Fired from Residency?

[DocVapor]

Not everyone changes in and out of clothes at the hospital. Plenty of folks take a bunch of scrubs home and wear the same pair in and out of the hospital. Have you never seen this?

Granted I'm only finishing up my CA-1 year, but between all my OR bases med student and CBY rotations at 7 different hospitals, I have never seen this. All have required street clothes in, change into scrubs (whether scrub dispensing machine or not), then change back when you leave. Makes sense, because why would you want to wear stuff from the OR home every day?

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[Psai]

Granted I'm only finishing up my CA-1 year, but between all my OR bases med student and CBY rotations at 7 different hospitals, I have never seen this. All have required street clothes in, change into scrubs (whether scrub dispensing machine or not), then change back when you leave. Makes sense, because why would you want to wear stuff from the OR home every day?

Because if you're not wearing clothes for 10minutes just to change into clothes that you wear all day, you can save five or even ten minutes in the morning which can be key.

 

[GandalfTheWhite]

Granted I'm only finishing up my CA-1 year, but between all my OR bases med student and CBY rotations at 7 different hospitals, I have never seen this. All have required street clothes in, change into scrubs (whether scrub dispensing machine or not), then change back when you leave. Makes sense, because why would you want to wear stuff from the OR home every day?

Not even an intern yet, but I see this happen all the time over my 4 years in med school. Did it myself too. Our hospital had this policy and it was totally disregarded because its a waste of time. Plus, if youre dirty at the end of the day, you dont want to get into clean clothes, go home, shower, and then put on another pair of clean clothes because the clothes you wore from the hospital are now dirty. So in addition to wasting time, you have now doubled your laundry load and time wasted on your off days.

 

[DocVapor]

Because if you're not wearing clothes for 10minutes just to change into clothes that you wear all day, you can save five or even ten minutes in the morning which can be key.

But five or ten minutes ISN'T key. It's five or ten minutes. If your life happiness hinges on five or ten extra minutes in the morning, I dunno what to say about that.

 

[DocVapor]

Not even an intern yet, but I see this happen all the time over my 4 years in med school. Did it myself too. Our hospital had this policy and it was totally disregarded because its a waste of time. Plus, if youre dirty at the end of the day, you dont want to get into clean clothes, go home, shower, and then put on another pair of clean clothes because the clothes you wore from the hospital are now dirty. So in addition to wasting time, you have now doubled your laundry load and time wasted on your off days.

So what happens if you aren't going straight home? Late day and you're meeting your SO for dinner in scrubs?

 

[abolt18]

But five or ten minutes ISN'T key. It's five or ten minutes. If your life happiness hinges on five or ten extra minutes in the morning, I dunno what to say about that.

Let's say it takes me 5 minutes in the morning and 5 in the evening (really it would add closer to 10 each when you consider the dropping and collecting of scrubs, getting to the locker room, changing, and getting back to the OR. But let's just say it's 10 total minutes each day, 6 days a week, 49 weeks a year, for 4 years. You're looking at 192 wasted hours changing your clothes during residency alone. You didn't get paid a penny for that time. More realistic numbers gives you twice that many hours total.

I pull out 11 pairs of scrubs every 2 weeks. I put on a fresh pair in the morning immediately before leaving my home. I wear them all day and drive home in them. The second I get home I walk to my closet and rip those scrubs off and drop them in my dirty scrubs bag. Most of the residents I know have similar practices. I know several who launder the scrubs themselves because they don't want to take the time to change out scrubs from the machine all the time.

This is just the same as how important it is for me to live <15 minutes from the hospital, because those ten minutes add up. That's ten extra minutes of sleep in the morning and ten extra minutes with my kids and wife in the evening. When it's a very long day and I'm getting home at my kids' bedtime, that ten minutes saved can make a very big difference. It all adds up. There's already not enough time in the day, figure out how you're willing to spend yours.

 

[abolt18]

So what happens if you aren't going straight home? Late day and you're meeting your SO for dinner in scrubs?

I have been to my kids' swim lessons in scrubs because my schedule didn't work out as planned. Sometimes my wife meets me with a change of clothes for me. If we had the time and foresight to plan, I MAY take a change of clothes with me in my backpack.

