How bad is it if an evaluation mentions you were not punctual?

[XxSynapsexX]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Recently got a bad OB evaluation about being late. I was late once to rounds because I got caught up in bad traffic. The OB resident yelled at me for it. I tried to make it up afterwards and it seemed like we were chill after.

However in the evaluation she put

" Not timely to rounds, could work on confidence"

How big is this in terms of MPSE and affecting residency chances?

 

[deleted497653]

Not good. But not much to do other than learning from it. Sad that people are so unforgiving as to include it in comments.

 

[Smurfette]

If this is the only mention of punctuality in your MSPE, I wouldn't worry. Although it does make it sound like it happened more than once. Lots of people get a random comment that isn't positive at some point during the year. However, if this is a pattern and multiple people write similar comments, that will reflect poorly on you. So just make sure you aren't late again.

 

[XxSynapsexX]

Well I just got 3 evals from the OB/GYN residents all mentioning the same incident but differently worded. How Screwed am I?lol

 

[Triple Cheeseburger]

Recently got a bad OB evaluation about being late. I was late once to rounds because I got caught up in bad traffic. The OB resident yelled at me for it. I tried to make it up afterwards and it seemed like we were chill after.

However in the evaluation she put

" Not timely to rounds, could work on confidence"

How big is this in terms of MPSE and affecting residency chances?

Once likely won't hurt, just don't let it be a reoccurring theme. If you were only late "once" the resident is a jack wagon for yelling at you. Totally out of line. Are you sure being late wasn't more frequent?

 

[werd]

on a scale of 1 to devastating, i'd say it's moderately bad. I doubt your application will be discounted based on one negative comment. multiple things like this on your application, and you're likely in some trouble. (i'd say multiple mentions of the same event on the same rotation don't count).

 

[zhong361]

not to worry it's just a normal routine work every time you get late they yelled but its good for us because they make us realize how important are you.

 

[SpecializedSurgeon]

I’d disagree to some extent with some of these comments — I think it’s pretty bad. Residency is rough. Way worse than being a Med student. If I saw that somebody was chronically late as a student I’d much less be inclined to take them on as a resident. Even that “one liner” in your mspe could hurt, and let’s be honest, if you were chronically late on OB, you did the same for other specialties as well.

If you are applying to anything with early mornings, I’d spend the rest of your third year making sure the rest of your rotation comments say something about how early you showed up every day, ready to go.

 

[Anicetus]

In medicine it's super easy to get pigeon holed from one bad thing. We are a career with little room for error/little second chances. Hopefully it doesn't show up on the MSPE and you'll be fine.

 

[Caltechstud]

I’d disagree to some extent with some of these comments — I think it’s pretty bad. Residency is rough. Way worse than being a Med student. If I saw that somebody was chronically late as a student I’d much less be inclined to take them on as a resident. Even that “one liner” in your mspe could hurt, and let’s be honest, if you were chronically late on OB, you did the same for other specialties as well.

If you are applying to anything with early mornings, I’d spend the rest of your third year making sure the rest of your rotation comments say something about how early you showed up every day, ready to go.

If it is just one comment how would it imply that he was "chronically" late?

 

[SpecializedSurgeon]

If it is just one comment how would it imply that he was "chronically" late?

If it makes it to your rotation comments, it didn’t happen just once. Schools are trying to help their graduates, so for something like that to make it to the mspe, I’d bet it was chronic

 

[XxSynapsexX]

If it makes it to your rotation comments, it didn’t happen just once. Schools are trying to help their graduates, so for something like that to make it to the mspe, I’d bet it was chronic

Well it did only show up in two evaluations both from the same week on the same incident. The problem is that for the whole rotation I only have 4 evaluations(Surgery..meh), so it isn't diluted by the normal-good evaluations like it should be. Therefore it may unfairly make it to my rotation letter since there are only a few evaluations to base the letter off of.

 

[SpecializedSurgeon]

Well it did only show up in two evaluations both from the same week on the same incident. The problem is that for the whole rotation I only have 4 evaluations(Surgery..meh), so it isn't diluted by the normal-good evaluations like it should be. Therefore it may unfairly make it to my rotation letter since there are only a few evaluations to base the letter off of.

Thought you said this was on OB?

 

[XxSynapsexX]

Thought you said this was on OB?

Woops I mispoke. I was on Surgery Rotation and I had 2 weeks of GYN which is where I dealt with the OB residents

 

[VenusinFurs]

Hey my school heavily edited our letters to minimize bad comments and emphasize the good evaluation feedback we got.

