Maybe it's because I did consulting before medicine, but if any of my colleagues ever did this to me (especially in front of a client or managing director), they would get a talking to. Privately, factually, no blame--but knock it off. Seniors aren't always going to be there to fix problems for you, and not everybody sees the problem in the same way. Where you see an obnoxious loudmouth, they might see an enthusiastic hard-worker that's at least venturing answers, even if they are "invariably wrong"--as everybody's answers invariably are. Who knows what your seniors actually think? You can hope they see it your way, but it's only a hope.
I just don't get the passivity in this thread. There's a lot of silent brooding, but what's the risk/benefit of tactfully confronting? And that's not meant to judge. But dealing with an obnoxious person is an important interpersonal skill to develop. You will definitely come across people like this again, not just in medicine but in life. I mean, you've been dealing with this for months with another rotation coming up. What will it take? And like everything in medicine, early interventions matter. This needed to have been nipped in the bud yesterday. Today is the next best time.
And no, these people don't always get what's coming to them--at least, not in a way that would be helpful to you. Sure there might be schadenfreude. They'll probably struggle with meaningful professional and personal relationships until they get it; or they never get it, and they'll be stuck wondering why they're so lonely and chronically underperforming in life. But how does any of that actually help you? Own your learning. Own the problem. Talk to him or round up a posse of people that he's selfishlessly embarrassed to talk to him. Stay factual, focus on your feelings ("I feel X when you do this" instead of "You are ruining this me") and put the onus on him to find the solution. Buy him a beer afterwards (because you'll still have to work with him), and call him out if he does it again.
If you really need to a senior to step in, one suggestion I got from a wise surgery resident: there are no problems in life, only solutions. To the greatest extent possible, only present your bosses with solutions. "I want to do X," where X is the next admit, or consult, or whatever. Easy. Done. Move on with it.
OMG yes, this! There is nothing rude or unprofessional about handling a conflict politely and professionally.
That being said I feel more comfortable being assertive as an intern than as a med student. I feel like there was a lot of focus on objective evals as a med student... and as one of those stereotypical directly-from-college kids this was my first "real" job so I had to figure out what was and was not "professional". And as an intern, I'm now the one responsible for the patient and my priority is just to get my job done. I'm polite and professional, but I have a real need/motivation to resolve conflicts so I can do my job effectively and efficiency.
In the moment these would be my suggestions:
If they interrupt you on rounds - say "excuse me, I'm talking"/"excuse me, please let me finish my presentation"/the above comment about asking people to hold comments until you are finished
If they interrupt you while you are answering a pimp question - again say "excuse me, I'm talking" or "please don't interrupt me" etc
If they intercept before you can answer a pimp question but you were about to answer - you can try to prevent this by saying right away something like, "I've got this one, just give me a few seconds to think" that way the attending or resident knows you want to answer it. OR if an attending asks you directly to answer a question, like by name, and that person answers, you can say right away, "excuse me, but Dr. X asked me"
If they ask you why aren't you doing your notes - various approaches you can take. One would be just simply stating "okay". (There is a great recent Captain Awkward post about the power of "okay" in response to people being rude. Basically, her argument is that it doesn't say you agree with them or are taking them seriously but it acknowledges that they made/asked a comment/question.) Another would be to say something non-committal but tangentially related like, "Wow, we both have a lot of work to get done, don't we?" or, "sorry I'm busy and I need to concentrate, can we talk later?" Another would be to be more direct and say something like, "Can we focus on our own work right now? I'll let you know if I would like help/input. Thanks!" (maybe in combo with the "we both have a lot to do" comment)
If they are taking on too many patients - yes, the absolute BEST way to deal with this is to be super proactive and enthusiastic yourself. Tell your resident that you want the next patient/procedure when it comes up or honestly you can even tell them in advance, like "hey I really want to do an admission, can I have the next patient?" etc. and then you can remind them if appropriate.
My next step would be to confront them in person - especially if/when it becomes a pattern. About them coming in to see your patients early - you can even play it off as important to your learning like you want to improve your pre-rounding skills by pre-rounding independently, even though they are "helpful" you really want to work on this for yourself thanks. Another way you might resolve the issue with them answering every pimp question is to get all of the students on rotation to agree to alternate who answers what question and that if you don't know the answer you will ask the other students. Of course they have to play by these rules but that might encourage others rotating with you to also speak up.
And I agree with the idea of speaking with your senior resident if they are taking so many patients that others have none. As someone else said it's the resident's job to make sure patients are distributed evenly.
And honestly, I would highly recommend going through the Captain Awkward and/or Ask a Manager archives for professional-sounding replies you can use.
edit: sorry about the gazillion typos. Most importantly, I meant "subjective" evals for 3rd year not "objective" haha. Also the key to responding in the moment is a smile or neutral expression, and polite but firm tone (basically don't act like you are upset).