 

[chocomorsel]

Granted I'm only finishing up my CA-1 year, but between all my OR bases med student and CBY rotations at 7 different hospitals, I have never seen this. All have required street clothes in, change into scrubs (whether scrub dispensing machine or not), then change back when you leave. Makes sense, because why would you want to wear stuff from the OR home every day?

Meh. I have an immune system and not overly paranoid. Been working in hospitals for 20 years now and have been hospitalized once in my life. I think it was the doctors' cafeteria that got me sick though.

You've seen it. Just never realized it. Think about all those cute scrubs you see nurses/techs wear. And they touch a lot of patients. Nasty patients. Clean their bowel movements and everything They wear their cute scrubs in to hospital and back out to the house. Only in the OR do they make us change into and out of scrubs. And this is not even in every hospital. I have a stash at home and unless they make me, I change and wash mine at home.

 

[Drangue]

But five or ten minutes ISN'T key. It's five or ten minutes. If your life happiness hinges on five or ten extra minutes in the morning, I dunno what to say about that.

5--10 minutes means a whole lot to me.

 

[Twiggidy]

Granted I'm only finishing up my CA-1 year, but between all my OR bases med student and CBY rotations at 7 different hospitals, I have never seen this. All have required street clothes in, change into scrubs (whether scrub dispensing machine or not), then change back when you leave. Makes sense, because why would you want to wear stuff from the OR home every day?

Amen to this. Keep all that nasty shyte out of my house/car. If I knew what's best, I'd probably shower before I leave too.

 

[Ronin786]

Let's say it takes me 5 minutes in the morning and 5 in the evening (really it would add closer to 10 each when you consider the dropping and collecting of scrubs, getting to the locker room, changing, and getting back to the OR. But let's just say it's 10 total minutes each day, 6 days a week, 49 weeks a year, for 4 years. You're looking at 192 wasted hours changing your clothes during residency alone. You didn't get paid a penny for that time. More realistic numbers gives you twice that many hours total.

That's a ridiculous calculation. You can't just slap 5 minutes together over a lifetime and pretend you're getting anything out of them. Unless you're doing something specific in those 5 minutes, it's meaningless.

That's the same logic that OR efficiency metrics use. "Save 3 minutes on turnover x 20 ORs is 365 hours a year!". If you can't put another case in those 3 minutes, they mean nothing.

 

[DesiredMemberName?]

Wear clean scrubs into the hospital in the morning. At the end of the day change into a fresh pair, and set them aside for the next work day when you get home. Repeat.

 

[deleted171991]

Good luck with wearing scrubs to work. Once you become an attending, people may frown upon it, because most hospital bylaws forbid it. Beyond the obvious infectious disease concerns, you're not a nurse. That may have been another issue in the case of the resident who was fired.

Also, at work, try to wear something on top of your scrubs (OR gown, jacket, gasp!... white coat). You're doctors, for Gods' sake! Look the part.

 

[abolt18]

That's a ridiculous calculation. You can't just slap 5 minutes together over a lifetime and pretend you're getting anything out of them. Unless you're doing something specific in those 5 minutes, it's meaningless.

That's the same logic that OR efficiency metrics use. "Save 3 minutes on turnover x 20 ORs is 365 hours a year!". If you can't put another case in those 3 minutes, they mean nothing.

I specifically said that in the morning, I get that extra 5-10 minutes of sleep. In the evening, I get that extra 5-10 minutes with my family, which is often very important to my day.

 

[chocomorsel]

Good luck with wearing scrubs to work. Once you become an attending, people may frown upon it, because most hospital bylaws forbid it. Beyond the obvious infectious disease concerns, you're not a nurse. That may have been another issue in the case of the resident who was fired.

Also, at work, try to wear something on top of your scrubs (OR gown, jacket, gasp!... white coat). You're doctors, for Gods' sake! Look the part.

Been an attending for almost six years. Only one small town hospital gave a crap how I wore my scrubs. This is all Clipboard Nursing stuff I am sure.
Now about the White Coat, gosh...... Let me look for mine. Lol. We are anesthesiologists. Plenty of people don’t give a **** or don’t know that we are doctors. Am I right? Besides, no White Coats in the OR. Plenty of nurses and techs wear them anyway. I wear my personal jacket if allowed.

And if they fired a resident for changing scrubs at home, then that was an even more evil PD/aPD than mine was.

