Medical Does having professionalism mark ruin chances of residency?

[Goro]

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I haven’t talked many people about my situation as I have felt very shameful about my judgement and it’s kinda embarrassing for me. I started my third year of med school (USMD) this past July. Four months in, during my family medicine rotation, there was a patient who I reached out to via Instagram for coffee. She emailed my dean about the situation and I was taken off of rotations but still required to attend lecture. I went before the honor council and they recommended for me to be dismissed from the med school. The dean of students affairs and academic curriculum vouched for me to remain in the medical school partly because I had a squeaky clean record before this, but to be suspended for the remainder of the school year and restart my 3rd year entirely (I was 2 rotations in: OBGYN and Peds). The dean of the med school allowed me to stay and during the time, I have to recomplete HIPAA training, in person and online sexual assault training and at least 6 sessions with the university counselor. Since I am not getting financial aid during this time, I’m working as a AP and PreAP high school biology teacher at a local public school which has been overall a good experience so far. With that being said, I do miss being in school and around medicine and cannot wait to get started back in the grind. But part of me is constantly wondering if I could realistically match with this on my record. The dean of students told me that it would probably go in as a HIPAA violation on my record. Before this, I had a few honors over the preclinical years, 235 STEP 1 and had a HP OBYGN and Honor in Peds. I was starting to become interested in Radiology, but now I’m scared that a radiology program wouldn’t want me after seeing that I had a professionalism mark.


How would PD's honestly look at my application? Is there even a possibility of me matching into a residency program with this on my record? If so, how would you recommend someone in my position moving forward?

Suggest that you ask your Clinical deans if they can vouch for you that you've learned your lesson and they have full confidence in you as a graduate and future colleague.

I fully understand that you are hurting now and in a very sensitive place, but I hope that you have truly learned from this experience, because I see no self-reflection in your OP. If even a hint of a lack of awareness comes across in your applications or interviews, you won't be in a good place. Do NOT downplay or trivialize this.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Yeah, I think you're going to have to address this head-on in your application, make it clear that this was a one-off mistake in judgement, and that you have learned from the experience. I would also ask your dean explicitly how it will be addressed in your Dean's letter, as that will likely be where they would "vouch for you."

One "good" thing is that because you were suspended for the year, you're going to be a full 2 years removed from this event, and hopefully you'll be able to get several comments from your clinical rotations saying that your professionalism is beyond reproach. I'm not really sure about your odds for any particular specialty, particularly a competitive one, but I do think that you should be able to find a residency spot.

Not sure if this is feasible if you're still needing to repeat HIPAA training, but if you could be doing anything research-wise right now that could be beneficial to make it clear that you used this time toward something productive.