, fawn and bootlick the residents and staff. It's exasperating, but it's what I'm learning the hard way as well. I sent a text to one of the registrars on my rotation a couple weeks ago that said, "Dear Dr. X, it's Phloston, the medical student. I'm very sorry to bother you. I know you're busy. But is there a place we should meet?" And it was well-received. Then, last week, I showed up to morning rounds with coffee and tea, two days in a row, for three of my senior colleagues (the colleague who only drinks tea, I even brought her milk in a small cup on the side). And this is all because I used to most certainly come off the wrong way until I realized that wasn't going to get me through medicine. Third-year is about being affectedly deferential. Just deal with it.
No, because you get them coffee too. And also ask for their advice/input as if they're brilliant and you don't know anything. I've found that coffee is the #1 most important tool in the hospital setting to getting people to like you. And the more excessive you are about it, the better ("here's your skinny flat white with a mote of cocoa.").

Maybe it's a different vibe in Australia or something, but doing those things here would more likely earn the contempt of classmates and you would be labeled a super gunner. Even if you got your classmates coffee and played dumb (lied) in order to appeal to their ego, they're not stupid and they know you're just brown-nosing. And most residents/attendings see right through that too, even though I'm sure they appreciate the coffee. Maybe that works on some doctors, or if you have a hard time connecting with people personally, but actually being competent and confident in what you are expected to do clinically is usually more important than groveling to the higher-ups. You can show respect and gratitude and get people to like you without providing coffee at morning rounds.
 
Maybe it's a different vibe in Australia or something, but doing those things here would more likely earn the contempt of classmates and you would be labeled a super gunner. Even if you got your classmates coffee and played dumb (lied) in order to appeal to their ego, they're not stupid and they know you're just brown-nosing. And most residents/attendings see right through that too, even though I'm sure they appreciate the coffee. Maybe that works on some doctors, or if you have a hard time connecting with people personally, but actually being competent and confident in what you are expected to do clinically is usually more important than groveling to the higher-ups. You can show respect and gratitude and get people to like you without providing coffee at morning rounds.
Or if you're going to do it. Coordinate it with other students in your group. At least in the U.S. the emphasis on teamwork is highly valued. Might still be traditional in Australia of knife in the back.
 
Someone, somewhere, is offended by that right now.

Agree, with all.
Of course they are, it's SDN where all allopathic medical schools across the nation are equal and everyone has an equivalent shot at the Brigham, MGH, UCSF, Hopkins, etc. And now with the merger, the lie of MD = DO when it comes to the match has finally made it's way to SDN. PDs in a specialty know each other.
 
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Of course they are, it's SDN where all allopathic medical schools across the nation are equal and everyone has an equivalent shot at the Brigham, MGH, UCSF, Hopkins, etc. And now with the merger, the lie of MD = DO when it comes to the match has finally made it's way to SDN.

Indeed. Please don't leave the SGU grads hanging either though. The NYT tells me they are probably better than the rest of us.
 
Indeed. Please don't leave the SGU grads hanging either though. The NYT tells me they are probably better than the rest of us.
Yes that article was quite interesting: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/education/edlife/second-chance-med-school.html?_r=0
Ms. Lewis, poised, athletic and casual in a “Love” pendant and flip-flops, graduated from Amherst College as a political science major. Sipping Stag beer one evening with two friends at Options, an outdoor food court near campus, she said that she originally resisted going into medicine, like her father, and wanted to be a lawyer, like her mother. But she changed her mind after working as a paralegal after college.

To meet the science requirements, she took a premedical post-baccalaureate program at New York University, where she was a B student, and then at the University of Colorado, Denver, where she got straight A’s. She applied to more than a dozen medical schools. None of the admissions officers seemed to care very much that she had gone to a highly selective college, she said, or had been captain of the lacrosse team or had worked at a clinic for homeless families.

She was invited for only two interviews, at George Washington University and St. George’s, which she applied to after noticing an ad on the New York City subway. St. George’s was her only acceptance.
 
Yes that article was quite interesting: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/education/edlife/second-chance-med-school.html?_r=0
Ms. Lewis, poised, athletic and casual in a “Love” pendant and flip-flops, graduated from Amherst College as a political science major. Sipping Stag beer one evening with two friends at Options, an outdoor food court near campus, she said that she originally resisted going into medicine, like her father, and wanted to be a lawyer, like her mother. But she changed her mind after working as a paralegal after college.

