Newbie question--how do you deal when you really don't like a rotation?

[brianmartin]

---

Members do not see this ad.

This is my first rotation...it is a peds sub-specialty and I'm having a really difficult time. I think I have already discovered that I don't want to be a specialist. On top of that, the following things really bother me:

-don't get to do anything on my own
-work with all women. I'm a guy, this is not a misogynist sentiment, it just seems to help if there is at least one other guy on team with me. Otherwise the women just talk to each other and I sometimes literally cannot figure out what they are saying because they talk in a way that is hard to decipher.
-residents are "nice" but there isn't much team atmosphere.
-feel like I am reading too much about this sub-specialty and not studying for shelf exam.

Overall there just doesn't seem to be a lot to do. We round at 7:30 and then at 10am there is not much left to do so I just sit and read in the work room. Then the residents are like "you're so quiet...but that's OKAY." Ugh!

 

[VisionaryTics]

Try to be more active. Show interest (don't be quiet), and people will be more willing to let you do stuff. The fact that you really don't want to be there is probably obvious.

Also:

 

[DrYoda]

I just reassure myself that there's only X number of weeks/days left.

Also, be social with the residents. Evals are to a large extent how much they like you.

As for having nothing to do for most of the day: welcome to third year.

 

[MilkmanAl]

I'd agree with Yoda on all counts. Sometimes you just have to play the game and get through. For what it's worth, I don't think "show interest" is necessarily good advice. Showing interest in helping your team out and interest in the subject matter are very different. The former will improve your grade, while the latter is basically irrelevant if you don't give a crap about what you're doing. Also, in a specialty like peds, "doing more" probably means taking more H&Ps or writing notes or something similarly awful. At this point, you could probably use the practice, but if you're anything like me, the last thing you want to volunteer yourself for is more paperwork. Chances are, your interest won't get you any extra procedures or anything that actually has some coolness about it since the peds residents don't get to do that sort of thing often, themselves.

TL;DR: Grin and bear it. Try to help your team out some in the mean time to pad your eval a bit.

 

[Perrotfish]

This is my first rotation...it is a peds sub-specialty and I'm having a really difficult time. I think I have already discovered that I don't want to be a specialist. On top of that, the following things really bother me:

-don't get to do anything on my own
-work with all women. I'm a guy, this is not a misogynist sentiment, it just seems to help if there is at least one other guy on team with me. Otherwise the women just talk to each other and I sometimes literally cannot figure out what they are saying because they talk in a way that is hard to decipher.
-residents are "nice" but there isn't much team atmosphere.
-feel like I am reading too much about this sub-specialty and not studying for shelf exam.

Overall there just doesn't seem to be a lot to do. We round at 7:30 and then at 10am there is not much left to do so I just sit and read in the work room. Then the residents are like "you're so quiet...but that's OKAY." Ugh!

When nothing else is working, focus on the shelf exam. That's the only thing that's defiitely 100% in control.

The fact is that on some rotations the residents forget about the students. I'm surprised it happened on a Peds subspecialty, but sometimes the residents are just too busy/tired/rude to acknowledge your existence. 'Help the residents more' is never bad advice, but the fact is there often isn't much you have the legal standing/computer access/knoweldge base to actually do. Which is why you're getting ignored in the first place. Just don't internalize it, keep trying, and have faith that you'll get a better team sometime soon.