Med Students Suck

[GoPistons]

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Are any interns having problems with their medical students?... I wish mine would just go away... they are seriously slowing me down and interrupting when I am trying to think about labs and what-not... most of my day is spent trying to hide from them, but they manage to find me and slow me down about 3X...

Now I realize how annoying I must of been... when the intern is carrying like 12 patients and one of them is seizing, while the other one is GI bleeding... and the med student is like what's an INR?... I just want to die...

 

[scaphoid]

Show me a BMS who only triples my work and I will kiss your feet.

 

[Annoyances]

Show me a BMS who only triples my work and I will kiss your feet.

Don't answer all their questions tell them to read about it. Sometimes also tell them flatly you don't know and they can go ask someone else like the senior or something. I agree endless questions can be freaking annoying.

 

[DOtobe]

Show me a BMS who only triples my work and I will kiss your feet.

Now that I have been working with medical students, I believe this 100%. The Fat Man was very wise. 😎

 

[Entei]

I agree... we suck. That's one of the reasons why I make it a point to never ask a question that I can easily look up the answer to myself. That's why I've got a PDA with all the trimmings.

BUT... try to keep this in mind when you fill out those evaluation sheets. I don't want it coming back to haunt me that I was "too quiet" and "should ask more questions."

Good luck. Hope it gets better.

 

[gtb]

I'm a R1, and I LOVE MEDICAL STUDENTS !!!

Maybe I've gotten lucky, but when I'm admitting, any help I get is so appreciated. Of course they don't know as much as we do, that's why our title is M.D. and theirs is MS3/4. I would imagine myself a much more average medical student than those of you who complaining, because without question, I too slowed down my residents with questions. Even now I slow down my senior residents and attendings from completing their work in the most efficient way possible by yet again asking questions.

Why is it that the very best residents and physicians never whine about how medical students bog up the system? Instead they're often the ones praising how much fun it is to work with MS. I gotta tell you, from my own limited experience, if medical students are bogging down your efficiency, you should look at your own management style instead of blaming somebody else. My guess is that it's not the medical students screwing up your game.

 

[Eyesore]

I'm a R1, and I LOVE MEDICAL STUDENTS !!!

Maybe I've gotten lucky, but when I'm admitting, any help I get is so appreciated. Of course they don't know as much as we do, that's why our title is M.D. and theirs is MS3/4. I would imagine myself a much more average medical student than those of you who complaining, because without question, I too slowed down my residents with questions. Even now I slow down my senior residents and attendings from completing their work in the most efficient way possible by yet again asking questions.

Why is it that the very best residents and physicians never whine about how medical students bog up the system? Instead they're often the ones praising how much fun it is to work with MS. I gotta tell you, from my own limited experience, if medical students are bogging down your efficiency, you should look at your own management style instead of blaming somebody else. My guess is that it's not the medical students screwing up your game.

Are we to infer from your post that you are one of the very best residents? 😀

 

[Blade28]

I had 2-4 great med students during last month's rotation - they were all at the end of their third year, so they could write great SOAP notes on 2-4 patients every morning. Great stuff.

 

[DOtobe]

I had an awesome sub-I on my surgery rotation last month...he helped me out so much by seeing some of my patients in the morning! (like the morning I got to the hospital to find I had 12 patients to see, after only having 5 or 6 when I left the previous evening.) The other 3 students on my rotation were MS-3s, though, so I had to teach them more (the FP intern trying to teach surgery...interesting 😱 ). I try my best, especially since I was a medical student just two months ago, but sometimes I just want to get my work done.

 

[Capt_Mac]

I hope that you interns moaning and groaning about your med students realize that you do the exact same thing to your residents. They can do your job a whole lot quicker, and better than you. BUT, they tolerate your incompetencies hoping that you will learn and get better. With the changes in work hours, this is forcing us to learn how to better manage our work force and personel. Instead of running from them and hiding, you should learn how to manage your people a little better.

Also, don't forget, that was you less than 3 months ago. Nothing irks me more than an intern who thinks he is God's own gift to medicine just because someone handed him a piece of paper. Rule #1 on my service: it is not the intern's job to pimp studs, that is mine. you get this priveledge when you are where I am.

12 patients and you are feeling overwhelmed? ........hummmmmm.