To meet the science requirements, she took a premedical post-baccalaureate program at New York University, where she was a B student, and then at the University of Colorado, Denver, where she got straight A’s. She applied to more than a dozen medical schools. None of the admissions officers seemed to care very much that she had gone to a highly selective college, she said, or had been captain of the lacrosse team or had worked at a clinic for homeless families.

She was invited for only two interviews, at George Washington University and St. George’s, which she applied to after noticing an ad on the New York City subway. St. George’s was her only acceptance.

lol I love this. every serious premed ever has 5 equivalents to captain of lacrosse team and working at a clinical for homeless families or something that makes up for not having one. I hope eventually these people realize how stupid they are.
 
No, because you get them coffee too. And also ask for their advice/input as if they're brilliant and you don't know anything. I've found that coffee is the #1 most important tool in the hospital setting to getting people to like you. And the more excessive you are about it, the better ("here's your skinny flat white with a mote of cocoa.").

It would be seen as a significant negative if an MS3 went around buying other students/residents/faculty coffee here or at the other two institutions I've been at.
 
lol I love this. every serious premed ever has 5 equivalents to captain of lacrosse team and working at a clinical for homeless families or something that makes up for not having one. I hope eventually these people realize how stupid they are.
What's funny is that she essentially did a postbacc program and got straight B's at NYU, and then switched I guess to U Colorado's postbacc program and got straight A's. Committees can see right thru that.
 
It would be seen as a significant negative if an MS3 went around buying other students/residents/faculty coffee here or at the other two institutions I've been at.
I think it's fine every once in a while - i.e. going to Dunkin Donuts and getting those carton coffee things for the group. But if it's seen as a quid pro quo for not knowing **** about your patients, it makes you look worse. There are people who try to pull that stuff near the end of he month - where it looks more fake.
 
I think it's fine every once in a while - i.e. going to Dunkin Donuts and getting those carton coffee things for the group. But if it's seen as a quid pro quo for not knowing **** about your patients, it makes you look worse. There are people who try to pull that stuff near the end of he month - where it looks more fake.

I mean someone baking cookies and leaving them in the resident room or whatever, thats great. No qualms about that unless they are doing it every day or trying to do some quid pro quo shenanigans. Buying coffee is different, especially if we are talking individual cups or whatever. Hell, my attendings virtually always insist on buying if we stop for coffee.
 
I mean someone baking cookies and leaving them in the resident room or whatever, thats great. No qualms about that unless they are doing it every day or trying to do some quid pro quo shenanigans. Buying coffee is different, especially if we are talking individual cups or whatever. Hell, my attendings virtually always insist on buying if we stop for coffee.
I was talking about bringing in this for coffee:


But yes, individual cups - definitely. Many ways to f' that up, bc each person has their own particular tastes, so you have a 99 percent chance of not getting it correct.
 
Didn't the other 3rd years with you want to kill you for the coffee and tea stunt? I think if I'm ever going to do that, it would be established at the start with the other person(s).
No, because you get them coffee too. And also ask for their advice/input as if they're brilliant and you don't know anything. I've found that coffee is the #1 most important tool in the hospital setting to getting people to like you. And the more excessive you are about it, the better ("here's your skinny flat white with a mote of cocoa.").
At least in the United States (vs. Australia), no MS-3 will be stupid enough to fall for this. They'll know exactly what game you're pulling. You'd be fooling no one. The emphasis of teamwork here in the United States is important and now the emphasis on team-based care is even greater in certain specialties - (i.e. PAs, NPs, social worker, case manager, etc.). Anyone that actively tries to disrupt that, as your actions would do, will stick out like a sore thumb and will be graded down accordingly.
 
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M3 is all about playing and every single resident has played that game.

Don't buy doughnuts/coffee. You look fake as **** and single yourself out as a target.

Maybe in communist Australia that's how **** works, but in 'murica, you get your pansy ass singled out.
 
M3 is all about playing and every single resident has played that game.

Don't buy doughnuts/coffee. You look fake as **** and single yourself out as a target.

Maybe in communist Australia that's how **** works, but in 'murica, you get your pansy ass singled out.
I'm amazed by the med students who pull this and think that it's not obvious, and then when confronted about it, revert to the "Oh, lil' ole me?? I was just trying to be nice and give everyone sustenance!" routine.

It's obvious to everyone when you're doing it to be nice, when you're doing it to suck up, and when you're doing it when you work, clinical presentations, and clinical knowledge are subpar.
 
