I'm considering med school and want to do it, but the thing that has me worried is rotations. What is life like during rotations? Do med students always get stuck doing horrid things that no one else wants to do? Thanks.
rotations and daily life
- Thread starter gentarg
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Medical school is designed to be a learning experience and to prepare you for whatever specialty you end up doing. Truth is, there will be some things you'll be asked to do that are unpleasant. However, if you are asked to do things simply because "no one else wants to do" them, and they have little to no educational value, then that is abuse.
Does it happen? I'm sure it does - medical students are often sent running to get xrays IMHO, but I've never seen someone forced to do something "horrid" because no one else wanted to do it. Anyone else have some stories of horrid things they were forced to do - not because it was a learning experience, but because they felt that you could be abused in such a fashion?
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I have been asked to do several "horrible" things, but almost all have had some, and many much, educational value. Often, I've seen upper levels pass undesirable procedures or tasks to med students and call it "educational" as a way to avoid doing it themselves.
A few examples:
1) I had a med resident who would see a pt in the ED, order labs and films, and set me to tracking them down. This person would H&P the pt without me. At some point I would be paged with a message to the effect of "ED bed 9 needs Rectal" or if especially gross, "ED bed 12 needs pelvic c wet prep". I wasn't able to H&P every patient our team admitted on a call night (I usually maxed at 4-5), I did all their rectals most of their pelvics. I didn't mind or complain because mastering the rectal and pelvic exam is an absolute necessity if you plan to be a good doc.
2) Disempactions... I can remember my first and only. Our team was busy and a really nice lady was in severe pain and I noted "Hard stool in vault" on her rectal exam. "So you want procedures...", my attending said, as he delegated the disempaction to me. He stopped by every 3 minutes, popped his head in, and made joking comments such as "you ok in there?", "haven't fallen in, have you?", etc. It was all in good humor and the pt was knocked out, so I really didn't mind. It was the grossest thing I'd ever done, but disempaction is a skill every doctor needs to know, even if he/she has nurses or med students to delegate to. Also, the lady was so grateful when she woke that it almost made it worth being up to my elbows in her..., uh you get the idea 🙂.
3) The only scut experience I've had that really hacked me off was when a surg chief interrupted me in the middle of my interview with a really interesting clinic patient and sent me to get sodas for him and the nurses. I don't mind scut tasks like getting food because it really helps the team when you're busy because the student is often the only team member who can leave the hospital. It really is malignant scut if you miss out on educational activities to do some task that is of no educational value and serves little purpose other than allow the chief to show off in front of a cute nurse.
FWIW
A few examples:
1) I had a med resident who would see a pt in the ED, order labs and films, and set me to tracking them down. This person would H&P the pt without me. At some point I would be paged with a message to the effect of "ED bed 9 needs Rectal" or if especially gross, "ED bed 12 needs pelvic c wet prep". I wasn't able to H&P every patient our team admitted on a call night (I usually maxed at 4-5), I did all their rectals most of their pelvics. I didn't mind or complain because mastering the rectal and pelvic exam is an absolute necessity if you plan to be a good doc.
2) Disempactions... I can remember my first and only. Our team was busy and a really nice lady was in severe pain and I noted "Hard stool in vault" on her rectal exam. "So you want procedures...", my attending said, as he delegated the disempaction to me. He stopped by every 3 minutes, popped his head in, and made joking comments such as "you ok in there?", "haven't fallen in, have you?", etc. It was all in good humor and the pt was knocked out, so I really didn't mind. It was the grossest thing I'd ever done, but disempaction is a skill every doctor needs to know, even if he/she has nurses or med students to delegate to. Also, the lady was so grateful when she woke that it almost made it worth being up to my elbows in her..., uh you get the idea 🙂.
3) The only scut experience I've had that really hacked me off was when a surg chief interrupted me in the middle of my interview with a really interesting clinic patient and sent me to get sodas for him and the nurses. I don't mind scut tasks like getting food because it really helps the team when you're busy because the student is often the only team member who can leave the hospital. It really is malignant scut if you miss out on educational activities to do some task that is of no educational value and serves little purpose other than allow the chief to show off in front of a cute nurse.
FWIW
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Depends what you mean by "horrible"....
Yes, nearly every med student has had to maunually disimpact a pt.
And many have had to put NG tube in pt with bowel obstruction who vomits feculent material while the tube is being put in.
However, these tasks aren't delegated to students just because they involve grossness. They are necessary to the care of the pt. They are fairly easy, so students are capable while the resident takes care of things that students cannot do (for example writing a set of orders that can acutally be executed)
And guess who does these things when students aren't around? Residents!!!
Going for xrays is necessary for the care of the pt (becoming less common with computerized systems but not all hospitals have that) The xrays must be viewed. A student can often accomplish the task more quickly (intern's pager often goes off mercilessly) or can do it while the residents are doing things the students can't do.
Yes, nearly every med student has had to maunually disimpact a pt.
And many have had to put NG tube in pt with bowel obstruction who vomits feculent material while the tube is being put in.
However, these tasks aren't delegated to students just because they involve grossness. They are necessary to the care of the pt. They are fairly easy, so students are capable while the resident takes care of things that students cannot do (for example writing a set of orders that can acutally be executed)
And guess who does these things when students aren't around? Residents!!!
Going for xrays is necessary for the care of the pt (becoming less common with computerized systems but not all hospitals have that) The xrays must be viewed. A student can often accomplish the task more quickly (intern's pager often goes off mercilessly) or can do it while the residents are doing things the students can't do.
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I've learned so incredibly much from what people call "scut". Some interns are really careful about "scutting" their med students, but that is a bit frustrating when they're like that because I was really c onfused about how things work on the floors before I had a good month of scutwork.