 

[Lonestar]

med studs rock. Unfortunately, this is a perfect example of medicine eating its young alive. Its hard enough to try to learn massive amounts of information much less being around pricks like you. I am an R2 and not a single student has been a burden on me. I have done 4 months of ICU in internship (ie worked just as hard as you) and have had many students walking out of the rotation feeling like they were family. Leave em alone because they will be your future partners.

 

[Smurfette]

I'm an intern, and I think it goes both ways. Undoubtedly my seniors can do my job better, and it is obvious they don't always realize how much I don't know, but I often feel as though it is not ok for me to ask questions. While I usually assume my MS3's (esp in July/Aug) don't know how to do X, and am willing to explain, I find it frustrating to be battered with questions I can't answer. Afterall, I am new too. I also find it frustrating to be constantly telling the MS3's to correct the same SOAP note errors day after day, have them ignore things I suggest to them and to have med students treat me less respectfully because I am "only an intern" and thus (at my hospital) do not grade them--or on the flip side, constantly suck up to me, which is incredibly annoying.

Despite my above gripes, I actually really like having med students with me. There are good ones, average ones, and bad ones. Last month I had good ones, and I didn't mind them at all. This month, I have one in each category and it changes my efficiency depending on who I have with me.

The main reason for interns IMO that we get frustrated with students for is that we are not yet completely efficient at what we are doing, so having a med student "distracting" us (for lack of a better term) affects efficiency more now than it will once we're more comfortable in our new roles. Afterall, most students get at least somewhat protected from scutwork on the guise of there being less educational value in it...interns don't, so it takes a while to adjust.

 

[argh]

as an intern for the past month and change, I appreciate med students. The only ones I can't tolerate are the gunner students who want to launch into a treatise on chest pain with multiple references on post-call rounds when you have lots to do and very limited time to do it. Plus at my program the resident goes home overnight on a call night and stays the whole day the next day, so I can't stand it when I have a lot of work to hand over to him/her. This only makes me more frustrated. I'm waiting for someone higher up to clamp down, but if it keeps going I might have to pull these students aside.

 

[texdrake]

Are any interns having problems with their medical students?... I wish mine would just go away... they are seriously slowing me down and interrupting when I am trying to think about labs and what-not... most of my day is spent trying to hide from them, but they manage to find me and slow me down about 3X...

Now I realize how annoying I must of been... when the intern is carrying like 12 patients and one of them is seizing, while the other one is GI bleeding... and the med student is like what's an INR?... I just want to die...

In my opinion (and I am a fourth year student), assigning students to interns is plain stupid. Interns barely know much more than some fourth years and they are immensley busy. I find that education is much better at those institutions were students work with the upper level residents and faculty. I have experienced both and I can tell you that every time I was assigned to an intern it did nothing for my education. Also remember that the medical student isn't their to make your day easier...they should help, but they should be learning as well.

 

[Capt_Mac]

med studs rock. Unfortunately, this is a perfect example of medicine eating its young alive. Its hard enough to try to learn massive amounts of information much less being around pricks like you. I am an R2 and not a single student has been a burden on me. I have done 4 months of ICU in internship (ie worked just as hard as you) and have had many students walking out of the rotation feeling like they were family. Leave em alone because they will be your future partners.

Amen to that brother! You need to remember that to be a teacher was also part of the hippocratic oath. If you don't have time to teach, just tell your studs that you are busy, and set aside time for that elsewhere. I tell my studs to leave the intern alone for the most part for this reason.

For you interns, you need to decide right now what kind of resident you are going to be and develope the attributes and skills that will allow you to achieve this. News flash: You will never have more time than while as an intern! My program director told me this during internship and I thought he was full of crap, now, I see who was full of crap. Demands on your time will only increase as your responsibility increases. As a junior resident you will have to make sure your intern is doing his/her job, and take care of your patients, and operate and study..... this list goes on. Learn to deal with it now, manage your time and the time of those under you and residency will be a lot of fun. Don't, and you will be miserable for a long time.