1. Don't buy attendings / residents ****
2. Do buy nurses ****
3. Profit?!!?!
 
Maybe it's a different vibe in Australia or something, but doing those things here would more likely earn the contempt of classmates and you would be labeled a super gunner. Even if you got your classmates coffee and played dumb (lied) in order to appeal to their ego, they're not stupid and they know you're just brown-nosing. And most residents/attendings see right through that too, even though I'm sure they appreciate the coffee. Maybe that works on some doctors, or if you have a hard time connecting with people personally, but actually being competent and confident in what you are expected to do clinically is usually more important than groveling to the higher-ups. You can show respect and gratitude and get people to like you without providing coffee at morning rounds.

This.

I don't think med students realize is that the interns and residents talk with eachother when you're not there. Attendings also ask the interns and residents for their inputs regarding students and it's not like we don't know who you are bc at the basic minimum we have your face pictures that get sent to us when evaluations have to be turned in.

We know who is who is working hard and excelling, who is working hard and not doing so well, who is conveniently missing, who is always there, who is genuinely trying hard but not doing as well, who is slacking off, who complains all the time, who is proactive, and every other possible combination. No amount of coffee will make up for that impression.
 
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As a caffeine-addicted RN, I have to correct some confusion in this thread. The most important way to get ahead in MS-3 is to bring coffee to the nurses. Individual cups are okay, but if you are really gunning for a good grade, you need to bring in a couple of those box deals from Dunkin (P) or Starbucks (HP) or that independent specialty coffee shop around the corner (H!). Just put them in the nurse's station and we will take care of everything from there.

Naturally, I'm only telling you this secret out of the goodness of my heart. I have no ulterior motives.

Don't forget Splenda.
 
This.

I don't think med students realize is that the interns and residents talk with eachother when you're not there. Attendings also ask the interns and residents for their inputs regarding students and it's not like we don't know who you are bc at the basic minimum we have your face pictures that get sent to us when evaluations have to be turned in.

We know who is who is working hard and excelling, who is working hard and not doing so well, who is conveniently missing, who is always there, who is genuinely trying hard but not doing as well, who is slacking off, who complains all the time, who is proactive, and every other possible combination. No amount of coffee will make up for that impression.

In other words...we will eat your cookies and drink your coffee with a smile on our face...and then still fail your a**!!
 
In other words...we will eat your cookies and drink your coffee with a smile on our face...and then still fail your a**!!
ROTFL, pretty much. Why this is a shock to med students is beyond me. Residents are poor but we're not poor enough where we can't get our own cookies and coffee. Heck, residency programs give us vouchers for that ****.
 
As a caffeine-addicted RN, I have to correct some confusion in this thread. The most important way to get ahead in MS-3 is to bring coffee to the nurses. Individual cups are okay, but if you are really gunning for a good grade, you need to bring in a couple of those box deals from Dunkin (P) or Starbucks (HP) or that independent specialty coffee shop around the corner (H!). Just put them in the nurse's station and we will take care of everything from there.

Naturally, I'm only telling you this secret out of the goodness of my heart. I have no ulterior motives.

Don't forget Splenda.
Is that before or after you throw the med student under the bus?
 
Is that before or after you throw the med student under the bus?

Do not be a dingus, Dermviser.

I have never done any such thing and you embarrass yourself to insult me so. I was making a joke, displaying analogous insincerity to that of the medical student attempting to buy grades. In my actual life, I have made it a point to be kind to students of all types. I've shown them the ropes, helped them find supplies, even made sure that they were invited to eat, too, when there has been birthday cake or whatever.

I can see why maybe a nurse or two has taken exception to you, though.
 
Do not be a dingus, Dermviser.

I have never done any such thing and you embarrass yourself to insult me so. I was making a joke, displaying analogous insincerity to that of the medical student attempting to buy grades. In my actual life, I have made it a point to be kind to students of all types. I've shown them the ropes, helped them find supplies, even made sure that they were invited to eat, too, when there has been birthday cake or whatever.

I can see why maybe a nurse or two has taken exception to you, though.
I'm not trying to insult you. Nurses mistreating medical students and residents, bc they can, is a well known fact of life inside hospitals. This shouldn't be a shock to you. Oh, and nurses love me so 😛
 
I'm not trying to insult you. Nurses mistreating medical students and residents, bc they can, is a well known fact of life inside hospitals. This shouldn't be a shock to you. Oh, and nurses love me so 😛

You did insult me. You weren't referencing some nebulous group of nurses. Your comment was directed at me, in answer to a joke that I made. You weren't joking. You were being an a**.

I have experienced the opposite, that of nurses being abused by residents and attendings (not so much med students) just because they can. In my experience, a nurse abusing a med student or doctor is fired, while a doctor abusing a nurse is not even reprimanded. If I cursed at a doctor or threw surgical instruments at them, I would get road burn on my dingus as I skidded down the ambulance ramp into the street. If they did that to me... oh, wait, they do, every day. And administration tells me to just deal with it or find a new job.

