Intern complaining about teaching attending

[theneh]

I finishing up my second month, which for me is medicine. The other interns on my team and I have spent the last couple weeks bitching incessantly to each other about how poor our private "teaching" attending has been. We have our medicine months split between private and hospitalist...anyway, i brought it up casually to a senior on the service with us and she agrees that the attending could teach more, but doesn't think it's that bad...i think it is the second year that the attending is teaching. I have been nothing, but pissed and angry everyday...it's terrible...i have been reading in my free time, which has helped make up for the lack of education, but seriously it's a labor service with no teaching...
What should I do? keep my mouth shut, maybe approach a different senior or talk with the PD who is very accessible and friendly??? between this, the hospital bureaucracy, annoying staff, senseless admissions, i am soooo annoyed all the time. should I suck it up or do sumthin?

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[jdh71]

I finishing up my second month, which for me is medicine. The other interns on my team and I have spent the last couple weeks bitching incessantly to each other about how poor our private "teaching" attending has been. We have our medicine months split between private and hospitalist...anyway, i brought it up casually to a senior on the service with us and she agrees that the attending could teach more, but doesn't think it's that bad...i think it is the second year that the attending is teaching. I have been nothing, but pissed and angry everyday...it's terrible...i have been reading in my free time, which has helped make up for the lack of education, but seriously it's a labor service with no teaching...
What should I do? keep my mouth shut, maybe approach a different senior or talk with the PD who is very accessible and friendly??? between this, the hospital bureaucracy, annoying staff, senseless admissions, i am soooo annoyed all the time. should I suck it up or do sumthin?

I'm not sure I'm getting a sense of the exact problem here yet. I do sense your frustration - keenly.

Do you do bedside rounds with this attending?

 

[theneh]

sorry, i am exhausted, should be sleeping...basically we sit and go over new admits, the attg rushes us and tends to agree with our plan providing no insight or teaching point (always in a hurry), then we do bedside rounds where we are ignored the whole time, except when presenting our patients where eye contact is made...it's completely fruitless. the attg isn't mean, just doesn't seem to care, almost seems distracted.
this attg is relatively new, and needs to change, but i am the only one who wants to be vocal about it...other interns on the service are always flustered and complain privately, but don't want to put themselves out there...should i be that guy or lay low
on the other hand, i was thinking maybe i should get over it and drown my sorrows next weekend when I'm off and done with the medicine month.

 

[IMdocT]

i think that's a problem everywhere. there are some attendings who are better than others at teaching. i think the primary way to deal with it is to mention it in your eval of the attendings, but explain why you feel that way. or the senior, who is supposed to be kind of acting between the intern and the attending, should privately ask the attending to do something different during rounds

 

[gman33]

How long are you going to have to work with this attending?
Maybe it's worth it if it is going to be a long time.
If not, I'd probably just deal with it for the time being.

Don't want to burn a bridge you may need some day.
If you have feedback session with this attending, maybe say something like, "I learn best when x,y,z occurs." Frame it more in what would help you, rather than saying the attending has a poor (non-existent) teaching style.

 

[theneh]

So apparently one of my senior residents brought it up to the DME at our hospital, and it will be "addressed". I found out another intern also complained, so maybe that did the trick. anyway, thanks for the input, more of a rant than really a question here...i have anger issues

 

[IMdocT]

well, at my program, private attendings can be removed from the teaching service if enough people complain

 

[jdh71]

well, at my program, private attendings can be removed from the teaching service if enough people complain

At my old shop we got completely rid of the "private" attending service for the residents. Private attendings can still admit, but they don't get residents anymore, mostly because they were unpleasant to work with. They'd still consult specialty services and then try and punt pages to residents on those services, and they nipped that in the bud too.

 

[theneh]

At my old shop we got completely rid of the "private" attending service for the residents. Private attendings can still admit, but they don't get residents anymore, mostly because they were unpleasant to work with. They'd still consult specialty services and then try and punt pages to residents on those services, and they nipped that in the bud too.

yea, i just think that's best. At my institution, the teaching privates have a nice deal, basically residents run the show. From my perspective it's scary cause i never feel like there is true attending supervision, but luckily my senior residents on the service are pretty awesome. We'll see what happens with this attending...i gots the unit next anyway, where i'll be exposed and owned daily...life is good...