 

[Dramkinola]

I also love my med students...
They take care of like 75% of my paperwork...
at least it feels like that...
and some of them are not too bad on the eyes, either... 😉

 

[GMO2003]

Well, all I can say is that when I was an intern doing my inpatient medicine months...the majority of medical students I had the pleasure of working with knew thier stuff cold...they made life a bit easier for me and worked up patients on their own with supervision of course... 🙂

 

[vietcongs]

As a new intern, I was given 4-5 med students. I try to be nice and teach, but I'm new as they are, and I don't know my head from my a$$ right now. I spend most of my time running around looking for the PGY-2 to get information. The med students here aren't allowed to do charting. They have to write SOAP notes in a personal journal, not on the chart. So they don't take it seriously. They show up 10 min before morning report, even when they've been reemed many times for being late. They rarely see patients and they don't take initiative. The kids I have now are just plain lazy. They really don't help me in any way.

 

[AznTrojan]

maybe i'm lucky.. but the med student i've had have been pretty well trained scut monkeys.. 😛

on the other hand.. one of my senior residents totally slows me down... he's a totally cool guy and all.. but damn.. i'll have 5 admissions in the ED by 7 am.... and usually i'll have 3-4 of them seen (H&P, orders, etc) by 2-4 pm.. but my senior resident has to go out.. see every single patient again.. and on top of that.. chase every wrong lab.. no matter how insignificant it truly is.. and mentally masturbate why every patient's total protein, magnesium, etc is low/high.. he'll make a problem list of 10-12 things per patient.. no matter how insignificant it is.. so by the time i see my last patient.. it will be around 9 pm.. argggh.. 😡

good god.. we had clear "three hots and cot" (guy who c/o burning chest pain.. but was actually homeless and hungry).. young.. no family history.. no drugs on board.. no diabetes.. no tobacco.. no fricking risk factors.. ekg normal.. cxr normal.. trops negative x2.. the guy didn't need to be admitted.. after having lunch and dinner.. the patient's pain went away.. but my senior made me admit the guy because his total protein was mildly elevated... WTF! 😡

 

[MD'05]

In my opinion (and I am a fourth year student), assigning students to interns is plain stupid. Interns barely know much more than some fourth years and they are immensley busy. I find that education is much better at those institutions were students work with the upper level residents and faculty. I have experienced both and I can tell you that every time I was assigned to an intern it did nothing for my education. Also remember that the medical student isn't their to make your day easier...they should help, but they should be learning as well.

I agree. Hell, some 3rd years know more than I do right now. Don't ask me about biochemical pathways, please!

This is so funny. We b-itch about interns and residents when we are medical students and once we are interns, we b*itch about medical students.

One has to remember that in order for these students to honor, they must outgun the interns. Let them be and let them shine. Excuse yourself from rounds to write orders and make phone calls. If you are that busy, I am sure the attending will understand.

 

[lowbudget]

I haven't had any med students, but I see them floating around in our hospital. I welcome them and am nice to them. Since we're not surgeons, they're better off sticking with the Sr Residents since we're not stressed out about operating time.

The biggest downfall with having med students is that they exposure all your inadequacies and insecurities about being an 4 week old intern.

 

[fang]

This is an interesting thread. I'm an MS3, and I guess I can see why you're griping-- you have a ton of work to do and it takes time to orient and direct a med student. I TRY to be as helpful as possible to the intern/resident I'm with, and to be sensitive about when to ask questions (e.g., not at 7PM when there are still 3 patients to round on...), but I can't read your minds either. If we're becoming annoying, why not just say "look, now is not the right time, but if you want to help why don't you XXX and we can talk about that later"? All the student in my group, while clueless overall, definitely want to help. Why not take advantage of that?

Here are some suggestions--
1. teach us how to do something time consuming, like enter a new admission in the computer-- it might not be 100% right, but I bet it takes you less time to read and fix the outline than start from scratch.
2. Tell us to see some patients and write a note (whether it goes in the chart or not). If it totally sucks, then at least we're out of your hair for a while and then we get to learn what we're doing wrong. If it's OK, you have less work to do.
3. personally, I don't mind "scut work" if that means the intern/resident will have more time for teaching. Point out some simple things we can do (look up labs, find vitals chart, call phlebotomy, ask pt about allergies, whatever). If that helps you out, great, and at least I'm involved in what's happening with the patient. It doesn't take any time to say "can look up X lab value? That's important because if it's Y we're going Z."

just some ideas.