And if the nurses around you love you, it must be because you reserve your obnoxious opinions about them for SDN.
 
You did insult me. You weren't referencing some nebulous group of nurses. Your comment was directed at me, in answer to a joke that I made. You weren't joking. You were being an a**.

I have experienced the opposite, that of nurses being abused by residents and attendings (not so much med students) just because they can. In my experience, a nurse abusing a med student or doctor is fired, while a doctor abusing a nurse is not even reprimanded. If I cursed at a doctor or threw surgical instruments at them, I would get road burn on my dingus as I skidded down the ambulance ramp into the street. If they did that to me... oh, wait, they do, every day. And administration tells me to just deal with it or find a new job.

And if the nurses around you love you, it must be because you reserve your obnoxious opinions about them for SDN.
"In my experience, a nurse abusing a med student" ---> now I know you're joking. Nurses are very well protected. It's why doctors have to go to the "charge nurse" to address nursing incompetence.

In fact for many medical students, we see on MS-3 how badly IM and Surgery residents are treated by nurses which is why many of us run to specialties in which we don't have to deal with nurses in general (or at least where we get to still call the shots) - Rads, Ophtho, Derm, Rad Onc, PM&R, etc.
 
ROTFL, pretty much. Why this is a shock to med students is beyond me. Residents are poor but we're not poor enough where we can't get our own cookies and coffee. Heck, residency programs give us vouchers for that ****.
This. I still have $500+ to spend at our cafeteria by the end of september
 
No, because you get them coffee too. And also ask for their advice/input as if they're brilliant and you don't know anything. I've found that coffee is the #1 most important tool in the hospital setting to getting people to like you. And the more excessive you are about it, the better ("here's your skinny flat white with a mote of cocoa.").

That stuff wouldn't earn you any brownie points with myself or any other resident in my program... but the ancillary staff... maybe
 
As a caffeine-addicted RN, I have to correct some confusion in this thread. The most important way to get ahead in MS-3 is to bring coffee to the nurses. Individual cups are okay, but if you are really gunning for a good grade, you need to bring in a couple of those box deals from Dunkin (P) or Starbucks (HP) or that independent specialty coffee shop around the corner (H!). Just put them in the nurse's station and we will take care of everything from there.

Naturally, I'm only telling you this secret out of the goodness of my heart. I have no ulterior motives.

Don't forget Splenda.
I don't think any of the nurses remembered who I was, or cared, in MS3.
 
I don't think any of the nurses remembered who I was, or cared, in MS3.
Of course it wouldn't bc they don't fill out evals on you. The only way the nurses would affect your grade is to bring it down by complaining about your behavior to an attending or resident.
 
Maybe it's a different vibe in Australia or something, but doing those things here would more likely earn the contempt of classmates and you would be labeled a super gunner. Even if you got your classmates coffee and played dumb (lied) in order to appeal to their ego, they're not stupid and they know you're just brown-nosing. And most residents/attendings see right through that too, even though I'm sure they appreciate the coffee. Maybe that works on some doctors, or if you have a hard time connecting with people personally, but actually being competent and confident in what you are expected to do clinically is usually more important than groveling to the higher-ups. You can show respect and gratitude and get people to like you without providing coffee at morning rounds.

Yeah. Also, most residents and attendings at the hospitals I'm at have free coffee. Best way to impress them? Act grateful when they invite you into the doctor's lounge for a free cuppa. Because you should be grateful; they're saving you money.
 
You do realize I'm partially being facetious don't you? It's a given to be deferential, but the point is not to be affected. It's the immature perspective that needing to grovel is necessarily dissembling, but ultimately we have to actively think about others over ourselves. Getting coffee for people never hurts, especially if they're tired and the hours are long, and you should never act like you know more than your peers. Always respect their input.
 
You do realize I'm partially being facetious don't you? It's a given to be deferential, but the point is not to be affected. Getting coffee for people never hurts, especially if they're tired and the hours are long, and you should never act like you know more than your peers. Always respect their input.

come on now, stop being naive. If you get everyone coffee, I will straight up know you are kissing *ss. I will also know you aren't being genuine when you ask my input on some issue. If I'm a M3 and you are too, I'm about 50th on the list of people who you'd ask for the proper answer if you wanted to know how to treat something or other info. If anything, you're the one acting like you know more in terms of kissing *ss being a good thing. the attendings and residents have been in the same position as the person attempting the kissing, so unless they've become completely disillusioned, they'll see through it like glass.
 