 

[DocVapor]

So I see I've lit a small fire here. I apologize for not responding to everyone individually. To those who want the 5-10 minutes... I'm sure you guys do have your reasons. I'm certainly empathetic to the extra time with your families. I don't have kids, but do have a wife. Yes I miss out on time with her due to my changing, but it's because I want to bring as few germs home to her as I can. My immune system isn't the one I'm worried about, but hers isn't as good as mine. The extra time I take to change out of scrubs, splash my face, and wash my hands/forearms before leaving is to help keep her healthy so that our time is more quality and she's not having to work while sick. Just because people in the hospital wear their scrubs in and out every day with no problems doesn't mean it's right for everyone to do it.

And just for some background, I did used to be closer to you guys when I first started out in regards to the scrubs into/out of. It wasn't so much a sleep thing for me as I held jobs prior to med school which got my body used to waking up early, so the extra sleep isn't needed. You could all train your bodies to do this too. Getting to work a few minutes early and changing gives me some time to shoot the sh-t with friends in the locker room that I likely won't see the rest of the day or ask for some tips for a case that day which I haven't done yet.

It also just helps my psyche to wear professional clothes in. Helps me feel a bit like a doctor. I know some of you will scoff at this, but it's true. We aren't Mayo, but my program director (who is also the hospital chief of medicine) has this philosophy that really resonated with me regarding street clothes into/out of work (paraphrasing): "Yes, we normally get here before patients, and leave after them, but there's always a chance someone will be out there that will see you. And appearance matters to people when you're a doctor. Whether it's right or wrong, we get judged. I don't expect anyone to wear a full suit into and out of work. You can be casual, but you can't be sloppy."

 

[IMGASMD]

Been an attending for almost six years. Only one small town hospital gave a crap how I wore my scrubs. This is all Clipboard Nursing stuff I am sure.
Now about the White Coat, gosh...... Let me look for mine. Lol. We are anesthesiologists. Plenty of people don’t give a **** or don’t know that we are doctors. Am I right? Besides, no White Coats in the OR. Plenty of nurses and techs wear them anyway. I wear my personal jacket if allowed.

And if they fired a resident for changing scrubs at home, then that was an even more evil PD/aPD than mine was.

One of my colleagues, when he was doing a rotation at a NYC institution, was “caught” by the hospital president for walking in wearing scrubs. His own, not even hospital OR scrubs. There was a stern talk to..... then he just shrug it off.

We’ve been told a pair of scrubs costs, x dollars as deterrent. I usually just laugh out loud. I don’t really care that it eats into your operational budget.

When they then try to tell me that I cannot wear my “special OR scrubs” in and out of the hospital, because somehow they’re more special than others. I then think how would my cartoon scrubs feel about themselves now?!

 

[dannyboy1]

The idea that scrubs are in any way more clean than regular clothing is laughable. This morning I changed into my scrubs in the not so sterile male locker room and followed with a satisfying dump. It’s just part of the expected uniform and the regulations about out of hospital wear exist to give otherwise useless people a job....

 

[TheLoneWolf]

Hostile work environment at our hospitals

Anesthesia is not well respected here and treated as lowly techs. Don't need a dumba$$ Noctor (aka not a doctor but loves to pretend to be one) with a high school, RN, or business degree to make my day worse over some randomness. I wear street clothes and change into scrubs.

 

[AdmiralChz]

Not reading this thread carefully but.... are we really giving a colleague a hard time for dressing professionally and changing at work?

I do the same and plan to do so after fellowship. Have a wife, have a small infant, don’t want them exposed to the nastiness from the hospital. I feel strongly about it, but unlike a nurse administrator i leave it to the individual to make their own choices on this Come at me, don’t care.

 

[Twiggidy]

Good luck with wearing scrubs to work. Once you become an attending, people may frown upon it, because most hospital bylaws forbid it. Beyond the obvious infectious disease concerns, you're not a nurse. That may have been another issue in the case of the resident who was fired.

Also, at work, try to wear something on top of your scrubs (OR gown, jacket, gasp!... white coat). You're doctors, for Gods' sake! Look the part.

I love my white coat. I ordered it myself and I must admit it does look good on me. We’ve just established ourselves as a culture of a specialty to be a bit lazy when it comes to presentation. We basically “get to work in our pjs” the problem is no no one thinks we’re actually doctors and when we do try to be professional and wear a white coat (like we should) it’s a big deal

 

[DocVapor]

Not reading this thread carefully but.... are we really giving a colleague a hard time for dressing professionally and changing at work?

