Rotations on wards-pure stress.

[JoeDw]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Anyone knows any resources that can help with being on the wards? It is stressful. I am a medical student and the team changed last week and the new intern is not keen on having medical students around. I would bleep him and he would say he is bussy. I am having nightmares about the patients and i am afraid to ask questions bla bla. Any resouces you can point me to, to help with this?

 

[MilkmanAl]

You bleep your interns?

I guess the solution depends on what kinds of quesions you're having. If you don't understand how your patients are being managed, uptodate should help a lot. If you're trying to fgure out why they got one treatment instead of another, you might be stuck asking questions. Grab someone who isn't an intern, and ask away. You need to keep in mind that you're paying for this education. Don't let yourself get walked on.

 

[McGillGrad]

You bleep your interns?

British version of "beep/page"

 

[MilkmanAl]

I gathered, but it still sounds funny. 🙂

 

[McGillGrad]

I gathered, but it still sounds funny. 🙂

Yeah, it never sounds right, even after hearing it over and over...lol

As an aside, their "interns" are at the level of senior 4th year med students who are basically on their Sub-I's. They are so freaked out over having resonsibility that they couldn't care less what the med students needs for the first month or so.

Best thing to do for the OP is to find senior house officers and follow them around.

 

[buckeye12]

Yeah, it never sounds right, even after hearing it over and over...lol

As an aside, their "interns" are at the level of senior 4th year med students who are basically on their Sub-I's. They are so freaked out over having resonsibility that they couldn't care less what the med students needs for the first month or so.

Best thing to do for the OP is to find senior house officers and follow them around.

How is Britain's medical system not falling apart? 4th year med students as interns? Doesn't the government need the extra loan interest from that 4th year of medical school?

 

[McGillGrad]

How is Britain's medical system not falling apart? 4th year med students as interns? Doesn't the government need the extra loan interest from that 4th year of medical school?

They have many layers of supervision, superior H&P skills and are required to practice price conscious medicine (instead of a shotgun method of mass-testing).

They pay next to nothing to go to medical school and usually finish with little-to-no debt.

They are doing just fine. It's the American system that is falling apart with the high medical school debt, reduced hours in the hospital, impossible expectations from the public/lawyers and increasingly complex patients. Without a safety-net of universal healthcare to catch problems early, many patients present when it is most expensive to treat (and usually through the ED instead of the Family doc).

 

[VoiceofReason]

How is Britain's medical system not falling apart? 4th year med students as interns? Doesn't the government need the extra loan interest from that 4th year of medical school?

lmao what a good little capitalist drone you are

 

[vicinihil]

Fisical Exam? What's that? You don't CT and MRI everyone with a complaint? Man talk about malpractice.

Do patients in other countries sue over nothing as they do in the US? Instead of being appreciated for the work we do, US physicians pay HUGE sums for malpractice insurance. Is this the same abroad? Maybe our patients need to stop whining and complaining and blame it on genetics, smoking, and religion.

 

[drctother]

They have many layers of supervision, superior H&P skills and are required to practice price conscious medicine (instead of a shotgun method of mass-testing).

They pay next to nothing to go to medical school and usually finish with little-to-no debt.

They are doing just fine. It's the American system that is falling apart with the high medical school debt, reduced hours in the hospital, impossible expectations from the public/lawyers and increasingly complex patients. Without a safety-net of universal healthcare to catch problems early, many patients present when it is most expensive to treat (and usually through the ED instead of the Family doc).

McGIll? Im gonna assume you are also Canadian haha and truly appreciate how ****ed the US health care system is and oh joy I am getting a US medical education😛

 

[drctother]

Fisical Exam? What's that? You don't CT and MRI everyone with a complaint? Man talk about malpractice.

Do patients in other countries sue over nothing as they do in the US? Instead of being appreciated for the work we do, US physicians pay HUGE sums for malpractice insurance. Is this the same abroad? Maybe our patients need to stop whining and complaining and blame it on genetics, smoking, and religion.

or american culture? aka all the politics and obesity

 

[bambi]

Yeah, it never sounds right, even after hearing it over and over...lol

As an aside, their "interns" are at the level of senior 4th year med students who are basically on their Sub-I's. They are so freaked out over having resonsibility that they couldn't care less what the med students needs for the first month or so.

Best thing to do for the OP is to find senior house officers and follow them around.

That is about as far from the truth as it is possible to get. I am just finishing med school in the UK and just came back from a few months in the US and was astounded by the level of the students and interns, and not in a good way. Obviously it will vary between individuals and places but I was shocked and I was at what is meant to be one of your best schools/hospitals. To talk so poorly of a system you clearly know nothing about is ridiculous.

 

[bambi]

They have many layers of supervision, superior H&P skills and are required to practice price conscious medicine (instead of a shotgun method of mass-testing).

They pay next to nothing to go to medical school and usually finish with little-to-no debt.

They are doing just fine. It's the American system that is falling apart with the high medical school debt, reduced hours in the hospital, impossible expectations from the public/lawyers and increasingly complex patients. Without a safety-net of universal healthcare to catch problems early, many patients present when it is most expensive to treat (and usually through the ED instead of the Family doc).

We don't finish with no debt! Plus, tuition here is just about treble so that will make things a lot worse. It isn't at the level of yours but we never make the kind of money you will either. You should be thankful that you can get the loans to pay for it to be honest. I have never read anything on here about people not being able to go to med school because they can't get the money anywhere. Granted that is just what I have read on here and may not be true but there are plenty of people that can just never go to med school here because they can't afford it. Basically if you or your parents earn pretty much anything you get totally screwed on loans and get next to nothing so unless they can basically afford to pay for almost everything for 5-6 years, you can't go. Think about that next time you are whining about your debt.

