Stealing Patients/Medical Student Etiquette on Wards

[Medstudent00]

Hey all,

I just started my first rotation (IM) and was excited to start with a couple of other med students (esp since it is my first). But today was not exactly what I was expecting. The other med students lied to me about what time they wanted to meet to go to the resident room and instead went earlier and took the patients they wanted (my patient is still great but clearly left for me because they have more chronic issues vs other patients going into surgery soon/etc.). I only found out about this after talking to the resident. When I was in the room with the resident, they said we would wait until the other students came back from lunch to split up patients (makes total sense) but when the students came back, they said they had already split up the patients. I know this seems relatively minor but it was this level of annoying all day. Other examples include trying to claim the next new patient for tomorrow, offering to present their patients to the residents today (when they purposely gave me the most complicated one), leaving me waiting for them when they had already left and forgot to tell me, etc.

Do residents notice these things? Am I just being naïve thinking other students would want to be collaborative and now it will reflect poorly on me?

Thanks in advance. A little disheartened and frustrated but currently planning to give a great presentation on my own patient tomorrow.

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[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Hey all,

I just started my first rotation (IM) and was excited to start with a couple of other med students (esp since it is my first). But today was not exactly what I was expecting. The other med students lied to me about what time they wanted to meet to go to the resident room and instead went earlier and took the patients they wanted (my patient is still great but clearly left for me because they have more chronic issues vs other patients going into surgery soon/etc.). I only found out about this after talking to the resident. When I was in the room with the resident, they said we would wait until the other students came back from lunch to split up patients (makes total sense) but when the students came back, they said they had already split up the patients. I know this seems relatively minor but it was this level of annoying all day. Other examples include trying to claim the next new patient for tomorrow, offering to present their patients to the residents today (when they purposely gave me the most complicated one), leaving me waiting for them when they had already left and forgot to tell me, etc.

Do residents notice these things? Am I just being naïve thinking other students would want to be collaborative and now it will reflect poorly on me?

Thanks in advance. A little disheartened and frustrated but currently planning to give a great presentation on my own patient tomorrow.

Residents and most attendings notice that type of behavior. I know students who do **** like that, and it ended up in their evals. Just keep doing you. If it keeps happening, you could say something in front of the residents in an innocent way, like, “Hey can we start splitting up the patients together, because you keep doing it without me.” You’re all adults. You aren’t going to get into trouble for responding to juvenile behavior like an adult.

 

[catnip12]

For most of us medical students, there is a level of excitement and a feeling of purpose that comes at the beginning of clinical rotations. Because we are selected amongst the general pool for being more eager doers and high achievers, this excitement manifests in various ways. Unfortunately, the one you're experiencing from your classmates is a common way this displays. The reason is that you (the collective) are finally applying preclinical knowledge waiting to evaporate from the brain onto actual patients. Generally, as rotations continue, this would die down much like the excitement from any new possession fades over time.

Unfortunately, in a post-P/F StepI world, such behavior on the wards might persist, but for your case, I think being organized, and just being a solid clinical student will come through diligent preparation and attention to detail despite all the surrounding noise. A midway M2 has minimal clinical experience and a generally weaker grasp on good clinical care, so the person rushing is more likely to harm themselves than anything. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast, especially when taking care of patients at the very beginning of rotations.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

For most of us medical students, there is a level of excitement and a feeling of purpose that comes at the beginning of clinical rotations. Because we are selected amongst the general pool for being more eager doers and high achievers, this excitement manifests in various ways. Unfortunately, the one you're experiencing from your classmates is a common way this displays. The reason is that you (the collective) are finally applying preclinical knowledge waiting to evaporate from the brain onto actual patients. Generally, as rotations continue, this would die down much like the excitement from any new possession fades over time.

Unfortunately, in a post-P/F StepI world, such behavior on the wards might persist, but for your case, I think being organized, and just being a solid clinical student will come through diligent preparation and attention to detail despite all the surrounding noise. A midway M2 has minimal clinical experience and a generally weaker grasp on good clinical care, so the person rushing is more likely to harm themselves than anything. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast, especially when taking care of patients at the very beginning of rotations.

Unfortunately it’s not always just excitement. For a lot of these students, it’s very much intentional.

 

[catnip12]

Unfortunately it’s not always just excitement. For a lot of these students, it’s very much intentional.

Yup, there are gunner / A-hole types too! But at least in my experience, there was less of that toxic behavior as the year progressed. So I chalked it up to "excitement". But in truth 3rd year is draining so at some point people stop caring as much.

 

[pawprint]

Us residents/staff notice this behavior. I’d give a medical student struggling through a complicated patient a better eval than someone who continually “volunteers” for uncomplicated patients.

At the end of the day it makes you the better doctor. Better to struggle through the complicated stuff while you have zero responsibility as a medical student than having to figure out what to do as a resident or staff.

 

[SpoiledMilk]

But in truth 3rd year is draining so at some point people stop caring as much.

10000% Due to some scheduling issues, I was a 4th who had to do my last 3rd year clerkship at the start of year 4. It was the 3rd years' 1st clerkship of the school year and boy were they loading up on patients leaving me with the leftovers. By that point, I was so burned out I didn't fight it anymore and just focused on the shelf and not getting yelled at...