How to handle this diplomatically?

[lilnoelle]

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No, I've just learned how to play the game and have little tolerance for whining. A friend of mine did 3 years of medical school away from her husband, including all of her first pregnancy. I have little tolerance for people who whine excessively about how things aren't "fair."

(I know your not addressing this to me... I'm just carrying on my previous thought)

Sure. I really dislike whiners as well. But I think there is a happy medium between whining and bending over and taking it.

Anyway... I plan on taking a couple of away months next year AND I have kids, so its not the "away" time that I have issue with. I just don't like how the individuals in the Op's clerkship have handled themselves.
I think that if we're expected to act professionally, then we should also demand to be treated in a professional manner.

 

[vtucci]

I would tread very carefully with the administration and trying to alter your rotation assignment.

As you can see from the reaction on this thread, you can develop a reputation as a whinner and it can poison your relationships with classmates, residents and attendings even outside the rotation that you are on. I guarantee almost everyone in your class will face a scheduling or team problem during third year. Learning how to deal with it, is part of the process.

I am sorry that you have to be that far away from your family even with housing provided by the school. Although I don't think anyone should be required to go that far away from campus for a rotation, married or single. When your school elicits feedback, you should offer that they should advertise this reality to applicants so applicants and future med students would be aware that they could potentially be sent 110 miles away for rotations-- therefore, if anyone chooses to go to your school, they have agreed to do so if required. If an applicant is not willing to do this because of family reasons, they can chose not to apply or matriculate.

Unfortunately, most schools do not readily advertise far locations. I know most of my classmates are annoyed by having to drive more than 20 minutes to a location especially in this economy.

At the height of my family rotation, gas prices were $4/gallon and I was driving 28 miles one way to one of my sites. Fortunately, we got a little reimbursement for gas from this site and it was one of the best experiences I had as a third year in rural medicine. I could be there in the morning on campus in the afternoon and then drive back home with a total of over 50 miles per day. I put 10000 miles on a new car very quickly in third year. It is a price we pay.

Try to find the silver lining of this rotation-- you might have an amazing experience clinically.

 

[SoCuteMD]

(I know your not addressing this to me... I'm just carrying on my previous thought)

Sure. I really dislike whiners as well. But I think there is a happy medium between whining and bending over and taking it.

Anyway... I plan on taking a couple of away months next year AND I have kids, so its not the "away" time that I have issue with. I just don't like how the individuals in the Op's clerkship have handled themselves.
I think that if we're expected to act professionally, then we should also demand to be treated in a professional manner.

Honestly, I don't see what is particularly unprofessional about the assignment process. If I were in charge of assigning students, I'd get aggravated by the repeated whining and probably stop taking phone calls as well. I'm guessing that whoever is in charge of this has many other job duties to complete in any given day.

My other impression is that we've only heard ONE side of the story, from someone who is trying to present their case in the most favorable light. First it was "I can't believe I was placed 36 miles away" (which I happen to think is a perfectly reasonable commute). Then it became "It's 110 miles away." The OP tried to draw a parallel between her situation and that of someone with children - which frankly is insulting to those who are trying to balance medical school and children.

Could things be managed differently? Sure. Should they? I don't know, I'm not there. I do know that when people in my class have issues like this we don't spend hours whining (and subsequently defending our whining) on SDN. We sit down with our student reps and bring it up. We send class-wide emails saying, "If you've had this problem, please remember to mention it on your course evals." Every LCME-accredited school MUST have course evaluations - so those are a simple, widely available recourse for student grievances.

 

[xanthines]

Well, there's that expression "The squeaky wheel gets the grease." It'd be one thing if the admin had a reasonable explanation or manners. Repeated attempts then become whining. However, it seems like the OP got a response along the lines of f*** you.

I guess I could be interpreting things incorrectly, but I'd try a few times if I got that response as well.

-X