Med students fighting with each other on the wards

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odyssey2

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Has anyone had to deal with in-class conflicts between med students on the wards or in the classroom? How did you deal with it?

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Has anyone had to deal with in-class conflicts between med students on the wards or in the classroom? How did you deal with it?
Yes, mostly related to scut.

People refusing to transfuse their patients because it was getting close to shift change or faking that they were busy so they didn't have to go to the OR when it was their turn. Mmmm the drama.

The only time I kinda yelled at somebody was at an intern on my surgery rotation. Usually there are 9-ish students at the ER at any given point. That time, 6 of them where at the OR, so only 3 of us were left at the ER. 1 was manually ventilating a patient, I was taking a patient to an MRI and somebody else helping out with 2 patients with Gunshot wounds. I came back to the ER after the MRI and went to help with the other patients in the shock room, the intern yelled at me that I was doing absolutely nothing. I just snapped and yelled back that I just came from the MRI, listed all the things I did before and told her that we haven't even had dinner because of how busy we were (It was around 2am).

As an Intern I was really submisive and easily manipulated. I could never say no and didn't confront students when I had to. I even had a student say "I know you're weak, so I scolded another student on your behalf"... Ehhh

Although, I've fought with patients (yelling) more than with students/coworkers.

If it's minor just shrug it off, you won't see them again after a few weeks. If it's harassment then report it.
 
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You realize they’re not evaluating you and you’re paying a lot of money to be there. And you won’t likely have to deal with them after a while.

also, keep in mind that introspection is a good tool; perhaps you’re not the easiest to deal with. This is also a good idea to consider in a marriage conflict as well.

but, as a med student the content of your argument is probably not consequential. It probably won’t affect pt care. Residency and beyond, perhaps.

you match, start residency and find some new people to disagree with.

staying in your lane is always a good option.
It’s good practice for the future.
 
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Has anyone had to deal with in-class conflicts between med students on the wards or in the classroom? How did you deal with it?

Never in the classroom and maybe sometimes on wards.It was usually some concern about who gets to scrub in on what case or who gets to see which patient.

1. You generally have a gist of who's going to try to pull something like this from the get-go. Don't wait for examples to accumulate. Address the issue at the very beginning with the very first instance. Speak directly to the person you have an issue with in private. Don't use accusatory language. Just state the facts and state your solution (case assignment by rotation) and give them a chance to counter and come to a solution.

2. If it happens again, call it out (again in private). If it doesn't stop after that, contact the clerkship director (CD) and tell him/her that you have spoken with this person twice directly and the behavior has not stopped.

3. Speak for yourself and don't get anyone else on the team involved including your own classmates. If you tell residents/attending, you may very see it as an important issue, but they're all going to see it as your failure for not working this out yourself and see it as another item on their plate. It's also a waste of time to try to get other classmates to take your side. If someone else mentions the issue, you can say that you had an issue and reported it to the CD and you encourage them to do the same if they feel similarly.
 
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This makes me wonder, If you were in a cage match for honors on a rotation and you could only have one surgical instrument, what would it be?


You could do some damage with one of these bad boys:

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I haven’t gotten involved in this type of thing too much. I’m ambitious, but also pretty laid-back on an interpersonal level. If you’re pulling some sort of shenanigans, I’ll certainly judge you for it privately but it’s usually not worth making a scene about.

Maybe it’s different in some specialties but at least for me, as a psych resident, I really don’t like fake eagerness in medical students. I find it pretty easy to tell when somebody is just trying to impress me versus genuinely interested in learning. I never really “played the game,” even as a med student. I would express genuine interest but would not try to go out of my way to find ways to impress people. I think most residents are aware when this stuff is happening and it often backfires.
 
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