 

[pbmax]

Maybe its me, but I agree with the original post. I had a MS-III both last month and this month. The medical student last month only wanted to follow a patient the day of admission - no matter how many times I reminded her to write SOAP notes, she never did. And then I get a page from her the other day, asking me if she can write up an interesting patient I was managing - she wasn't even following this patient. When I told her no, she totally sulked.

The medical student this month has got to be the most annoying human being I have ever met in the my whole life. When presenting a patient to the attending, she was asked why a patient was on Elavil. She then turned to me and seriously said, "Yes, pbmax, can you tell us why she was on Elavil..." I cannot wait to fill out her evaluation.

 

[DOtobe]

The medical student this month has got to be the most annoying human being I have ever met in the my whole life. When presenting a patient to the attending, she was asked why a patient was on Elavil. She then turned to me and seriously said, "Yes, pbmax, can you tell us why she was on Elavil..." I cannot wait to fill out her evaluation.

Wow. It's going to be a rough two years for her if she keeps acting like that!

 

[mamadoc]

on the other hand.. one of my senior residents totally slows me down... he's a totally cool guy and all.. but damn.. i'll have 5 admissions in the ED by 7 am.... and usually i'll have 3-4 of them seen (H&P, orders, etc) by 2-4 pm.. but my senior resident has to go out.. see every single patient again.. and on top of that.. chase every wrong lab.. no matter how insignificant it truly is.. and mentally masturbate why every patient's total protein, magnesium, etc is low/high.. he'll make a problem list of 10-12 things per patient.. no matter how insignificant it is.. so by the time i see my last patient.. it will be around 9 pm.. argggh.. 😡

..... but my senior made me admit the guy because his total protein was mildly elevated... WTF! 😡

I hear ya on that one. I had a senior on my intern unit month that I seriously thought I would strangle. I was frantically paging every imaginable consultant for an admit who was bleeding to death, and he asked me THREE TIMES if I'd gotten the EKG yet because her K was - gasp! 6.2. Not sure that was more important than the fact that her Hct was 15 and dropping, and she was max'ed out on three pressors, but when I got all exasperated at his hectoring he did the condescending, "I've been doing this for three years" kind of thing. Really, I honestly thought I would kill him. That was the longest month of my intern year which is OVER thank God!

 

[MD'05]

I just had a brilliant idea! I am going to make an orientation video for medical students to show them proper medical student behavior. Sell it for $19.95 per video.

 

[merlin]

so i'm an msIV right now and starting with the application process I find this thread somewhat interesting. i'm always amazed when I see some intern acting as though he/she had not just been a med student. presumably, many of you complaining about having med students were less than a year ago sitting in an office telling some interviewer how much you want to be in academic medicine because you love teaching and want to be immersed in others education. so next time you start wishing your med students would just vanish...one, most likely the med student is there hating the fact they think they have to follow you around or risk a bad evaluation and two, you most likely asked for this as you could have gone to some program without med students where you could be left alone. so stop complaining and treat your med students like humans because they are just like you, you are just older and apparently more bitter. cheers

 

[Blade28]

Here are some suggestions--
1. teach us how to do something time consuming, like enter a new admission in the computer-- it might not be 100% right, but I bet it takes you less time to read and fix the outline than start from scratch.
2. Tell us to see some patients and write a note (whether it goes in the chart or not). If it totally sucks, then at least we're out of your hair for a while and then we get to learn what we're doing wrong. If it's OK, you have less work to do.
3. personally, I don't mind "scut work" if that means the intern/resident will have more time for teaching. Point out some simple things we can do (look up labs, find vitals chart, call phlebotomy, ask pt about allergies, whatever). If that helps you out, great, and at least I'm involved in what's happening with the patient. It doesn't take any time to say "can look up X lab value? That's important because if it's Y we're going Z."

just some ideas.

Excellent ideas. 👍 I've been lucky so far - only worked with MSIIIs at the end of their third year. Should have some brand new third-years next month, though...that should be interesting!