 

[Law2Doc]

...You should be thankful that you can get the loans to pay for it to be honest. I have never read anything on here about people not being able to go to med school because they can't get the money anywhere. Granted that is just what I have read on here and may not be true but there are plenty of people that can just never go to med school here because they can't afford it. Basically if you or your parents earn pretty much anything you get totally screwed on loans and get next to nothing so unless they can basically afford to pay for almost everything for 5-6 years, you can't go. Think about that next time you are whining about your debt.

I agree that you won't read about many folks who are US citizens and can't get loans for US med schools. You will, however, read a lot about folks who end up borrowing more than they can ever hope to pay back in a reasonable time. There were quite a few articles on here recently about folks who dug $300k+ holes for themselves before their career even started. And perhaps later decided the career wasn't for them. Being saddled with that kind of debt can have as much impact on your life as not getting into med school.

 

[MrBeauregard]

We don't finish with no debt! Plus, tuition here is just about treble so that will make things a lot worse. It isn't at the level of yours but we never make the kind of money you will either. You should be thankful that you can get the loans to pay for it to be honest. I have never read anything on here about people not being able to go to med school because they can't get the money anywhere. Granted that is just what I have read on here and may not be true but there are plenty of people that can just never go to med school here because they can't afford it. Basically if you or your parents earn pretty much anything you get totally screwed on loans and get next to nothing so unless they can basically afford to pay for almost everything for 5-6 years, you can't go. Think about that next time you are whining about your debt.

I for one am extremely proud to be attending medical school in the US and enjoy the privileges afforded to me every single day. It is unfortunate that not all of those in the UK wanting to by physicians have the ability due to said constraints. That truly does leave out some of the best and brightest individuals. But as the above poster stated, it also is difficult for us to pay back 300K+ in debt after we finish. So there are definitely two sides to every coin.

 

[turkeyjerky]

That is about as far from the truth as it is possible to get. I am just finishing med school in the UK and just came back from a few months in the US and was astounded by the level of the students and interns, and not in a good way. Obviously it will vary between individuals and places but I was shocked and I was at what is meant to be one of your best schools/hospitals. To talk so poorly of a system you clearly know nothing about is ridiculous.

wait, are you saying that med students in the UK are better or worse than those in the states? cause that poster just went on to say those in the UK have superior skills and are able to practice more conscientious medicine

 

[drctother]

I will give to the UK, their health care system is pretty good though

 

[McGillGrad]

That is about as far from the truth as it is possible to get. I am just finishing med school in the UK and just came back from a few months in the US and was astounded by the level of the students and interns, and not in a good way. Obviously it will vary between individuals and places but I was shocked and I was at what is meant to be one of your best schools/hospitals. To talk so poorly of a system you clearly know nothing about is ridiculous.

We've done this dance before. You come from a different system where an FY1 (first year junior doctor) is at the level of a 4th year American medical student.

During med school, you guys spend 5-6 hours a day at the hospital during clinical rotations. You have no overnight call and always have weekends off.

An American 3rd year spends 8-24 hours at the hospital. They do overnight call. It is common to see some weekend shifts. US Residency requires interns to be at the level of a SHO, right off the bat.

It's no surprise that you were impressed. You still have 3 years of education before you reach the level of an American 1st year intern.

 

[McGillGrad]

We don't finish with no debt! Plus, tuition here is just about treble so that will make things a lot worse. It isn't at the level of yours but we never make the kind of money you will either. You should be thankful that you can get the loans to pay for it to be honest. I have never read anything on here about people not being able to go to med school because they can't get the money anywhere. Granted that is just what I have read on here and may not be true but there are plenty of people that can just never go to med school here because they can't afford it. Basically if you or your parents earn pretty much anything you get totally screwed on loans and get next to nothing so unless they can basically afford to pay for almost everything for 5-6 years, you can't go. Think about that next time you are whining about your debt.

You didn't use numbers. Let me fill the rest in on how much you pay. Right now you pay $4,800 in US dollars per year for medical school tuition.

You didn't mention the stipend you are eligible to receive that you do not pay back.

You are not going to find anyone sympathetic to your financial arguments. You might have some ground to stand on when it trebles to $14,400 per year in the future. You don't pay that now, so this doesn't apply to you.

 

[DocDanny]

This has gotten WAY off topic. Have your little spat in another thread.

There are several things you can do about the rotation. If the intern isn't being what you are looking for, then try to talk to one of the seniors. Odds are they like to teach, too. They can answer your questions.

A good resident knows that students feel stupid. As long as you aren't on surgery, they probably won't make you feel bad for asking a question.

As for the anxiety, take a deep breath and relax. Absolutely everything you do short of taking a dump are very closely supervised. People ARE watching over you. And they want you to do well.

 

[McGillGrad]

This has gotten WAY off topic. Have your little spat in another thread.

There are several things you can do about the rotation. If the intern isn't being what you are looking for, then try to talk to one of the seniors. Odds are they like to teach, too. They can answer your questions.

A good resident knows that students feel stupid. As long as you aren't on surgery, they probably won't make you feel bad for asking a question.

As for the anxiety, take a deep breath and relax. Absolutely everything you do short of taking a dump are very closely supervised. People ARE watching over you. And they want you to do well.

Thanks for repeating the advice I gave him a week ago.👍

 

[MrAgreeable]

I for one am extremely proud to be attending medical school in the US and enjoy the privileges afforded to me every single day. It is unfortunate that not all of those in the UK wanting to by physicians have the ability due to said constraints. That truly does leave out some of the best and brightest individuals. But as the above poster stated, it also is difficult for us to pay back 300K+ in debt after we finish. So there are definitely two sides to every coin.

And judging by the fact that your handle may or may not be in reference to a C.S.A. general, I'm sure you think our system is just peachy in the U.S. of A.?