is it bad to tell your resident they suck

Not everyone is born to be a good teacher and residents are no exception. Instead of pointing out how incompetant and terrible they are try asking specific questions about things you want to know more about re: a procedure or patient management. Remember that your team's primary job is taking care of patients and that alone keeps them very busy. They are also students themselves and are trying to learn just like you. Finally, the more you do to help them and make their lives easier; the more likely they will go out of their way to help you.

 

Yeah, it would be bad to tell them they suck. From what I've heard, one big part of matching to a residency program is your ability to get along well with others and work as a team. If there's any way you want to do residency in that program, try not to offend people. Residents can have a big say in the match rankings of their programs... a resident I was working with a while ago told me about a girl that all the attendings liked but none of the residents did. She wasn't ranked high because of the feedback given by the residents.

The residents might not be teaching much if they're really busy... try to do what you can to help them out and they'll probably do some teaching. Take some initiative instead of having them just show you stuff... ask them what they're doing and why. Get involved, but don't be annoying while you're at it.

 

I also had terrible surgery residents who ignored me and weren't interested in teaching and generally made it a miserable experience. In my case they were all males (as were the other med students on my team) and I was the only female. I felt like my interaction with them was horrible and that they didn't like me at all, but I just tried to ignore it and to work as hard as I could. I did confront one of them in private (because he outright mocked me and then said women shouldn't go into surgery so I couldn't help myself), but otherwise I just tried not to let it bother me. When I got my evaluations they were surprisingly good, commenting on my excellent knowledge base, motivation, etc. etc. - except for the eval from the one resident I confronted, which was awful.

Based on this I would recommend to you that you just work hard and not rock the boat as it can come across as whiny and/or insulting very easily (even if you do your best not to sound this way). I suppose there are those who would respect you for bringing the issue out into the open, but in my experience they are in the minority among residents. If you demonstrate that you have been reading, keep up on all your patients, and volunteer to help out when there is scut to do, they will respect and remember that and you may be surprised to find that your evals are not nearly as bad as you expect. Many times during third year I was certain a resident or attending disliked me, only to find out that they gave me a great eval. I think the residents in particular are just stressed out and self-involved, worrying about their own performance, so that they don't realize how off-putting they are being to med students. I hope this helps and best of luck with third year!

 

Hi there,
One of the hallmarks of a medical education is that it is largely up to you to get what you need. Your residents have their education and you are responsible for getting yours. Much of the literature of surgery can be learned from Lawrence or Surgical Recall. The practical stuff can be gleaned from your classmates or other residents.

Instead of spending one minute trying to analyze their attitudes, spend some time getting surgical knowledge from any source that you can find. When I was a third-year medical student, I could not have cared less about my residents. I read and aced my shelf exam. I learned my craft anyone who was interested in teaching me. I learned how to tie knots by using the Ethicon website. If one source doesn't work for you, find another.

I promise you that residency is going to work this way. Some attendings are going to be interested in teaching but others will not. It is up to you to get what you need. After all, you are paying the thousands of tuition dollars and you have one shot at this rotation. Go out and get what you need. Your grade will look much better if you do well on the shelf.

njbmd

 

Well if they are like Grey's Anatomy female residents, good luck.