MD Is the feedback "you try hard" a compliment or insult?

[Caltechstud]

So - I am on a EM rotation - where getting good evaluation is pretty high stakes. I just did a shift with the program director - and asked for feedback at end of shift. She basically said "You did OK, you try really hard". I have no idea if she is a low grader or high grader - whether an "OK" really means you are fine or that you sucked. I am really bothered by the comment "you try hard" - seem to imply that I am incompetent, but another friend said its a compliment meaning you are a hard worker. What's you guy's opinion on this?

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[GoodWillShunting]

To be honest, everybody's gonna give a different answer. Language kind of requires listening to intonation and watching body language, and even then, we're probably wrong a decent amount of the time.

Maybe she was being polite. Maybe she actually meant it in a good way. Maybe she honestly couldn't really remember because her mind is saturated with other things and she didn't know what to say.

Next time, consider asking what you could do better, specifically. Assuming she's not in the middle of 18 patients or on the other side of a prostate.


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[Tenk]

Pretty sure that's a bad thing to be told from any ED doc. What year are you and what are some of your interactions like and how long are your presentations and did you do any procedures in front of said attending?

 

[NickNaylor]

Could be either. When I provide feedback to residents or have informal gossip sessions with attendings about students, "you try hard" is dependent on the rest of the overall picture. "You try hard" could be great feedback if the student is otherwise a good student: it might suggest an eagerness to learn, responsive to feedback and incorporates that into his/her work, interested in the material, etc.. For a weak student it might imply the "overbearing" medical student who is just annoying and gets in the way. Really depends.

As a student, though, that's pretty useless feedback. I would ask for more details if you specifically seek out feedback and get vague or unhelpful information. You might ask what the attending meant by that to get more details. Sometimes attendings are just uncomfortable with providing negative feedback, so they may use weasel words to try and get out of expressing what they're really thinking.

 

[IlDestriero]

You try hard doesn't mean you're a hard worker. That's a criticism wrapped up like a compliment.
Think about it in different context. If your gardener tries hard and does OK managing your garden you're going to be looking for a new gardener before too long. The difference is that you don't fire your medical student so "OK" is just that, OK.


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Il Destriero

 

[MrChance2]

It doesn't matter. Move on. The best you can do is trying hard regardless so keep doing that and the rest will come.

 

[bannie22]

Keeping trying hard. What else can you do

 

[ACSurgeon]

Keeping trying hard. What else can you do

You can look for clear feedback and try to improve. Sometimes it's about working smarter not harder!

 

[oncology2020]

Doesn't matter, dont overthink it and dwell on feedback like this otherwise you'll drive yourself crazy in residency, keep moving on and try being self reflective and constantly trying to improve yourself. Evals are subjective and evals like the one your attending submitted are even more useless and provide absolutely no targeted feedback. Just keep doing your best and working hard.

 

[Gorne]

You try hard = the effort is there but the performance is sub-par.

 

[@Hazel-rah]

Are you aware of the EM Clerkship Primer by Wald?
Emergency Medicine Clerkship Primer

If not, just thought I'd share. Good luck!

 

[grapefruit17]

You try hard = the effort is there but the performance is sub-par.

I would agree with this. The attending said you did ok, which means she doesn't find you memorable but she says that you put in effort. So, not a terrible eval but not great either.

It's good at least, to have people thinking that you try hard. Imo, the ones that try the hardest have the highest potential for growth. Everyone starts somewhere.

But also evals are so subjective to begin with..my best evals were on rotations that I put in half the effort vs rotations where I worked my butt off. I was just liked a lot more by some vs others.

Or, another option is she was just busy/tired and didn't feel like going into it with you and just wanted to go home.

 

[cbrons]

"You did OK, you try really hard"

Context is everything

 

[precisiongraphic]

At the beginning of an assignment, I think it would be advisable to ask the supervising MD how they give feedback and how they would prefer you to interrelate. For example, when the feedback was given "you tried hard" it would be nice to know if you should follow up at that moment or is there another time where you could ask for/receive feedback. For example, when she said that, you could have asked for constructive feedback then or asked her for time to review at X time in the future, such as in her office later or over coffee or whatever time she had previously indicated would be good to receive feedback.

Part of a supervising physician's job is to give feedback and getting "you try hard" isn't going to help you do better in the future and, like most students, getting better is the goal. I'm sure not many students are ever perfect in their rotations, so it's not like you are asking for anything out of the ordinary. I would also advise sitting down and formulating questions to ask her at these meetings to tease out (if needed) the nuances of what she has observed and what needs to be improved or amplified in regards to your performance. Ain't none of us perfect all the time.