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welcome to what residency will be like.

When you’re starting your first year you’ll be basically doing everything wrong as you truly know nothing.
You’ll rotate on services you don’t care about, while studying for actually difficult exams like ABFAS. APMLE in hindsight is a joke.
I assisted in so many weird cases as a resident.
You’ll be a resident when students want to scrub in. You’ll be with another resident and probably an annoying student.
You’ll be told what to do and what not to do.
You’ll be controlled which probably won’t let up until you’re a senior, at most programs.


You described the everyday life as a resident essentially. Especially as an intern.
If you don’t like this it’s going to be a LONG 3 years for you.
Only 100x more tired and exhausted.
 
When I was a student, if you did a longer clerkship/core at West Penn you had to do a plastics rotation for like 2 weeks. During that time, you were also expected to participate in any podiatry academics/events that were going on. The first fellow I was with was very chill - they seemed to recognize that I wasn't from the town, that I had no real resources of money or family or help, that I was driving from the opposite side of town, that I needed to eat, do laundry etc. They were then rapidly replaced by a new fellow who was not chill. The hours had been long before ie. often till midnight. The hours then became insanely brutal. He wanted me to stay for cases that were call/ open hand traumas going until 2-4 am and then cover a clinic at 7am the next morning. The hours only improved because the plastics attending told the fellow that he was f&*(ing useless to him because people who stay up until 4am aren't lucid and useful in an elective plastics clinic. They did allow me to help in cases and I was told I was doing a good job by the attendings - especially on helping hand cases which are obviously relevant and similar to foot cases. I had no opportunity or time at all for reading (never left the OR, some might like that) though I was never really pimped. The fellow was pimped a lot. It was interesting to me that the residents rested/took time/slipped off when they needed it, but as a student I was simply handed person to person often from 5:30 am to midnight and beyond.

There's a thread over on Reddit about how to tolerate toxic people on rotations. It might be relevant to you. I think people reading this are either going to sympathize with you or tell you to cowboy up because they went through it. My residency expected a lot of me, but it was not anywhere as physically rigorous as my brief time on plastics.

What I will simply tell you is - this too shall pass. Survive. Move on. Time will heal your wounds. I somewhat look back on my brief plastics rotation as a brutal interval of interesting cases. I in fact remember my time on plastics more fondly then I remember my time on podiatry. It will end.

This doesn't help you, but the simple truth is your story should be an incentive to students to use the whole of the year for studying and preparation because there may be a month where you never actually get to take any time for yourself.
 
I felt the same way on every off service rotation. You are just there. Forget what the other residents or attendings think about you. They are not there for you. They do not want to really teach you. You are just there because their program made an agreement with the podiatry school you came from. Try and absorb as many pieces of knowledge as you can. You can pick up a lot of tips and tricks in surgery from different specialties that you would never be exposed to if you just did podiatry rotations alone. So look at it from that perspective. Just pay attention. Even if you are not doing anything. You can still learn.

Study enough to not kill anyone and to stay afloat. But you will never be on par with the residents or even the MD/DO medical students who might be on rotation too. Their knowledge base is much better than the podiatry student. Those are the facts. Just accept that and do the best you can.
 
It sounds like you don’t like the program, so why care? Don’t show up, no one ever actually fails a clerkship
 
I mean if you’ve already complained to the chief I don’t think you’re getting this place anyways. I hate complaining. Focus on getting the most out of it including studying when you can. Keep your head down. This will make you better
 
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