I’ve recently had IM with surgery back to back. Both rotations are 80 hour work weeks with a crazy schedule and waking up super early before 5AM. On top of that I’m constantly studying for the shelf, which I don’t do well on anyways. I barely get to exercise or spend time with family. I’m just worried that the rest of my life will be like this.
IDK what the norm is, but consistent 80 hour weeks sounds kind of brutal for clerkships. You're **paying** to be there, and you're there to learn. There's a point of diminishing returns somewhere in there, where I'd hope your preceptors would say something like "hey HipiMochi, I think you've seen enough patients today. Why don't you get out of here and go enjoy your afternoon, and read up on HFrEF tonight so we can talk about that tomorrow".
Are any of those 80 hours downtime where you're doing "on the job studying", like reading up about diagnosis and treatment of a disease, or are you just running around seeing patients nonstop, writing notes, etc?
Have you thought about talking to your preceptors or program coordinator/director about the hours? I would hope if you were pleasant and honest and vulnerable in voicing how you're feeling a little overwhelmed and fatigued and that you're struggling to find balance, they'd be responsive to some degree. Maybe something like "I wanted to pick your brain on ways to be more effective with balancing clinical time with studying. I'm having a hard time putting in 80 hours of clinical time and still having the brainpower to study effectively on top of that. I've tried [x,y,z] to stay organized and healthy, but I still feel like I'm struggling. What recommendations do you have on making sure I get the best clinical exposure while still facilitating my learning?" Or directly ask "What's the expectation for the number of patients/cases I should be seeing at this point and how many clinical hours vs hours studying and pre-reading charts at home?".
Definitely a careful balance with who and how you ask since you don't want to come off as not wanting to put in the work, but I think it's also quite fair and not at all a bad look to be inquiring about how to manage things better and learn more effectively. It shows self awareness and desire to improve. The more you take initiative with your learning, the more receptive your preceptors will probably be to let you out early because they'll know you're going to go home and put in more work.
