My child is being treated at the Med School I will be attending.

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Girlneuro

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Hi I hope this is the right forum to post under as I think my situation makes me fall into the non traditional Med student category if it is not feel free to let me know.


Im Pre Med but the Med school I will most likely be attending is where my young child is receiving his med care and it is extremely frequent like monthly visits to multiple clinic departments, weekly therapy's, multiple procedures weekly communications with his drs especially his neurologist 'which is the specialty im going after' ect so its not like its just once a year . He is complex so he has to receive the regional care which just happens to be at our regions med school affiliated hospital.

My question is this Has anyone been in this situation or is coming up on it where you will be a shadowing pre med, Med student and potentially even resident and maybe even flying solo at the same hospital and possibly same department with the same Specialists who treat your child?

I know it will work because I have had conversations with the med program department on this and set up my time to come in and discuss when I will do my shadowing during rounds, and his providers are aware im Pre Med and will be shawdowing there . I do know there are alot of locals who stay under one roof from pre med till retirement at this particular University/hospital had their kids receive care there but I believe that was after med school for them.

How do you go from patients parent to shadowing and student of, and eventually resident under your childs Dr's and then back to patients parent and switching the roles frequently?


How does this blur the lines between patient/Dr relationship? What if one of his Drs chooses a course of action for my son that upsets me as his parent, that I don't agree with? how do you push those differences aside to learn from that person and treat patients with them, vice versa? What if I screw up 'and as a Med student I will we all will make mistakes' and one of them comes down hard on me which will also happen, how do you push that aside to go back to the parent/dr relationship? I know that what I see during shawdowing and med school for one kid may not be what right for my kid so I cant go after the Drs with "well why did you for so and so and not my child?" I get that but there are other factors that play into this that make it weird I guess

There are about 3 departments my Child is not seen by in this hospital and is the only childrens hospital in a 300 mile radius its one of the worlds highest ranking but its the only and this is where about 50 % of the first 2 year every Friday externships are done and where a good chunk of M3 and M4 are at as well. Even if we did have another childrens hospital I wouldn't want to take the best care from my child. . So the fact is this these Providers that treat my kiddo some will be my professors, some will even be my attending and I need advice on how to view this and make work.

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While I don't have any personal experience with this, I can say that many faculty and staff at my home institution use it for their own medical care, so situations like this aren't rare. I would caution you though about assuming that you'll "most likely" be attending any particular institution unless you're already accepted there.
 
Thanks and I know that I cant gaurentee where I will attend. Lets put it this way no matter where I would get accepted my son will end up a Pt there because of the complexity of his needs. However I will say that the Med school in my state gives incentives to non traditional and local students and the majority of their class make up is local residence. They are trying to get the care back to born and raised providers. They recently opened a secondary and third location for this reason, I also know from speaking with multiple people that my sons care trumps everything else in their eyes so it plays into helping me get accepted at least thats what ive been told, I do know if I meet all pre med course work, have a great GPA, have the shawdowing, volunteer and clinical experiance which I do, and a outstanding MCAT score then my chances are very good. Not gaurenteed but good
 
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No direct personal experience with this but have known students and residents in similar situations. Basically it will have either a positive impact or none at all. Personally I would bet on a net positive one.

1) you are currently a number of years away from clinical rotations. Your son's situation will have evolved considerably and you will have grown much more comfortable with his care and will have established relationships with his physicians.
2) you will never interact much with any one attending. Rotations are too short and generally spread out to give you too much time with any one person.
3) you will absolutely have questions about choices that were made for your son that develop as you learn more. This is normal and any physician worth a damn won't mind having those conversations with you.
4) having you on rounds as a student will probably make your attendings more concious of what they say about patients and families and how they treat them. This is actually a good thing.
5) navigating any awkwardness is not really your problem, it's theirs. Your job is to show up prepared and ready to work hard and learn. I've had attendings that I knew outside of the hospital long before and if anything it made it easier to be their student. Most students vanish into the paint and you never even know they're there. Seeing a familiar face who obviously cares about what's going on only makes it easier to teach them.
6) medicine really needs more people like you who have had experiences as a patient. I know I've never really been one before and I sometimes wonder what I would say or do differently if I could see things from their point of view.
 
None of this stuff really matters. At my medical school their are students who have been life long patients/born here and it doesn't lead to any issues. Of course that is unless you make it an issue, then it will surface. If the school you want feels it will be a problem they wont accept you, nothing you can really do about that just go to the school that accepts you and transfer your sons care. Once you get to the wards they will see you as a student like all the ones before you.
 
Second this - I work at a large medical center, and see numerous docs/pa's, etc all the time. I've had surgery while working in the surgery department. Part of being a responsible medical provider is treating patients with professionalism, and that often means being able to act accordingly when you see someone you know. If anything, it's a benefit, because people normally go above and beyond for people they know, and you gain increased access.

Also, I know it's been said, but that's not a good mentality to go into this with. Purely based on odds, even great instate candidates that apply to their instate school, have a giant "chance" when it comes to getting in. My school takes 95% of people from instate, but that still only means like 10% of students even from their own undergrad interview, then less than a quarter of that get accepted. You aren't "likely" to be going to any one school - you're not even "likely" to get in at all your first try. I know plenty of people who on paper look like a shoe in and it took them 2 or 3 tries to even get in. What is it, 4 in 10 applicant matriculate?


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[QUOTE="mavric1298,

Also, I know it's been said, but that's not a good mentality to go into this with. Purely based on odds, even great instate candidates that apply to their instate school, have a giant "chance" when it comes to getting in. My school takes 95% of people from instate, but that still only means like 10% of students even from their own undergrad interview, then less than a quarter of that get accepted. You aren't "likely" to be going to any one school - you're not even "likely" to get in at all your first try. I know plenty of people who on paper look like a shoe in and it took them 2 or 3 tries to even get in. What is it, 4 in 10 applicant matriculate?


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Right and I understand that but If you keep reality in the back of you mind at all times you also need to keep the positive attitude and telling yourself you wont get in is not the way to go either.
 
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