I do the same and plan to do so after fellowship. Have a wife, have a small infant, don’t want them exposed to the nastiness from the hospital. I feel strongly about it, but unlike a nurse administrator i leave it to the individual to make their own choices on this Come at me, don’t care.

I'm not sure anyone's giving anyone a hard time, but I do admit looking back that I got a little snarky with the comment about the 5-10 minutes in the morning, and I apologize to anyone offended by it.

 

[nimbus]

Isn’t this all non evidence based nonsense that we are criticizing clipboard carrying nurses for like beard covering and arm covering?

FWIW, I greet our hospital CEO walking in and out of the hospital in hospital issued scrubs all the time. He has more important things to worry about.

 

[IMGASMD]

FWIW, I greet our hospital CEO walking in and out of the hospital in hospital issued scrubs all the time. He has more important things to worry about.

You would think right?!

 

[chocomorsel]

Not reading this thread carefully but.... are we really giving a colleague a hard time for dressing professionally and changing at work?

I do the same and plan to do so after fellowship. Have a wife, have a small infant, don’t want them exposed to the nastiness from the hospital. I feel strongly about it, but unlike a nurse administrator i leave it to the individual to make their own choices on this Come at me, don’t care.

No one is giving him a hard time at all. Just explaining that there are more ways than one for skinning a cat. Which some people on here cannot wrap around their heads.

 

[MirrorTodd]

Isn’t this all non evidence based nonsense that we are criticizing clipboard carrying nurses for like beard covering and arm covering?

FWIW, I greet our hospital CEO walking in and out of the hospital in hospital issued scrubs all the time. He has more important things to worry about.

Try that ish in the army lol we recently had some people get called out by the department heads wife at the gate a few months ago for wearing scrubs outside the hospital. Big brother (sister in that case) is always watching.

 

[anbuitachi]

One of my colleagues, when he was doing a rotation at a NYC institution, was “caught” by the hospital president for walking in wearing scrubs. His own, not even hospital OR scrubs. There was a stern talk to..... then he just shrug it off.

We’ve been told a pair of scrubs costs, x dollars as deterrent. I usually just laugh out loud. I don’t really care that it eats into your operational budget.

When they then try to tell me that I cannot wear my “special OR scrubs” in and out of the hospital, because somehow they’re more special than others. I then think how would my cartoon scrubs feel about themselves now?!

Have heard about this as well.

My institution is very strict about wearing scrubs out of hospital. Of course they only care about doctors doing it and not nurses since there a waves if nurses in scrubs going in to work every morning, but man if a doctor wears scrubs to or out of work it's a big deal

 

[Drangue]

followed with a satisfying dump.

Is there anything better?

 

[GandalfTheWhite]

But five or ten minutes ISN'T key. It's five or ten minutes. If your life happiness hinges on five or ten extra minutes in the morning, I dunno what to say about that.

Hey man, 10 minutes every morning is important. Whether its making a cup of french pressed coffee, putting in your option trades, or getting in a quickie with your S.O.

So what happens if you aren't going straight home? Late day and you're meeting your SO for dinner in scrubs?

I'm not eating dinner out 5x week. Definitely would also shower before going to dinner. If its a late day, I'm eating at home so I can sleep right after.

That's a ridiculous calculation. You can't just slap 5 minutes together over a lifetime and pretend you're getting anything out of them. Unless you're doing something specific in those 5 minutes, it's meaningless.

That's the same logic that OR efficiency metrics use. "Save 3 minutes on turnover x 20 ORs is 365 hours a year!". If you can't put another case in those 3 minutes, they mean nothing.

You're right that you cant use the OR turnover minutes to aggregate it into hours, but as I mentioned before, 10 minutes everyday to spend with your kid or your S.O. can go a long way.

Wear clean scrubs into the hospital in the morning. At the end of the day change into a fresh pair, and set them aside for the next work day when you get home. Repeat.

This is probably the best option. I usually change into gym clothes afterwards to go workout right after the OR.

Good luck with wearing scrubs to work. Once you become an attending, people may frown upon it, because most hospital bylaws forbid it. Beyond the obvious infectious disease concerns, you're not a nurse. That may have been another issue in the case of the resident who was fired.

