how exactly are you evaluated/graded/tested during rotations?

[ButAtYourBest]

Sorry, I'm a new pre-med. But I was wondering if someone could describe the 3rd and 4th year rotations for med school.

I'm a bit of an unusual student...i have pretty picky study habits. The first two years of medical school sounds more liek what I'm accustomed to as an undergraduate -- only more intense and perhaps some more group oriented work.

however, rotations sound like you're basically working like an intern or apprentice at a full time job. i don't quite understand how you are tested or evaluated. if you show up everyday, pay attention, take notes?, and review at the end of the day your notes supplemented with some googling, will you be ok? or do you need to get textbooks and study info that way.

i'm good at working with people and interacting with teammates, like when i interned at a research lab...and I'm also good at reading/studying independently, learning from lectures. However, i sometimes struggle when the two are blended. For example I really struggle with the labs during my science classes. so i worry that might be my experience with rotations.

can someone give me an overview of what is expected from a student in order to make it through rotations? (both implicit and explicit expectations)

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[Gute]

i don't quite understand how you are tested or evaluated.

I'm a third year and I still don't understand it.

 

[lord_jeebus]

You are assigned a random grade determined by the level of fatigue and spitefulness of your resident and attending on the day they happen to get your eval to fill out. Picture your resident's call schedule as a roulette wheel - on-call = P, pre-call = high pass, golden weekend = honors.

 

[ZagDoc]

Things which are factored into your grade during MS3:
-Quality of your patient presentations on rounds
-Quality of your write-ups
-Ability to appear enthusiastic yet not a tool
-Reading up on your patient conditions so you can make suggestions for their care plan or know what is going on in their surgery
-Ability to anticipate the needs of the team
-Volunteering for scut work to make your team's life easier
-Ability to effectively care for your patients
-Typical professionalism stuff (being on time, adequately prepared, well dressed & groomed, etc)
-End of rotation shelf exams, presentations, papers etc aka busy work
-Luck

Sometimes, it feels like the last one is what determines 95% of your grade.

 

[fleetgoddess]

Its random magic.

The harder I try the worse grade I got and it had nothing to do with my test score. The least I cared the higher the grade.

I rotated on three different surgery teams while on surgery and I have contradictory things in my evaluation based on what two teams thought:

I evidently went beyond what I needed to do in care for my patients but I needed to work on taking initiative in the care of my patients at the same time.
Whats funny is the evaluation just says both of them without saying they are different teams or anything so it just says one thing then basically says the opposite.

 

[sendwich]

it's been a crapshoot for me so far. Just got back my surgery evals and 3 attendings everyone gave me "outstandings" across the board but 1 attending said "satisfactory" across the board (not only is the clerkship director but also the 1 attending who thinks women shouldn't go into surgery. and yes, i am a female student....wtf?).

so.. if you ask me, it's very subjective.

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

At my school we get a calculated score based on several factors. A certain percentage come from:
-Clinical evaluations (usually from Chief/Senior Residents, rarely attendings)
-Required patient presentation and didactic about the disease/procedure
-Clinical write up
-Oral exam (if applicable)
-Shelf
-Assigned mentor grade from meetings

We are told exactly how much each part will count towards our grade on day one. In general, an honors is 92-94%, High pass is 88-92, and pass is 69-88%. It can still be a bit of a crapshoot as the clinical evaluation always takes up 50-60% of the overall grade and some residents are just heartless...

I think most people say it's subjective because they forget that an unspoken part of the grade is your likeability. If you work hard but were really awkward, condescending, or complained/bitched often it will be so much easier for your evaluator to remember all your faults. If there is good team dynamic and you find your residents are often laughing with you and not at you, they will be more compelled to give you a boost in your evaluation. I've definitely F-ed up multiple times on my previous rotations (e.x. being 3 hours late with no viable excuse) and still managed to do very well. That being said, some residents are just heartless....

 

[Deferoxamine]

Clinical evaluations appear to be done in a way similar to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=julnt19Pl8E

That is, if you get a "High Pass", the resident/attending might think you're an absolute superstar / best student (s)he's ever worked with, or they might think you should go drink a glass of cyanide.

 

[eriedoc514]

I know this is probably not the case for all, but i will share some of the things that i consider, when i grade a medical student... Do you...

1) work well as part of a team
2) show a willingness to learn
3) take it upon yourself, to know about your patient (sounds stupid, but knowing some facts without having to look at a pre-printed H&P)
4) show a steady improvement
5) carry out your tasks well, with out having to be "micro-managed"
6) present patients well
7) buy me coffe (just kidding)

as far as the actual grade goes, i always try to have an exit interview with each student, to discuss, what he/she feels were their stong points as well as weak points- and i offer my opinion too. that way, I know that we will be on the same page when the grade comes out.

out of all honesty, we are all here to learn, and the day that you think you know it all about a specialty, is the day you need to hang up you white coat, and put on the blue vest (walmart greeter). I medical student that are willing to learn, and who actively participate in the patient care.

I will also impart one piece of advice that my mother gave me... people only remember the first impression, and the last impression. Dress professionally, be neatly groomed, present yourself with confidence, and you will do fine.

 

[Tablet PC]

A shelf score + some random bull thrown together that will most likely read "hard worker, but deficient in medical knowledge/initiative/preparedness/organization" or a combination of the above in more words and potentially more flowery.

 

[NucleusAccumben]

There's a magical 8 ball used by the clerkship director. 😀 There's a lot of variability between rotations as to how much each factor in a rotation counts to your overall grade. I think the shelf exam divides people up in A,B,C for overall grade ranges more than anything. I think in the end your overall package of board scores, grades, LoR and dean's letter count for residency application. Every school is different too. I think board scores help equilibrate between schools who hand out Hs and As to everyone and those who are more stingy with honors and As. Just my thoughts, no one has to agree with them.

 

[Disinence2]

You are assigned a random grade determined by the level of fatigue and spitefulness of your resident and attending on the day they happen to get your eval to fill out. Picture your resident's call schedule as a roulette wheel - on-call = P, pre-call = high pass, golden weekend = honors.

So True.

 

[etdo]

100% how well they like you.

 

[sendwich]

the part that sucks about this is, it never really ends. once we get into residency, there will be seniors who will be submitting our evaluation at the end of each rotation. 🙁