 

[electra]

I've been an intern for about 6 weeks now and I have to say, I love it. I DO feel worked over and I DO wish I had more time to read, but overall, I am really enjoying my time. And I too have had good and not-as-good students.
One thing that I have found useful (similar to one of the students who posted) is to direct their learning a little. "Can you go and look up a short review article on X" works better than "go read."
Another is to indicate when a good time for teaching would be. "I'm kind of busy right now, but how about you do XYZ and think about something you would like to discuss and we can go through it later" works better than "go read."
Telling the med student what the expectation is works. "You need to be here at X time and the first thing you do is print the list and get all the labs from the computer. Then, we can divide up the patients." Or, these are your two patients. Every day, you see them, write a note, and be prepared to present them to the resident or attending. We can work on your presentation after the pre-rounds are done." Then work with them. Because the students CAN make your job easier.

It's really not fair to be disgusted with the students for wanting to learn and be helpful - that's where we were a few months ago. I remember how neat it was to learn how to do something and feel like I was contributing to the team.

 

[EMApplicant]

I've been an intern for about 6 weeks now and I have to say, I love it. I DO feel worked over and I DO wish I had more time to read, but overall, I am really enjoying my time. And I too have had good and not-as-good students.
One thing that I have found useful (similar to one of the students who posted) is to direct their learning a little. "Can you go and look up a short review article on X" works better than "go read."
Another is to indicate when a good time for teaching would be. "I'm kind of busy right now, but how about you do XYZ and think about something you would like to discuss and we can go through it later" works better than "go read."
Telling the med student what the expectation is works. "You need to be here at X time and the first thing you do is print the list and get all the labs from the computer. Then, we can divide up the patients." Or, these are your two patients. Every day, you see them, write a note, and be prepared to present them to the resident or attending. We can work on your presentation after the pre-rounds are done." Then work with them. Because the students CAN make your job easier.

It's really not fair to be disgusted with the students for wanting to learn and be helpful - that's where we were a few months ago. I remember how neat it was to learn how to do something and feel like I was contributing to the team.

I honestly don't feel that I have that much to teach med students at this point. Maybe later in the year, but, honestly, after the knowledge diuresis of 4th year...?

 

[Blade28]

Helping out with basic things, like explaining SOAP notes, admission/discharge orders, post-op notes, electrolyte repletions, indications for surgery, basic anatomy, and the generic "know your patient better than anyone else, read about their diseases," seems to work for me.

 

[cytoborg]

I love interacting with the students. So far all the students I've encountered have been eager to please and ready to learn -which is really all I expect of them. Granted, I don't know my head from my ass yet, but they really don't have a clue especially at the beginning, and I remember all too well what that feels like - and how it feels to be shat on by angry, cynical residents. Just one humane, patient resident who is willing to teach can be the saving grace for a poor med student whose existence is otherwise a living hell. I had a couple of fantastic resident role models who pretty much saved me from becoming completely disillusioned with medicine, so I figure it's my turn to do the same for somebody else. Plus, it's kinda cool when they ask me something and I actually know the answer! 😱 😀

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I love interacting with the students. So far all the students I've encountered have been eager to please and ready to learn -which is really all I expect of them. Granted, I don't know my head from my ass yet, but they really don't have a clue especially at the beginning, and I remember all too well what that feels like - and how it feels to be shat on by angry, cynical residents. Just one humane, patient resident who is willing to teach can be the saving grace for a poor med student whose existence is otherwise a living hell. I had a couple of fantastic resident role models who pretty much saved me from becoming completely disillusioned with medicine, so I figure it's my turn to do the same for somebody else. Plus, it's kinda cool when they ask me something and I actually know the answer! 😱 😀

I totally agree. My interactions with the visiting med students have been positive. I don't mind saying, "I don't know." If there's something I know, it's my pleasure to share that with them. Sure, answering their questions or walking them through your thought processes as you're looking at a slide or grossing in a specimen does slow me down. But I love to teach so the extra time is worth it.

Plus, I was a med student not too long ago. I f*cking hated being a med student. Being a clinical clerk/med stud/bitch where I was sucked major ass and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. Not being taught jack **** at times definitely contributed to that. Being ignored by the very people who are supposed to teach you (and ironically, evaluate your ass) was especially aggravating.

So when I deal with med students, I don't want them to feel how I felt as a little bitch med student. I want them to feel welcome and I want them to get at least something positive, no matter how little, from our interactions.