Also, at work, try to wear something on top of your scrubs (OR gown, jacket, gasp!... white coat). You're doctors, for Gods' sake! Look the part.

LOL OR gown? so now we should dress up as surgeons? Notwithstanding the waste of resources, there is no reason to do so. White coat? If we are talking about infection control, wearing white coats should be the last thing that needs to be done.

 

[DocVapor]

Hey man, 10 minutes every morning is important. Whether its making a cup of french pressed coffee, putting in your option trades, or getting in a quickie with your S.O.

Well I mean I can get this done in like 1.5-2 minutes tops, sooooo. And sure doing that stuff in the morning can be important, but to me it's not a big deal to just get up 10 minutes earlier to get all that stuff done and then still have time to change from street clothes into scrubs. This is one of those things where I understand that we'll just disagree on the importance of 10 minutes of extra sleep though, no reason to really belabor it further.

I'm not eating dinner out 5x week. Definitely would also shower before going to dinner. If its a late day, I'm eating at home so I can sleep right after.

I meant for those unexpected long days where you did have rare plans but now all of a sudden your case is running long and you don't have time to run home and get clothes. Agree about not scheduling stuff when you know you're going to be there late.

 

[JOHNBROCHILL]

I wear streetclothes in and change right back at end of day. Something simple jeans t-shirt, often wear scrub top over t-shirt for the day.

I do think it's funny only OR staff needs to change into their scrubs. Nurses on the floor who have multiple patients and are in and out of Cdiff and MRSA rooms cleaning patients and their bodily fluids don't have regulated scrubs but we do? They wear that stuff home and come back in it after I hope being washed thoroughly. Are we saying they work in a dirty environment anyway so why bother? That seems rather lazy of us if industrially laundered and regulated scrubs is as big a deal as the institution makes it out to be.
How about nurses dealing with immunocompromised patients? They don't need regulated scrubs? I do hope they never get behind on laundry, or come to work after holding and kissing their snot nosed kid in their scrubs.

Anyways off topic. There was a resident fired from my program several years ago for drug use. They found him an internal medicine spot and I believe he is now a cards fellow and is doing well for himself. I haven't heard of anyone else being let go.

 

[deleted500612]

Personally knew a resident who got fired for "drugs", which honestly was not the entirety of the case if even. As in there were conflicting drug results and this was used as the excuse to get rid of her. There was a lot more to it, including a sexual assault that the department tried to cover up. The accused never got investigated and the department just wanted him to "graduate" since he was a senior at the time, even though he had a whole host of other issues. But hey, he had excellent grades.

She hasn't been able to get back in and this is now almost 10 years later, but she did reach a settlement with the department after years' long lawsuit and appeal. Honestly, although she had her issues, she was totally hosed and not treated appropriately during her trials and tribulations.

Another resident was an alcoholic, but I do know he was allowed to do a research year and come back. Whether or not he came back and completed, I don't know.

I remember a co-intern surgery resident from the ICU. Nicest Asian guy ever. But way too passive. He got let go after intern year and I suspect a lot of that was due to him been so passive as I saw a lot of bullying and undermining from his seniors and co interns. We had some discussions about his problems and I told him not to be so "nice", but it was not his nature. He kept thinking that if he could just "prove" himself as a good/smart surgeon, he would be OK. Ultimately, the bullies prevailed. Gotta have a tough personality in that field and not be a pushover.

This sounds like UNM
UNM offers last-minute settlement in rape retaliation case

 

[chocomorsel]

This sounds like UNM
UNM offers last-minute settlement in rape retaliation case

Yup. Hated that place.

 

[rakotomazoto]

Let's say it takes me 5 minutes in the morning and 5 in the evening (really it would add closer to 10 each when you consider the dropping and collecting of scrubs, getting to the locker room, changing, and getting back to the OR. But let's just say it's 10 total minutes each day, 6 days a week, 49 weeks a year, for 4 years. You're looking at 192 wasted hours changing your clothes during residency alone. You didn't get paid a penny for that time. More realistic numbers gives you twice that many hours total.

I pull out 11 pairs of scrubs every 2 weeks. I put on a fresh pair in the morning immediately before leaving my home. I wear them all day and drive home in them. The second I get home I walk to my closet and rip those scrubs off and drop them in my dirty scrubs bag. Most of the residents I know have similar practices. I know several who launder the scrubs themselves because they don't want to take the time to change out scrubs from the machine all the time.

