Nasty residency evaluations

[inspirationmd]

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To what extent would you folks go to get a really bad and unwarranted eval stricken from your residency record?

Critical point: I am in no danger of losing my residency spot.

I got a nasty review from an attending on an off service rotation that is known to be problematic. Of course it mainly centers on the nebulous "professionalism" term. Never mind that several of his colleagues disagreed with him.

I know for a fact my program leadership could care less due to several residents annually having issues there but I am more thinking long term (ie. jobs requesting residency files to review, lawsuit later on in my career and residency records being subpoenaed , etc).

I never have to go back to that service again but I kind of feel like with some pressure improvements could potentially be made for future residents. Main issue that caused a lot of strife is I disagreed with instructions that the residents were to treat the NPs on that service as "fellows" and that residents should be deferential to them. No interns on this service...we are talking PGY-2 and 3s. Was seen as disrespectful and not a team player by this particular attending.

Should I just put my head down, say whatever and keep moving? Or try to go after this guy, this eval and his rotation with my PD and GME office (obviously limited in what I can do as a resident).

 

[Hair Police]

I would give some constructive criticism to your PD or chiefs through whatever usual mechanisms your program has (semi-annual reviews, electronic rotation summaries, etc.) and improve the rotation for present and future colleagues. I would not attempt to get the comment expunged or "go after this guy." As a resident you have no ammunition to get anyone with, and any attempt would only make you look bad (maybe labelled a troublemaker or sour relations between departments). Getting the GME office involved would be an error.

 

[LiamNeesons]

Option 1: Do nothing and remain as an allegedly bad resident according to the opinion of one person. Meanwhile, be a great resident and act in ways that make that person's opinion laughable.

Option 2: Make a gigantic fuss that will annoy a lot of people that really don't care, but now dislike you.

 

[Old_Mil]

Just keep moving. As a resident, your input is not desired. Head down, mouth shut, and graduate.

 

[inspirationmd]

Disappointing but not surprising. Think I knew this and just wanted to see if someone thought I was wrong and there might be benefit. Evidently not.

I'll shut my mouth and keep it moving.

 

[Birdstrike]

Just keep moving. As a resident, your input is not desired. Head down, mouth shut, and graduate.

I absolutely agree. One bad evaluation? Pfft! Next month it'll be someone else, and in a few more months that are going to fly by, you'll be done. Just make sure the other evals are good, and off you go into the sunset.

You're just "doin' time."

 

[gman33]

Just keep moving. As a resident, your input is not desired. Head down, mouth shut, and graduate.

Exactly how I would have said it.

Diasagreeing with an off service attending about the NP utilization was a mistake.
Don't do this again in the future.

I completely agree with you in principal, but if they want you to discuss your plans with the janitor first, just do that and move on.

 

[bougiecric]

I promise you that no future job is going to have time to request or review individual residency evaluations.

 

[RustedFox]

I remember getting a less-than-good evaluation from Dr. McBeeatch on (whatever offservice rotation). Time came my twice-yearly progress review with my PD, who looked at the eval with me and, and said something to the tune of "Yep, you expect her to never have anything nice to say, ever." We both had a good laugh.

 

[RadOncDoc21]

I know I'm in a different specialty but had similar experiences. My intern year, I had a bad evaluation because the fellow was a crazy b*** and did everything possible to make my life a living hell. Since then I had 1-2 less then stellar evaluations which mostly came down to misc issues. One example is that my vacation came up where I was with an attending for only 1 week. Let's just say he was not impressed with my work ethic which I thought was unfair.

Either way these are outliers and during your residency you will have plenty of evaluations to counteract any negative 1-2 you my get for various reasons. Thus far, none of my potential future employers asked to see any of my rotation evaluations (knocks on wood).

 

[DeadCactus]

It kind of is unprofessional to show up as a guest on another service and make a fuss over their system and culture...

 

[RustedFox]

I remember that we as a residency "dropped" one of our PGY-2 rotations that just "wasn't worth the trouble with that department".

 

[MSmentor018]

it's a legit concern but I wouldn't worry. I don't think 1 comment from some random rotation is going to show up in your file (for employers to read). they're going to call or request from the PD generalized documentation of your residency. as long as you don't rack up terrible comments there won't be anything bad on paper against you. I'd make sure your PD knows your concern at the 6mo eval. it never hurts to keep the PD in the loop

 

[LovelyBRass]

whatever, i got two bad evals... one from an attending who is just a byotch and hates indian girls and another from a resident. the resident one hurt (basically i was complaining too much about things not getting done and being stressed out). so what do you do? just tell your PD or aPD that you understand where they're coming from and just be better next time, which is what i've done! if the attending has a rep, no one cares. even if they don't, again you just make changes based off what they said. no one gives real feedback in residency so it's kinda good when you do get feedback. have you ever had an attending that is just terrible for one reason or another and wondered, "did no one tell them they've got awful bedside manner" or whatever else? least you're hearing about it now.

 

[Groove]

Everybody has at least a couple of these during residency (most are off service). I had a cardiology fellow that had been written up twice in the ED 2 weeks prior to my rotation for unprofessional behavior who really had it out for ED residents. In the grand scheme of things, these evals don't really matter.

That being said. Cover yourself. Any time I got a bad eval or one that I disagreed with, I wrote a formal reply giving my side of things to be included in my residency file. It's best to have a formal reply or some documentation on hand in your file just in case this were to come back in the future. Otherwise, it looks like you read the eval and implicitly agreed since you gave no rebuttal. Our evals were electronic and we always had the chance to submit a formal response. If you submit it, they're supposed to keep it in your file. I would only approach your PD if you really thought it was necessary but in this case... I doubt it.