exam dates 9/13 and 9/14 when to expect results?

[americanidiot]

---

Members don't see this ad.

sorry for the stupid question. just super anxious. exam dates 9/13 and 9/14 when do you expect results? if you're 2nd day of testing is on a wednesday does that mean you have to wait 3 weeks or 4 weeks?

 

[kryptik]

4 weeks

 

[americanidiot]

thanks for the quick response, its much appreciated. i have this feeling like it was a complete disaster and i feel like its pretty hopeless. i think this exam is a measure of how well you actually function in the hospital and to fail it symbolizes a personal failure that i don't know if i can overcome. at times while answering those questions i would think, 'why did i even become a doctor if i can't manage basic patients like this.' i'm a psychiatry resident and i feel that its important to be able to manage general medical conditions but its making me think maybe i would have been better as a social worker or a psychologist because even these principles of management were so difficult for me despite the fact that nearly everyone else in my program and almost any program seems to find this exam to be the easiest of the sequence (i found it to be the hardest). i really feel like quitting. the night after the 1st day of testing my wife had to practically force me to care anymore and actually go back for the second day.

 

[americanidiot]

even if i do pass, i'm seriously considering finishing my residency and then pursuing sub-specialty training in psychotherapy as this was the reason i went into psychiatry in the first place. i don't think i have what it takes to manage acute inpatient med-psych wards or consultation services with patients with extensive medical comorbidities. i miss the patient-physician relationship we have in the outpatient psychotherapy clinics. i find myself envying the work that our staff psychologists (PhD and PsyD practitioners) get to do with our patients. titrating doses of clozaril was never my dream and i feel like a heel for taking up a spot in a highly-sought-after psychiatry residency program while also having these feelings. i don't know if its that i don't have the guts to drop out or that i simply don't have the mettle to stick it out. either way it adds up to a pathetic scenario for someone who put so much time, effort, and personal finances into a dream that doesn't seem to pan out and yet is now tied to in order to provide health insurance and money for my young family.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

even if i do pass, i'm seriously considering finishing my residency and then pursuing sub-specialty training in psychotherapy as this was the reason i went into psychiatry in the first place. i don't think i have what it takes to manage acute inpatient med-psych wards or consultation services with patients with extensive medical comorbidities. i miss the patient-physician relationship we have in the outpatient psychotherapy clinics. i find myself envying the work that our staff psychologists (PhD and PsyD practitioners) get to do with our patients. titrating doses of clozaril was never my dream and i feel like a heel for taking up a spot in a highly-sought-after psychiatry residency program while also having these feelings. i don't know if its that i don't have the guts to drop out or that i simply don't have the mettle to stick it out. either way it adds up to a pathetic scenario for someone who put so much time, effort, and personal finances into a dream that doesn't seem to pan out and yet is now tied to in order to provide health insurance and money for my young family.

As a fellow psychiatry resident, I'll say that this exam is fairly hard for lots of us. I actually started a thread about it in the psychiatry forum that you might want to check out. It doesn't test things that we encounter a lot, and honestly lots of the questions on the test aren't even really general medicine stuff that we would need to know to work in an inpatient psychiatry unit. I think it's natural to feel some doubt about yourself as a physician after studying for and taking this test, but I'd let some time pass before making any big assumptions about you or permanent career plans.

As for psychotherapy, though, there's nothing wrong with that as a career goal. I've decided I don't want to do inpatient medicine and will likely also find myself doing outpatient work involving psychotherapy. That doesn't make me (or you) less of a doctor, though. 🙂

 

[americanidiot]

I've decided I don't want to do inpatient medicine and will likely also find myself doing outpatient work involving psychotherapy. That doesn't make me (or you) less of a doctor, though. 🙂

Doctor Bagel, I really appreciate your thoughts and support on this. I was caught off guard by how intensely dysphoric and just generally out-of-sorts I felt after this exam. I just started seeing a psychotherapist through the employee support system through our hospital's GME office to help process some of these feelings which has been really helpful. It certainly has been bizarre being on the other side of the therapeutic relationship but I think its something I'd like to continue as a way to manage the doubts I've been feeling about the future of our field and my place in it. Again, thanks for your comments.

Also, do you have a link to that thread you started?

 

[Doctor Bagel]

Here's a link to the psychiatry thread.

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=857754

Also, the psychiatry forum in general is a good place to talk about specific issues dealing with psychiatry training. I think your thoughts are common to most of us (although you'll still hit some denial even in the psych forum).

About doing your own psychotherapy, we've had it strongly recommended to us that we do it now that we've started our psychotherapy didactics. I've been too lazy to start, but I think it's something I'll find useful, too.

 

[americanidiot]

thanks so much for the link, much appreciated.

 

[americanidiot]

in a day from now we'll have an idea? maybe? 😱

 

[americanidiot]

i'm so confused - i've calculated the test day vs test report date for some people on this forum and it seems that some folks who finish day 2 of testing on a wednesday get their scores exactly 3 weeks later whereas others get them 4 weeks later.

thoughts? does it depend on time of year? phase of the moon? 🙂

 

[Doctor Bagel]

i'm so confused - i've calculated the test day vs test report date for some people on this forum and it seems that some folks who finish day 2 of testing on a wednesday get their scores exactly 3 weeks later whereas others get them 4 weeks later.

thoughts? does it depend on time of year? phase of the moon? 🙂

I looked over the score reporting thread, and I'm a little confused, too. It seems like maybe the Wednesday in the week of your test (even if you complete it before Wednesday) doesn't count? Anyway, good luck if it is this Wednesday!

 

[americanidiot]

I failed and feel more down than I've ever been in my life. Can't get out of bed.

 

[Doctor Bagel]

I failed and feel more down than I've ever been in my life. Can't get out of bed.

I'm sorry. 🙁 Even though I know you might not be in a space to hear this now, failing this test does not mean you've failed as a doctor. You deserve to be where you are right now, and this exam doesn't take away from that.