This is just the same as how important it is for me to live <15 minutes from the hospital, because those ten minutes add up. That's ten extra minutes of sleep in the morning and ten extra minutes with my kids and wife in the evening. When it's a very long day and I'm getting home at my kids' bedtime, that ten minutes saved can make a very big difference. It all adds up. There's already not enough time in the day, figure out how you're willing to spend yours.

I agree that there is a ton of wasted time involved in the usual ritual of changing when you just arrive from home where you got ready for the day and changed your clothes. This is one of many reasons why I bicycle to and from work. I am fortunate to be able to do this pretty much every day. I wake up, put on athletic shorts and a t-shirt, and start pedaling. It's about 5 minutes from when my alarm goes off to when I am outside on my bike. I save the shower and changing into scrubs for when I get to the hospital. This way, I avoid paying for parking, I feel a little bit better about not having time or money to have a gym membership, and by the time I get to work I am awake and alert. I don't drink coffee, lots more savings there. Riding a bike is actually one of the most frugal things you can do, just ask Mr. Money Mustache.

Obviously, this doesn't work for everyone, but you really should consider it if you can handle a significant paradigm shift. The upside is huge.

 

[chocomorsel]

I agree that there is a ton of wasted time involved in the usual ritual of changing when you just arrive from home where you got ready for the day and changed your clothes. This is one of many reasons why I bicycle to and from work. I am fortunate to be able to do this pretty much every day. I wake up, put on athletic shorts and a t-shirt, and start pedaling. It's about 5 minutes from when my alarm goes off to when I am outside on my bike. I save the shower and changing into scrubs for when I get to the hospital. This way, I avoid paying for parking, I feel a little bit better about not having time or money to have a gym membership, and by the time I get to work I am awake and alert. I don't drink coffee, lots more savings there. Riding a bike is actually one of the most frugal things you can do, just ask Mr. Money Mustache.

Obviously, this doesn't work for everyone, but you really should consider it if you can handle a significant paradigm shift. The upside is huge.

And the downside of getting hit by a car, also kinda huge. No?

 

[Twiggidy]

And the downside of getting hit by a car, also kinda huge. No?

Depends on if you're in a bike-friendly city. In these places people are hyper aware of cyclist and I would bet you're more likely to be in a car accident than a bike accident. Again, depends on the city.

 

[pgg]

And the downside of getting hit by a car, also kinda huge. No?

In terms of bike-related M&M, there's of course a continuum between the extremes of the UC Davis campus and downtown Hanoi. I'd like to live in a place where the distance, climate, and traffic weren't conspiring to kill me, should I get on a bike. Maybe someday.

 

[deleted697127]

Depends on if you're in a bike-friendly city. In these places people are hyper aware of cyclist and I would bet you're more likely to be in a car accident than a bike accident. Again, depends on the city.

you’re more likely to die from riding your bike to work than smoking cigarettes

 

[Twiggidy]

you’re more likely to die from riding your bike to work than smoking cigarettes

 

[deleted171991]

you’re more likely to die from riding your bike to work than smoking cigarettes

Only while young.

Lifetime odds of dying from smoking-related causes: 1 in 9. Bike accident: 1 in 4717. A bike is about 2/3 as safe as a plane, so next time just take the latter.

How are you likely to die? Here are the odds of dying…

 

[chocomorsel]

you’re more likely to die from riding your bike to work than smoking cigarettes

Is this for real?
For me, with people constantly texting and you tubing while driving these days, even in a friendly city, it’s not worth it to me.

 

[Psai]

Is this for real?
For me, with people constantly texting and you tubing while driving these days, even in a friendly city, it’s not worth it to me.

I see people texting and youtubing while riding bikes or even motorcycles

 

[Norepi]

Well, if they were truly fired then yes. That’s usually a rare instance in my limited experience, more typically the resident’s contract is either not renewed or they are encouraged to resign (or be fired and have that mark on their record).

