med student intro to a patient

[realruby2000]

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Im thinkin of doin an internship this summer in IM...and there's this one question on the app askin about how to introduce urself to a patient:

""Please provide a brief (100 words or less) example of how you would introduce yourself to a new patient (i.e., "My name is _____, I'm from _______, and I am pursuing a medical degree because _____", etc. ""

the only thing that comes to mind is "hello my name is "so and so"and I'm a medical student at so and so school... and i wanna be a doctor" what else do you think these guys want? im sure a patient who doesnt even know me isnt really interested in my life story.

thanks

 

[ckent]

Your application question is a stupid question and probably was not written by doctors. If someone started talking about why they were in medicine when they introduced themselves, patients would justly think that they were an idiot. I'm not sure what the question is looking for, but my standard intro is:
"Hi, my name is ckent, I'm a medical student and I'll be seeing you first if that's alright with you."
This introduction accomplishes several things:
it informs the patient that I am a student
it informs the patient that someone (a resident or attending) will be seeing the patient later
If you directly asked the patients whether or not they would mind seeing you, I suspect that patients would think that you weren't on their treatment team and they might be more inclined to turn you away at the door. If you get turned away at too many patients' doors, attendings will probably start thinking that you are either too sensitive or deficient in your interpersonal skills. By stating it as "if that's alright with you", patients don't have to verbally agree to be seen by you, but they still have the option to turn you away if it really bothers them that you are a students. I don't ask questions if I get turned away at the beginning of the patient interview, but if patients change their mind late in the interview or exam, I will usually ask why they are no longer comfortable being seen by me and try to make them comfortable with seeing me.
I suppose that for the purpose of answering your application question, you might add "do you have any questions about what level of training that I am at?" Asking this or other open ended questions might serve to elicit any discomfort by the patient has about seeing a medical student. Then again, maybe the question was written by a doc who wanted to see how many med students would lie about the way they introduce themselves in the wards and you should just be honest.

 

[Dodge This]

I agree that the prompt is just plain stupid. It takes less than 20 words and 2 sentences to effectively introduce yourself to a patient, as ckent very effectively described above. There's nothing philosophical about it at all.

 

[BellKicker]

I have a good way to introduce yourself: (think busy ER)

"Hi, I'm Bellkicker, I'm just a med student. The doctor is, like, super busy right now so there's a bit of a wait. I can examine you first and if it's something I can figure out we can speed things up a bit"

(meanwhile, the docs are eating donuts down the hall).

 

[shag]

"My name is __Shag___, I'm from __a rural area_____, and I am pursuing a medical degree because _I like science and want to help people____" ... uh, wrong thread.

That really is a stupid question...

My real intro is simple... "My name is Shag. I'm the student doctor on your care team. What brings you in today?"

I've only had 1 person question me. I gave him the "I'm the info gatherer who is going to get you admitted, then you will see my upper levels" talk. He was OK with that. If he wasn't, he would still be admitted but would likely get to spend a couple or three more hrs in the ED waiting on an intern or resident.

I use "student doctor" instead of "medical student" because most people put more emphasis on the last word out of your mouth. I'm paying a lot of money to work 115 hours a week, and don't want to make it 120 by explaining my life story to every patient I see. 🙂

By the way, don't use the above in your answer if you want that internship 🙂

 

[UCLA2000]

Why the hell are you going to tell a patient why you want to go into medicine!? Does anyone really think that they are interested in that stuff? Also..is it really their business?

...Just a thought.

 

[kcrd]

It sounds to me like everyone is missing the point - I think this is just someone's idea of a creative essay question. They don't really expect you to introduce yourself that way to an actual patient, they just want to get an idea of why you want to become a doctor.