Feeling like you don't know anything?

[Jordan95]

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Does this feeling go away in med school?

 

[patriot6]

Does this feeling go away in med school?

This feeling should start in medical school.

 

[psychhopefull2016]

Does this feeling go away in med school?

That feeling is kind of a good thing. People who feel like they know what they are doing get complacent and lazy. Always feel like you should know more than you do.

 

[WheezyBaby]

Does this feeling go away in med school?

Yep. You need to fight to bring it back though, because the reality is you in fact do not know chit. Always be hungry to learn more

 

[NickNaylor]

This feeling will continue into residency and, I suspect, even into independent practice. There are always things to learn. You will never know everything. As you progress you will likely know something about everything, but you will still likely have to look things up, and you will always continue to learn as biological knowledge grows and changes how we treat patients.

 

[SurfingDoctor]

Having some self-doubt in knowledge is normal and continues throughout ones career. Honestly, those who have some self-doubt about decision making usually are more thoughtful about the decisions they make for patients, while those who know-it-all tend to be more careless and prone to errors, at least in my experience.

The human body is super complex and our knowledge of what can make it go wrong is quite rudimentary (hence why we give steroids and do plasmaphoresis for severe inflammatory illnesses NOS, we don't know any better). The constant desire to learn and improves one knowledge is the best (and only) thing you can really do.

 

[CherryRedDracul]

This feeling should start in medical school.

This. You should always feel like you never know enough. Stay thirsty for knowledge.

 

[WheezyBaby]

Just since this thread is getting one sided, I'll emphasize its all about healthy self doubt. Ultimately decisions need to be made in a timely manner, and you can't be paralyzed by self doubt.

 

[Azete]

I'm amazed at my ignorance every day.

 

[Goro]

Very sound advice in this thread! Just try to remember that you know more than you think you know. And try not to overthink things.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

I can only speak for myself, but medicine is fascinating this way. I question my decisions/diagnosis of a patient at least once a day. Its not a paralyzing "Holy crap what if that runny nose is actually a CSF leak" but just generally making myself prove to myself that my thoughts are correct.

On the converse, its really amazing just how much we do know. I have an undergrad that shadows once/week. Last week we saw a women with PCOS. I gave an impromptu 30 minute lecture on the pathophys of PCOS honestly before I realized what I was doing.

Its, to me at least, a really neat dichotomy - we always question ourselves despite having a fairly impressive amount of knowledge.

 

[Psai]

I can only speak for myself, but medicine is fascinating this way. I question my decisions/diagnosis of a patient at least once a day. Its not a paralyzing "Holy crap what if that runny nose is actually a CSF leak" but just generally making myself prove to myself that my thoughts are correct.

On the converse, its really amazing just how much we do know. I have an undergrad that shadows once/week. Last week we saw a women with PCOS. I gave an impromptu 30 minute lecture on the pathophys of PCOS honestly before I realized what I was doing.

Its, to me at least, a really neat dichotomy - we always question ourselves despite having a fairly impressive amount of knowledge.

That kid was probably like f i need to study for the mcat wtf is this

 

[Anicetus]

Does this feeling go away in med school?

I feel like my ability to learn has gotten worse since med school. I can't even read a paragraph now without having to read it 2x more.

 

[Affiche]

I always feel like I don't know anything haha. You know more than you think you do, but there's so much material that it ends up being pretty hazy in your mind whereas in undergrad it was more common to know everything cold. Just do the best you can and remember that multiple choice tests require recognition, not recall.

 

[failedatlife]

I felt this way when I got my Step score back...

 

[Jordan95]

I'm surprised by the feedback, It's comforting to know I'm not alone.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[sharkbyte]

My roommate once shared with me a great quote, which paraphrased is: We tend to overestimate what we can do in a single day but underestimate what we can do in a month or a year.

A bit off topic, but still related. You'd be surprised how much you learn and how much you know by the time the block ends and you're taking your exam.

 

[musicalfeet]

Just since this thread is getting one sided, I'll emphasize its all about healthy self doubt. Ultimately decisions need to be made in a timely manner, and you can't be paralyzed by self doubt.

This makes me think I might absolutely suck in year 3-4 when pimp questions get thrown my away. It takes me a long time to think through a question, so when someone just asks me out of the blue some specific question, my first instinct is always " UH I don't know... ", and then come up with the answer like, 2 minutes later.

 

[Azete]

This makes me think I might absolutely suck in year 3-4 when pimp questions get thrown my away. It takes me a long time to think through a question, so when someone just asks me out of the blue some specific question, my first instinct is always " UH I don't know... ", and then come up with the answer like, 2 minutes later.

This is pretty normal because you haven't been exposed to the material more than what you memorized for classes/boards.

For example, I've had a ton of exposure to cardiopulmonary so I can handle most pimp questions with ease -- but if you ask me literally anything about the liver I'll probably pause for 30 seconds and say "ummm.... Albumin." When you work with something every day, you master the relevant minutiae and the "pimp" questions just become part of every day life.