MD & DO Meeting with Dean for unprofessionalism concerns

[Protolytic]

Hello, I am an M2 student in an MD school. I had a really tough year. Something traumatic happened a couple of months ago, and various personal issues put a strain on my mental health. I always had some baseline depression but it got worse than ever and as a result, I have been slipping in school performance. I had missed the deadline for three assignments without being able to email my instructors ahead of time. Per our school policy, this files under "unprofessionalism" and would get the Dean notified and trigger a meeting with the Student Promotions Committee, which might decide to discipline me and have something go on my record for residency apps.

I am scheduled to meet with the Dean tomorrow I am absolutely terrified that I had ruined my medical career. I am not sure if I should be upfront and honest with them about what has been going on, or if bringing up mental health would add further damage. Would appreciate any advice.

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[GoSpursGo]

I had missed the deadline for three assignments without being able to email my instructors ahead of time.

I'm sorry you're struggling.

One note, I would avoid this phrasing in your meeting tomorrow--an email takes 2 minutes to write. So either you chose not to take the time to email your professors, or you are so incapacitated by mental health issues that you are unable to perform basic tasks that are required of being a medical student. If the latter is true, and this would certainly be understandable in the wake of something traumatic, you should strongly consider taking a LOA and come back stronger. Maybe you could bootstrap your way through this, but the cost of being wrong is really severe.

 

[xffan624]

Hello, I am an M2 student in an MD school. I had a really tough year. Something traumatic happened a couple of months ago, and various personal issues put a strain on my mental health. I always had some baseline depression but it got worse than ever and as a result, I have been slipping in school performance. I had missed the deadline for three assignments without being able to email my instructors ahead of time. Per our school policy, this files under "unprofessionalism" and would get the Dean notified and trigger a meeting with the Student Promotions Committee, which might decide to discipline me and have something go on my record for residency apps.

I am scheduled to meet with the Dean tomorrow I am absolutely terrified that I had ruined my medical career. I am not sure if I should be upfront and honest with them about what has been going on, or if bringing up mental health would add further damage. Would appreciate any advice.

*Be honest. Admit that you should have disclosed this earlier (which if you're missing assignment deadlines, you should have). The only thing that further damages you now is lying and making up some BS reason for not completing your assignments on time. Request an LOA if you're still not ready to come back and put in a full effort. Beg for mercy with full honesty and this can be a small blemish instead of the road to a medical school dismissal.


*This post is with assumption that you feel you have a supportive environment (which most MD schools are, but I recognize that there are aberrations). If that's not the case, please disregard.

 

[Protolytic]

I'm sorry you're struggling.

One note, I would avoid this phrasing in your meeting tomorrow--an email takes 2 minutes to write. So either you chose not to take the time to email your professors, or you are so incapacitated by mental health issues that you are unable to perform basic tasks that are required of being a medical student. If the latter is true, and this would certainly be understandable in the wake of something traumatic, you should strongly consider taking a LOA and come back stronger. Maybe you could bootstrap your way through this, but the cost of being wrong is really severe.

Appreciate the feedback. I did have weeks where I barely could get out of bed and do the bare minimum. The email and assignments don't take up that much time, but I was so demotivated that any small thing seemed impossible.
I have been working really hard on my mental health and have gotten better. I haven't failed any exams or assessments -- just the assignments that I could not keep up with on top of everything else.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Agree with others on here. The most important thing to do in this conversation is to take responsibility for the issue. Your depression may be an explanation for why your assignments were late, but it's not an excuse. Although many people think that the most important thing for physicians to do when they encounter adversity is "power through", it's actually more important to recognize when your performance isn't at a level that's safe for patient care and recognize when to step back.

You haven't failed anything -- that's good. But you should not wait to fail something before taking action. If you're mental health is not in a good place now, it would be much better to do something about it now before you fail something. Listen closely to what they tell you -- because if you wait until you fail something and then ask for an LOA, you might find that you're now facing a much bigger problem.

 

[Goro]

In addition to the wise words of my colleagues, be proactive and have a plan that you can tell the Dean about how you won't let this happen again.
The fact that you were sick and didn't seek out help is always a concern, just as if you didn't seek out help if you had blood in your urine.

The Dean may ask you to see your school's counseling center or even sign a memorandum of understanding that you will do so. The goal will not be to stigmatize of punish you, far from it. They want to see you succeed!

 

[Dral]

Sorry you are going through this. I will chime in that on the bright side, it is better you are finding this out now, dealing with it, and potentially treating it opposed to later when you are the primary person responsible for treating patients. Those first few attending years are not easy for a lot of us.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Appreciate the feedback. I did have weeks where I barely could get out of bed and do the bare minimum. The email and assignments don't take up that much time, but I was so demotivated that any small thing seemed impossible.
I have been working really hard on my mental health and have gotten better. I haven't failed any exams or assessments -- just the assignments that I could not keep up with on top of everything else.

I completely agree with @NotAProgDirector —dont wait until you fail something to take action, both for your long term effect on your career and also for your mental health.

 

[Protolytic]

updating this thread with the outcome. I was fully honest with the dean and they were very supportive. Did not end up getting the SPC involved, nothing going on my record.

I have since then successfully passed Step 1 and happily moved on to 3rd year.

grateful that my school admin is great and I will do better moving forward.

 

[PathNeuroIMorFM]

updating this thread with the outcome. I was fully honest with the dean and they were very supportive. Did not end up getting the SPC involved, nothing going on my record.

I have since then successfully passed Step 1 and happily moved on to 3rd year.

grateful that my school admin is great and I will do better moving forward.

If you haven't already:
See doctor, get diagnosed/meds if necessary.
See school's counselor. Usually free, always confidential.

Literally saved my life. Just because you made it through this dark time, doesn't mean it can't happen again. If you're getting treated for depression/anxiety/whatever else, this makes things much easier.

 

[mistafab]

Glad to hear!