I can't attest to your school, but I don't think you're going to not match because of bad comments in one rotation.

 

[mihamom]

make sure not a recurring theme. evals for ob will be heavily read if going into ob, but not for sure if applying to other fields

 

[Dares Dareson]

If it makes it to your rotation comments, it didn’t happen just once. Schools are trying to help their graduates, so for something like that to make it to the mspe, I’d bet it was chronic

Actually this isn't true at my school. If one resident mentions you are "unprofessional" for any reason, being late or in my case a resident who just didn't like me without stating a specific reason, it does go into the MSPE. They're very strict about it. Even though the other 50 evaluations I got had glowing feedback, they will insist on including this one line. I'm not sure why my school wants to harm its students chances of matching. Maybe the AAMC or whoever requires it.

I'm just hoping all the good feedback and my LoRs will outweigh the bad. No one can give me a straight answer on the effect this stuff has.

 

[packattack54]

Man, I hear ya... sometimes these evals aren't fair. I had some pretty bad stuff on mine from an evaluator that would have made it on my deans letter but was removed for a few reasons...

1. I demonstrated that the problem was not recurring both within the rotation and in other rotations.
2. Spoke to the evaluator and gave my side of the story. I did not ask for it to be edited at that time, but this is a possibility at some schools.
3. I spoke with the chair of the rotation, and got feed back and gave my side of the story at the time of the feedback.
4. Spoke with chair again after 3rd year was near completion. Asked if it be removed or edited, and it was.

Evaluators, residents in particular, are under great stress and could sometimes care less if they mess with your future, wether the comments were fair or unfair.

Thankfully, the chair of my rotation recognized all these factors and was gracious in removing the comment. Note, I'm not sure if the dean of students can edit, too. You still have a chance that the comment or evaluation be removed or edited.

Above all, I learned I don't want to be one of those evaluators that takes out their frustrations on a student with nasty evaluations without confronting the student first and giving them an opportunity to correct themselves or clear up any miscommunication.

 

[BGDino]

Wow. I would have to be seriously unimpressed with lots of other things to even think about mentioning a student’s punctuality on their eval.

 

[Dares Dareson]

Man, I hear ya... sometimes these evals aren't fair. I had some pretty bad stuff on mine from an evaluator that would have made it on my deans letter but was removed for a few reasons...

1. I demonstrated that the problem was not recurring both within the rotation and in other rotations.
2. Spoke to the evaluator and gave my side of the story. I did not ask for it to be edited at that time, but this is a possibility at some schools.
3. I spoke with the chair of the rotation, and got feed back and gave my side of the story at the time of the feedback.
4. Spoke with chair again after 3rd year was near completion. Asked if it be removed or edited, and it was.

Evaluators, residents in particular, are under great stress and could sometimes care less if they mess with your future, wether the comments were fair or unfair.

Thankfully, the chair of my rotation recognized all these factors and was gracious in removing the comment. Note, I'm not sure if the dean of students can edit, too. You still have a chance that the comment or evaluation be removed or edited.

Above all, I learned I don't want to be one of those evaluators that takes out their frustrations on a student with nasty evaluations without confronting the student first and giving them an opportunity to correct themselves or clear up any miscommunication.

Yeah see...I'm in this process now, and I've gone up the chain in the department, but at each point the administrator/dean/director or whoever i'm talking to says "Well, there's really nothing we can do. It's the resident's word against yours, and we have to believe them." I should mention that they deny any opportunity to meet with the resident and discuss the issue. In fact, if I even contact this person, if I see them in the hall and say hello, I will receive a second unprofessional notation. It's incredible. I was told by the department head that "we have to protect the residents." I was like, from what!? I could understand if it was a matter of violence or sexual harassment or something (which my issue is not even close to being), but otherwise what are we protecting them from? They already have a job!

Regardless, I'm still trying. I just think all the hours I've spent on this could have been used doing research or studying. Such a shame. And yeah, I will NEVER be one of these passive aggressive back stabbers. I will confront a student if they are not acting appropriate.

 

[ricksimmonsrafowens]

I should mention that they deny any opportunity to meet with the resident and discuss the issue. In fact, if I even contact this person, if I see them in the hall and say hello, I will receive a second unprofessional notation.

that sounds so odd, what if you need to page them for a consult or something? >.>

 

[ridethecliche]

If anything, I'd talk to whoever the dean is about how all these things were related to the same singular incident, if that's what it actually was.

that sounds so odd, what if you need to page them for a consult or something? >.>

This is obviously not at all the same thing.