I have a few stories:

- Resident filled an open CA-1 spot at my program a number of years ago, had already completed another residency and was working as staff in a city a few hours away. He was a very strange guy and a total personality mismatch for Anesthesia - our chair randomly knew his old residency chair and reached out for more info after having a run in with him, turns out he was fired his last year of residency for some violent reason and he fabricated his documents. Since he jumped into an open slot in the middle of the year somehow this fell through the cracks. Hospital police literally pulled him out of whatever assignment he was on and escorted him to his locker which he cleaned out and he was fired on the spot.

- MUCH more common, in a big program like mine (>20 per year) we had 1 or 2 every could of years just be poor fits for Anesthesia, having book smarts but being just dreadful/dangerous/frozen in pressing situations like difficult airways or crashing patients. It’s pretty apparent by 6 months who can get by and who can’t. They worked hard but it was clear it wasn’t going to happen. In all of these situations our program worked with the person to find them another spot somewhere, typically in the same institution - off the top of my head I know people who switched into Neuro, FM and Psych and one who quit medicine altogether.

- We also had an ED with lots of moonlighting opportunities (paid crappy though), but we forbidden to do external moonlighting. A resident a few years ago was moonlighting at a rural ED an hour or so away on the weekends when the wife of his chairman or PD was brought in as a patient. He was fired that weekend, which was a big wake up call to anyone doing external stuff (and which is why I usually recommend against it).

As a new PGY-1 your second story terrifes me. Of course I enjoyed my rotation during medical school but have never known what it is like to be the driver of that car..did these residents get placed into open/vacated positions or did their institution create a new spot for them? Do you know how they were received by the service they were transferred to?

 

[rakotomazoto]

I live in LA. Cars everywhere. Traffic is so bad that a majority of the time, I am moving faster than the cars. In 4 years, I have been bumped twice. Had to walk home one time with a bent tire.

But my car has also been hit twice in that same time, both car accidents were much more serious. Totaled, had to call ambulance for my wife, etc. Neither one was I at fault at all. Being safe in a car is an illusion when the other cars have texting 16 year olds behind the wheel. The real solution is self driving cars, but that is a whole different tangent.

In the meantime, keep smoking your cigs and I will keep riding my bike every day. Let's see who lives longer.

Sent from my SM-G935P using SDN mobile

 

[MirrorTodd]

As a new PGY-1 your second story terrifes me. Of course I enjoyed my rotation during medical school but have never known what it is like to be the driver of that car..did these residents get placed into open/vacated positions or did their institution create a new spot for them? Do you know how they were received by the service they were transferred to?

That's something that I feel medical school completely fails at...even my intern year failed at that.

 

[AdmiralChz]

As a new PGY-1 your second story terrifes me. Of course I enjoyed my rotation during medical school but have never known what it is like to be the driver of that car..did these residents get placed into open/vacated positions or did their institution create a new spot for them? Do you know how they were received by the service they were transferred to?

I was trying to inform, not scare. Just do the best you can and be a thoughtful learner. These individuals had clear personality mis-matches with the specialty (or anything really urgent\emergent-related), and it was wishful thinking that they could make it work. But a 270-280+ Step score turned blinders on I guess... we learned that lesson the hard way.

An institution isn’t going to “create” a new spot for anyone - a program can’t just snap their fingers and make that happen, you need funding lines and RRC approval for the number of spots. All of these people successfully transferred into less competitive, less stress programs at the start of the new year. They were placed in preop clinic or subspecialty intern rotations to finish their year and totally taken out of the OR once it was clear they weren’t going to be renewed. I think all stayed at the institution, but it was a large university hospital with tons of spots. To my knowledge, they have done well in their new specialties but they are pretty awkward folks so it’s going to be an uphill climb for sure...

 

[Silo004]

To OP. There was a guy who pissed in the sharps container while patient was awake. Didn't apologize when asked about it and was fired.

Another guy for drugs. Found passed out in the bathroom on fentanyl.

Another attending found on propofol.

FWIW, I heard of attending who passed out in OR on fentanyl. Still has license and is practicing but not in anesthesia.

 

[shepardsun]

Moral of the story- always apologize when you piss in the sharps container

 

[shepardsun]

I mean, we've all been there, right? Sometimes you really just gotta take a leak, and want to do so in a way that exposes you to being poked by a multitude of dirty needles

 

[deleted50478]

Wear clean scrubs into the hospital in the morning. At the end of the day change into a fresh pair, and set them aside for the next work day when you get home. Repeat.

A. Convenient.
B. Clean.
C. Avoids laundry.
We have a winner!