- Joined
- May 11, 2016
- Messages
- 23
- Reaction score
- 8
Hey everyone,
So I'm curious if what I'm experiencing is normal. I've performed very well on the USMLE, preclinical course work, and my shelfs this year, but I honestly feel very lost in clinic. It takes me forever to get a picture of the patients when doing chart review, and when I go in to do my histories and physicals I always forget to ask relevant stuff and complete important parts of the physical. I tend to get bogged down in the details of the encounters and a lot of times I find myself at total loss of a plan or direction when I'm walking out of the room to talk with the attending.
I feel like I have all the knowledge expected of me, but I'm struggling to put it all together when I have to be spontaneous and in charge of the encounter. I also rely heavily on notes for presentations, because it turns out real patients have 20 more things wrong with them than the standardized patients of year 1 and 2.
Has anyone been through a similar experience before during 3rd year? When were you finally able to see a patient and feel that you were competent enough to actually offer them anything? Should I continue to try to improve everyday and trust in the system, or should I be more worried?
So I'm curious if what I'm experiencing is normal. I've performed very well on the USMLE, preclinical course work, and my shelfs this year, but I honestly feel very lost in clinic. It takes me forever to get a picture of the patients when doing chart review, and when I go in to do my histories and physicals I always forget to ask relevant stuff and complete important parts of the physical. I tend to get bogged down in the details of the encounters and a lot of times I find myself at total loss of a plan or direction when I'm walking out of the room to talk with the attending.
I feel like I have all the knowledge expected of me, but I'm struggling to put it all together when I have to be spontaneous and in charge of the encounter. I also rely heavily on notes for presentations, because it turns out real patients have 20 more things wrong with them than the standardized patients of year 1 and 2.
Has anyone been through a similar experience before during 3rd year? When were you finally able to see a patient and feel that you were competent enough to actually offer them anything? Should I continue to try to improve everyday and trust in the system, or should I be more worried?