 

[yaah]

So when I deal with med students, I don't want them to feel how I felt as a little bitch med student. I want them to feel welcome and I want them to get at least something positive, no matter how little, from our interactions.

Too bad more people don't feel this way. It's unfortunate that so many people come out of med school with an attitude that med students are annoying little flies that should figure things out on their own (as well as make your life easier). Invariably, the most pain in the ass med students turn out to be the most pain in the ass attendings and residents.

What I cannot figure out: Why do people who have no desire to teach keep taking up spots at teaching hospitals and universities? Get the **** out and go work on your own where you can boss PAs around and get your glory. No one wants you here if you aren't interested in teaching. It's called a teaching hospital, fools. Teaching hospitals do not exist to provide gunner people with more and more degrees, speaking opportunities, and publications. Those are side issues. They exist to TRAIN the next generation of physicians, imparting the wisdom that has been learned through the ages, teaching about common mistakes, etc.

 

[lowbudget]

The problem isn't the eager med student who's one step ahead of you. The problem is the lazy med student:
1. who doesn't give a damn,
2. who obstructs your progress,
3. who calls in sick EVERY morning because they're HUNG OVER,
4. who takes EVERY allowable "excused absence",
5. who don't carry their load,
6. who dump their responsibilities on you (a fellow student or intern).

It's a work ethic issue. Wait until mid-year. They'll start to surface.

 

[Smurfette]

The problem isn't the eager med student who's one step ahead of you. The problem is the lazy med student:
1. who doesn't give a damn,
2. who obstructs your progress,
3. who calls in sick EVERY morning because they're HUNG OVER,
4. who takes EVERY allowable "excused absence",
5. who don't carry their load,
6. who dump their responsibilities on you (a fellow student or intern).

It's a work ethic issue. Wait until mid-year. They'll start to surface.

I completely agree with this. I don't mind med students overall...what I mind is the students who don't seem to "get it". I.e. the students who have bad attitudes, the students who flat out refuse to do something, the students who practically hump your leg and impede my ability to get work done, the ones who don't understand good vs bad timing to do something or ask questions (if the pt is bleeding out in the OR, this is NOT the time to ask the attending about his cabin up north or the resident about why he prefers phenergan over anzemet)... When I was a student (which was not very long ago at all) I tried to keep a good attitude and did what I was told and didn't complain and didn't badmouth my residents to other residents on the team. I tried to be on top of things without being overbearing or obnoxious. If I was given feedback to not do something, I didn't do it again. I think most students are like me on this....it's the outliers (all med students know who the outliers in their class are) that are who are frustrating---they are frustrating to be with as a med student, and frustrating to have to supervise as a resident.

I am always nice to my med students. I do not abuse them or send them on menial tasks, because I hated that when I was a student. I do not talk down to them or otherwise insult them. I do not tell them to leave me alone or go away, even if I want to when I have a migraine and feel like crap and have hours of scut to complete before I can get home. I always try to give feedback on notes or whatever. If I think of some good teaching point, I teach them. Just because I get frustrated with a student or dislike him in general does not mean anything...I get frustrated with my fellow residents and attendings and dislike some of them too. We could start a million threads, each one complaining about a different subset of the hospital (Junior residents suck, senior residents suck, house staff sucks, nurses suck, etc. etc.) and tons of people would throw in their two cents on these threads. So please people let's not get our undies in a bundle.

 

[RadOncMan]

If you don't like working with medical students, you should do the honorable thing and quit and go to a non-academic, community-based residency program where there are no med students. Otherwise, suck it up you whiner.

Same goes for being woken up in the middle of the night for a stupid question when you are on call. It's your friggin job. There are enough people out there that want to and cannot get into medical school that we don't need people who complain of their job in this profession.

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

Same goes for being woken up in the middle of the night for a stupid question when you are on call. It's your friggin job. There are enough people out there that want to and cannot get into medical school that we don't need people who complain of their job in this profession.

