Resident told me I can leave whenever I want. Don't know what to do.

[Spetzler-Martin]

Currently on my neuro rotation. Was told by the senior resident and the intern that if I don't feel like anything is going on that is conducive to my learning, I can head out for the day. Personally, from having done multiple prior rotations, I don't really find anything educational after rounds are over and therefore, I was planning on leaving after rounds are over (1PM or so). Is this a bad a move and will they subconsciously judge me? Should I just wait to be dismissed like normal (which I tried for one day and wasn't dismissed until around 4). Need advice.

Also, my school is P/F rotations. Only the written comments from evals matter for my MSPE.

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[wysdoc]

I think 1 pm is awfully early to leave for the day. If they get new admissions in the afternoon won't they be looking for you?
Look for ways to make yourself useful, go over the scans on your patients with the radiologist to learn about the findings, read up on each condition your patient has.

 

[Spetzler-Martin]

I think 1 pm is awfully early to leave for the day. If they get new admissions in the afternoon won't they be looking for you?
Look for ways to make yourself useful, go over the scans on your patients with the radiologist to learn about the findings, read up on each condition your patient has.

Yeah, my intuition is telling me this as well. It's just that being to do an additional 6 or so Uworld questions per day plus sleeping earlier is very enticing, especially given that the only true metric for differentiating myself among my classmates is my Step 2 score plus publications.

 

[indecisivem4]

Yeah, my intuition is telling me this as well. It's just that being to do an additional 6 or so Uworld questions per day plus sleeping earlier is very enticing, especially given that the only true metric for differentiating myself among my classmates is my Step 2 score plus publications.

Maybe check in with your senior resident again in the afternoon, but I agree it seems a bit risky. Any chance you can do UWorld during downtime while you're there?

 

[SpoiledMilk]

If you not applying to neurology and they are telling you to leave, check with the senior in charge before leaving. Go and study for Step 2. When I'm a resident I'm going to remember what it was like being a student and letting students go home after rounds if there's nothing else going on. Telling a student they can go to and holding it against them is just bad karma.

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

Currently on my neuro rotation. Was told by the senior resident and the intern that if I don't feel like anything is going on that is conducive to my learning, I can head out for the day. Personally, from having done multiple prior rotations, I don't really find anything educational after rounds are over and therefore, I was planning on leaving after rounds are over (1PM or so). Is this a bad a move and will they subconsciously judge me? Should I just wait to be dismissed like normal (which I tried for one day and wasn't dismissed until around 4). Need advice.

Also, my school is P/F rotations. Only the written comments from evals matter for my MSPE.

There is no reason that clinicals should be ALL day for a medical student. We still have studying for shelf and it's also nice to have a life. If this is a field you don't want to go into and they've already stated you can leave then don't think twice, leave after rounds....

 

[throwaway123342]

Just leave early and count yourself lucky. Play it cool though

 

[RangerBob]

My senior/intern on my medicine SubI basically told me the same thing. It took my attending (head of medicine for that hospital) to say the same thing for me to finally be ok leaving around 2 in the afternoon each day.

This was also about a month after matching. They were just so impressed I showed up. Easy to please I guess?

If there's no more contact/learning with the attending after rounds, and the residents are sincere about you going home early, then it's not unheard of to be sent home that early. Some rotations you win, others you loose. Ideally you get a good education, but if the learning isn't great, may as well be at home/library instead.

You could ask them if you could go study after rounds and to page you if anything "interesting" comes up. 1pm sounds early, but just ask them "am I going to be judged for this?" Sometimes the answer is genuinely no--they feel bad and want you to go home. Or maybe they just wants students out of their way. Either way, just ask.

I remember as a resident seeing the neuro team still rounding when we were doing consults in the afternoon. It seemed like the most miserable thing possible.

 

[AnonymousDoctorGuyPerson]

I'd be leaving at 1pm.

There's no way staying is going to help you learn anything unless your attendings/residents are decent educators or you're interested in entering Neuro.

 

[Dr G Oogle]

If anxious just say you’ll be in (insert location) studying and can check in a few hours or have them call you if they need you to do something. This is true if after rounds everyone just retires to their various tasks (writing notes, putting in orders set etc) and you can’t physically help with that.

 

[ortnakas]

Okay to leave if told it’s okay to leave… but check in with your intern/senior daily. Preferably your senior; it’s July and your intern might not feel like they have the power to release you yet.

“Can I go” implies you want to leave and may get some side-eye.
“Is there anything I can do before I go?” is a good phrase.
“yeah! Go study/have a good day” means go, don’t sit around asking over over again wasting your and their time