How offended would you feel if...

[HEENTdude]

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an attending asked someone why they weren't going into surgery since they've displayed excellent manual dexterity during cases and their response was...

"I'd rather do something that uses my brain."

*note this person is going into IM, Peds or Med-Peds

** double note, I meant how offended would an attending or you (surgical resident). Med school has killed me english skills.

 

[LucidSplash]

an attending asked you why you weren't going into surgery since you've displayed excellent manual dexterity during cases and your response was...

"I'd rather do something that uses my brain."

*note this person is going into IM, Peds or Med-Peds

Personally, if I was the attending (though this is not how you phrased the question), I wouldn't feel offended but would rather interpret this as a rather gauche response to a compliment by a medical student demonstrating how little they understood about surgery. That being said, I know a lot of attendings who certainly would take offense. With such attendings, that student could probably kiss any interesting opportunities in the OR goodbye and might start to worry about their grade a bit too (if they were ever concerned with it at all).

 

[ESU_MD]

If I really liked the student- I would tell him/her that I really didnt mean that comment anyway and I say it to all of the students to build confidence and play it off.

If I didnt, I would publicly ask the person to scrub out. Its fine to be in the OR if youre not interested, but insults shouldnt be tolerated.

 

[DrBowtie]

Bye Bye Honors.

 

[MrBigLips]

Bye Bye Honors.

word.

 

[TiggidyTooth]

The ignorance of this student is off the charts. The surgeon is the smartest doctor in the hospital. Period.

Tooth

 

[45408]

Tell them that they'll appreciate the more cerebral aspect of surgery when they repeat their rotation 😉

 

[Dr.LeoSpaceman]

The ignorance of this student is off the charts. The surgeon is the smartest doctor in the hospital. Period.

Tooth

Not sure I'd agree with that as a blanket statement, seeing as "smart" is such a nebulous term. I'd certainly say that surgeons are, on the whole, likely the most versatile doctors in the hospital.

But I do agree with the general sentiment that this comment wouldn't offend me. I generally don't take offense to comments made out of obvious ignorance.

 

[maxheadroom]

Not sure I'd agree with that as a blanket statement, seeing as "smart" is such a nebulous term. I'd certainly say that surgeons are, on the whole, likely the most versatile doctors in the hospital.

But I do agree with the general sentiment that this comment wouldn't offend me. I generally don't take offense to comments made out of obvious ignorance.

Hmmm . . . I read that statement as being a bit tongue-in-cheek.

 

[cpants]

Offended, no. Poor opinion of the student, yes.

 

[Chirurgia magna]

I wouldn't say I would be offended but I would certainly think the student is a pompous jackass. I was asked a few times during my rotations about one specialty or the other and I answered it respectfully every time. I started by saying what I enjoyed about their specialty and why I would find that attractive and then described where my interests lie and why I think my chosen field would fit my goals and personality better. All the attendings responded very favorably to that some even mentioned it during my evaluation.

To simply answer, I like to use my brain, is an ignorant and arrogant response, unless this conversation took place during an orthopedic surgery. Even then my response would have been quite different.

 

[twinmommd]

The attitude expressed in the original post was the one I held prior to my surgery rotation a little over a year ago. Fortunately, I had too much tact to mention it 😉 and was convinced of how wrong I was (in just the first week) just by paying attention in the OR.

 

[doc05]

you guys really need to lighten up and stop taking offense at every little comment.

the fact is that we tend to overestimate the intellectual rigor of what we do -- but this is true of our nonsurgical colleagues as well.

 

[MrBigLips]

I found this pretty offensive and I'm not even a surgeon... yet. It would've been offensive even if they even said it about someone who's not even in the medical field. Telling someone their brain is not required to do the job they do is pretty offensive.

A simple, "I'm not really interested" would have sufficed.

 

[DrBowtie]

I think the most offensive part is that this is a student to attending comment. JFC know your role.

 

[skiz knot]

To simply answer, I like to use my brain, is an ignorant and arrogant response, unless this conversation took place during an orthopedic surgery. Even then my response would have been quite different.

HEY! Me had used brain part once while hammer!

 

[Severus]

I think the most offensive part is that this is a student to attending comment. JFC know your role.

This.

 

[dpmd]

Actually a student saying this to the resident still falls under the not knowing your place clause. If it was someone I was pretty friendly with and it sounded like a joke I might laugh a little and say something joke insulting about what they were going in to. If it wasn't (or if it didn't sound like a joke) I might not say anything, but would not give them a good eval or the opportunity to do any more procedures. Yes, that is a little mean, but it would piss me off (and rightfully so I would think). It is rude.

 

[aashiq]

an attending asked someone why they weren't going into surgery since they've displayed excellent manual dexterity during cases and their response was...

"I'd rather do something that uses my brain."

*note this person is going into IM, Peds or Med-Peds

** double note, I meant how offended would an attending or you (surgical resident). Med school has killed me english skills.

I would just laugh it off - this time. Wait for the opportunity to prove that brains are of new use if your hands can not move. That opportunity always comes.

 

[Pir8DeacDoc]

who cares what some lame-o med student thinks? I've proven myself for a long time to a lot of different people (we all have), I don't need to worry what some ill informed med student thinks.

 

[MossPoh]

Hell, depends on the tone. One COULD say that nice and creepy to make it sexual. "You certaintly have nice manual dexterity 😉"

Since I'm a med student, I obviously can't say how offended I'd feel but I would think, "Wow bud, you really don't know how to play the game, do you?"

 

[Golding]

If I were the attending I don't think I would feel offended (let's see how I feel in a few years, of course), but I agree that the student showed very poor judgment and would need to impress to gain some ground lost with the comment.

If the student really intends to do something that involves the brain, I would suggest starting early and think about the consequences of taking shots at his peers' chosen field.

 

[blh53]

How about this one which I read in an interview with a graduating med student who went to med school after working in the film industry.

"That’s why I wanted to stay in primary care, rather than go into a subspecialty. I’m less concerned about prestige and money this time around and more concerned about doing good and useful work."

That seems to me like it could be taken as somewhat-to-very offensive to a doctor in any given specialty area. Am I the only one who feels this way about the quote?

 

[Winged Scapula]

How about this one which I read in an interview with a graduating med student who went to med school after working in the film industry.

"That's why I wanted to stay in primary care, rather than go into a subspecialty. I'm less concerned about prestige and money this time around and more concerned about doing good and useful work."

That seems to me like it could be taken as somewhat-to-very offensive to a doctor in any given specialty area. Am I the only one who feels this way about the quote?

Eh...everyone is always trying to bash others.

PP surgeons talk about how they are better technically than those in academics, and academics talk about how much more they are up to date on research, etc.

Everyone has to be king, no one wants to be a peasant.

 

[Mr Cookie Pants]

I'd conjure up my best Misterioso spirit and then combine that with Ari Gold to do some variation of this...while maintaining sterile technique, of course.