Coming from a future rad onc, this is pretty hilarious. You won't have to worry about too many stupid questions on call now, will you. In the rare instance that my clinical colleagues have called the on call rad onc resident, they are usually all pissed off because they might actually have to do something on call once in a blue moon.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Whisker, I laughed my ass off after reading your post. You know, maybe that was the motivation why he chose Rad Onc instead of let's say OB/Gyn where you frequently take call. Perhaps he was saying something along the lines of, "you chose this career...stop your bitching and deal with it." Kinda like how I've dealt with some of my dislikes of clinical medicine in general by going into pathology

 

[G'ville Nole]

Hey, Whisker, I got two cord compressions my first two days on call last week. You will never hear me complain though; the memories of overnights at the VA during intern year are indelibly etched in my mind! Just go down to the basement and slap them around a little; they're easy to find, just look for the bow-ties!

Anyway, maybe I was just fortunate to have a run of good med students last year, but by making them feel like they're part of the team, you'll be amazed how motivated they'll become. Education coming from interns doesn't have to be a time consuming process, just giving them basic management pearls when you're admitting a COPD patient is great; you don't even have to look up from writing your orders to do so (better yet, tell them while THEY'RE writing the orders).

These folks will be your colleagues in two years. Don't turn them off to your entire field by marginalizing them during their rotation, and dont underestimate the influence which you have in this regard. This is pretty much why surgery dropped off my list as a student.

 

[p53]

I agree. Hell, some 3rd years know more than I do right now. Don't ask me about biochemical pathways, please!

This is so funny. We b-itch about interns and residents when we are medical students and once we are interns, we b*itch about medical students.

One has to remember that in order for these students to honor, they must outgun the interns. Let them be and let them shine. Excuse yourself from rounds to write orders and make phone calls. If you are that busy, I am sure the attending will understand.

Completely agree with the bolded statement. It is unfortunate but to get a HONORS evaluation from an attending a medical student must be noticed by the attending. The most frequent way is to shine above the intern. It is the law of contrast. For one person to look good, someone else has to look bad. I know this from personal experience.

After 6 months of working as a third year, every time I was assigned to a strong intern my evaluation from the attending was average. It is difficult to get an Attending to recognize you if the intern is strong. However everytime I was paired with a subpar intern, I ended up with HONORS on my evaluation. This is mostly because I HAD to take initiative on my patients. On the other hand, it is difficult to take initiative with the sharp interns because they actually have more clinical knowledge and practical knowledge thus already have everything covered.

Yes, I know I am implying that some third year students have more clinical knowledge than a subpar intern. Believe it or not, this is true. I have already met a handful of interns that have less clinical knowledge (some are better at hiding their deficiencies). One even conceded his dismal clinical knowledge by rationalizing that one's fund of knowledge peaks as a 4th year medical student.

I hate to say this but with 6 months left, I hope I end up with more below average interns so I can shine.

 

[Von Hohenheim]

Completely agree with the bolded statement. It is unfortunate but to get a HONORS evaluation from an attending a medical student must be noticed by the attending. The most frequent way is to shine above the intern. It is the law of contrast. For one person to look good, someone else has to look bad. I know this from personal experience.

After 6 months of working as a third year, every time I was assigned to a strong intern my evaluation from the attending was average. It is difficult to get an Attending to recognize you if the intern is strong. However everytime I was paired with a subpar intern, I ended up with HONORS on my evaluation. This is mostly because I HAD to take initiative on my patients. On the other hand, it is difficult to take initiative with the sharp interns because they actually have more clinical knowledge and practical knowledge thus already have everything covered.

Yes, I know I am implying that some third year students have more clinical knowledge than a subpar intern. Believe it or not, this is true. I have already met a handful of interns that seem clueless (some are better at hiding their deficiencies).

I hate to say this but with 6 months left, I hope I end up with more below average interns so I can shine.

Quit bumping all your old threads, dip$hit. 😡

Eh, I mean all these old threads by other posters. Of course.

 

[p53]

Quit bumping all you old threads, dip$hit. 😡

Eh, I mean all these old treads by other posters. Of course.

Nice to push your buttons tonight.

BTW, your strong response is a nice example of displacement. Too bad your life is currently miserable.

 

[Von Hohenheim]

Nice to push your buttons tonight.

BTW, your strong response is a nice example of displacement. Too bad your life is currently miserable.

Aw, you can push my buttons anytime. 🙂


That wasn't a particularly "strong" response, was it? 😕

 

[Von Hohenheim]

😡

Oops, more displacement. Gots to control that misery. 😛