You do realize I'm partially being facetious don't you? It's a given to be deferential, but the point is not to be affected. It's the immature perspective that needing to grovel is necessarily dissembling, but ultimately we have to actively think about others over ourselves. Getting coffee for people never hurts, especially if they're tired and the hours are long, and you should never act like you know more than your peers. Always respect their input.
And what we're telling you is here in the United States it doesn't work. No resident is fooled by a med student whose performance is below par, but brings in coffee. Want to impress the intern/residents? Be proactive, know what's going on with your patients, show that you've read, don't have the look on your face that you could care less and want to leave, etc.
 
come on now, stop being naive. If you get everyone coffee, I will straight up know you are kissing *ss. I will also know you aren't being genuine when you ask my input on some issue. If I'm a M3 and you are too, I'm about 50th on the list of people who you'd ask for the proper answer if you wanted to know how to treat something or other info. If anything, you're the one acting like you know more in terms of kissing *ss being a good thing. the attendings and residents have been in the same position as the person attempting the kissing, so unless they've become completely disillusioned, they'll see through it like glass.
If they're really disillusioned they'll definitely pick up on it, and give you straight Passes out of spite.
 
And what we're telling you is here in the United States it doesn't work. No resident is fooled by a med student whose performance is below par, but brings in coffee. Want to impress the intern/residents? Be proactive, know what's going on with your patients, show that you've read, don't have the look on your face that you could care less and want to leave, etc.

I will say...when I was a med student, I got the peds surgery fellow milk and a cookie one time.

It was because our hospital cafeteria had these amazing warm chocolate chip cookies. I had gotten out of my day's cases, and the fellow had been working for something like 36 straight hours and was still in the OR. I was getting a cookie for myself and I thought I should get one for her too. I just left them at her desk - she told me the next morning she nearly cried when she saw them waiting for her.

But I did that solely out of the goodness of my heart because I felt bad for how overworked she was. It was not a grade grubbing maneuver.

PS - Peds surg sucks the life out of fellows.
 
I will say...when I was a med student, I got the peds surgery fellow milk and a cookie one time.

But I did that solely out of the goodness of my heart because I felt bad for how overworked she was. It was not a grade grubbing maneuver.

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I will say...when I was a med student, I got the peds surgery fellow milk and a cookie one time.

It was because our hospital cafeteria had these amazing warm chocolate chip cookies. I had gotten out of my day's cases, and the fellow had been working for something like 36 straight hours and was still in the OR. I was getting a cookie for myself and I thought I should get one for her too. I just left them at her desk - she told me the next morning she nearly cried when she saw them waiting for her.

But I did that solely out of the goodness of my heart because I felt bad for how overworked she was. It was not a grade grubbing maneuver.

PS - Peds surg sucks the life out of fellows.
That's perfectly alright. Unless you're a complete sociopath (and there are some that are), an intern/resident can usually tell when you're being genuine and when you're grade grubbing when you bring in food or drink.

At this stage of the game, it's pretty hard to hide your intentions, bc we can piece everything together - how you're doing on the rotation, when you bring things (i.e. only when you're in trouble or when you're trying to avoid work), etc.

Damn, now I'm hungry for warm chocolate chip cookies. :hungry:
 
If you can watch a peds surg fellow get absolutely destroyed for four weeks and not feel sympathy for them...you are definitely a sociopath.
You'll be amazed what med school does to some people. Sympathy/empathy are in very very low reserve for some by the time MS-4 rolls around.
 
If you can watch a peds surg fellow get absolutely destroyed for four weeks and not feel sympathy for them...you are definitely a sociopath.

Because buying cookies for the person who grades you isn't at all suspicious of ulterior motive...

Anyway, fellows I've worked with were generally annoyed by such gestures. The student who brought in coffee and granola bars got a lot of eye rolls and smirks when she left the work room. Just saying, that despite good intentions this sort of thing can be easily interpreted as groveling/grubbing.
 
I will say...when I was a med student, I got the peds surgery fellow milk and a cookie one time.

It was because our hospital cafeteria had these amazing warm chocolate chip cookies. I had gotten out of my day's cases, and the fellow had been working for something like 36 straight hours and was still in the OR. I was getting a cookie for myself and I thought I should get one for her too. I just left them at her desk - she told me the next morning she nearly cried when she saw them waiting for her.

But I did that solely out of the goodness of my heart because I felt bad for how overworked she was. It was not a grade grubbing maneuver.

PS - Peds surg sucks the life out of fellows.

Slow clap if you brought her home the next night
 
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