Stressed about being a bad medical student

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Dear SDN,

I am an M2 (yay T^T)
I am not so great at attention to detail or organization, so I have been having some trouble making meetings. I haven't gotten any professionalism citations or anything like that but one of my instructors is concerned. It's nothing intentional and I'm passing all my courses and have been from the beginning, and the only classes I did particularly poorly in were anatomy and microbio.
I feel lost and I don't know what to do, I feel like there is something inherent about me that is making me a bad medical student and I cannot figure out how to fix this. Making calanders helps me make sure that I watch lectures before the last couple days of class, but it doesn't fix the fact that I misread emails, don't understand how to organize H&Ps better, and make meetings. I think some factors that are making this harder are that there is no syllabus and assignments are everywhere, but I know that I am coping with this worse than most students. Is there any advice anyone has on how to be a less ****ty medical student?

Sincerely,
Abadmedicalstudent who is now sad

 

[Goro]

I get the sense that there is something underlying all these.

Go to see a doctor or your Student Services for help, both in counseling but also learning/academic support.

Do NOT tie your self-esteem to being a good student or not.

 

[Medisaint]

Cheer up, this is fixable. Medical school is like drinking from a firehose so it's natural to have periods where you feel overwhelmed. Dude, expect to feel overwhelmed until at least 6m into intern year, maybe longer...

From what you've written it seems like your main problem is organization. I think this can be broken down further into scheduling tasks and organizing medical information in your brain (i.e. H&Ps).

Tasks: Keep a calendar either electronically or physically (personally recommend) and just write down all the **** you need to do for this semester, including dates and times. Zoom has been a learning process and I use that method to keep track of the many meetings I have throughout the day. Reach out to your instructors if you are unsure of what is required. There is no shame in asking for clarification. The concept of coursework and classes will essentially disappear from your life once your reach your clinical years and certainly when you enter residency. That said, task management and prioritization will remain critical skills to have

Organizing information: Writing coherent, organized and succinct notes is a skill in itself. There is so much to say about each patient, what information is useful to include? What is the bet order to present it? Etc. This comes with lots of practice and improves in parallel with your medical knowledge and clinical experience. Keep practicing, asking for feedback/advice and looking at other people's notes to see how they organized concepts and information.

Remember that Medicine in general rewards the resilient. If you combine that with an open mind, humility and a drive to improve then you'll be a great doctor.

 

[jurassicpark]

Dear SDN,

I am an M2 (yay T^T)
I am not so great at attention to detail or organization, so I have been having some trouble making meetings. I haven't gotten any professionalism citations or anything like that but one of my instructors is concerned. It's nothing intentional and I'm passing all my courses and have been from the beginning, and the only classes I did particularly poorly in were anatomy and microbio.
I feel lost and I don't know what to do, I feel like there is something inherent about me that is making me a bad medical student and I cannot figure out how to fix this. Making calanders helps me make sure that I watch lectures before the last couple days of class, but it doesn't fix the fact that I misread emails, don't understand how to organize H&Ps better, and make meetings. I think some factors that are making this harder are that there is no syllabus and assignments are everywhere, but I know that I am coping with this worse than most students. Is there any advice anyone has on how to be a less ****ty medical student?

Sincerely,
Abadmedicalstudent who is now sad

This is a complex question with complex individual answers. I think Goro the superstar that they are, already answered it. If your school has educational/tutorial/emotional support I would please make use of it. None of this means you are a bad student by any means from what you are describing. But it could be things like fatigue, stress, depression, time management, organization, healthy living, not enough to too much alcohol (this is key). Also remember to reach out to friends/colleagues and families too for help if you find this all too burdensome and bewildering. Bottom line though is do not wait to seek help, it will just keep piling up.

Best of luck, remember: being a doctor doesn't happen overnight or in gigantic leaps. You tackle that mountain one page at a time, it's a marathon.

 

[Badmedicalstudentissad]

This is a complex question with complex individual answers. I think Goro the superstar that they are, already answered it. If your school has educational/tutorial/emotional support I would please make use of it. None of this means you are a bad student by any means from what you are describing. But it could be things like fatigue, stress, depression, time management, organization, healthy living, not enough to too much alcohol (this is key). Also remember to reach out to friends/colleagues and families too for help if you find this all too burdensome and bewildering. Bottom line though is do not wait to seek help, it will just keep piling up.

Best of luck, remember: being a doctor doesn't happen overnight or in gigantic leaps. You tackle that mountain one page at a time, it's a marathon.

Haha, the thing is I've experienced depression before, and this is not it. I'm actually mostly chill and okay with things, I'm just feeling frustrated at the moment because this professor basically told me I sucked and that my lower than average level of paying attention to detail is "academically concerning." I'm not really super upset with myself, more frustrated, and more upset that I'm in a situation I'm aware of with no idea how to fix. She's not wrong that I miss meetings a lot, and that I have forgotten assignments before. I do think I'm not amazing at organization or paying attention to detail. And I'm also frustrated the professor in question is blowing up an okay H&P (it wasn't amazing or anything but also not as awful as shes making it sound) because I missed a meeting. (I reviewed the H&P after with 2 other people).

I mean in a day I won't care anymore and will drown any problems with copious amounts of Netflix sitcoms and catching up on Anki haha.

I just reread the inital comment and I was being as dramatic as my professor.

 

[7331poas]

Haha, the thing is I've experienced depression before, and this is not it. I'm actually mostly chill and okay with things, I'm just feeling frustrated at the moment because this professor basically told me I sucked and that my lower than average level of paying attention to detail is "academically concerning." I'm not really super upset with myself, more frustrated, and more upset that I'm in a situation I'm aware of with no idea how to fix. She's not wrong that I miss meetings a lot, and that I have forgotten assignments before. I do think I'm not amazing at organization or paying attention to detail. And I'm also frustrated the professor in question is blowing up an okay H&P (it wasn't amazing or anything but also not as awful as shes making it sound) because I missed a meeting. (I reviewed the H&P after with 2 other people).

I mean in a day I won't care anymore and will drown any problems with copious amounts of Netflix sitcoms and catching up on Anki haha.

I just reread the inital comment and I was being as dramatic as my professor.

If your professor is a PhD you should just ignore any criticisms they made. If you are passing you are fine. They are probably just annoying people aren't paying attention to them.

 

[Tenk]

You need to figure out what works for you. To remind myself of stuff, I set alarms on my phone and send myself texts I don’t read so there’s an annoying “1” on my messages and I remember I have a list of stuff to do. This works for me but you’re not me. Find stuff that works for you based on your habits.

 

[jurassicpark]

Haha, the thing is I've experienced depression before, and this is not it. I'm actually mostly chill and okay with things, I'm just feeling frustrated at the moment because this professor basically told me I sucked and that my lower than average level of paying attention to detail is "academically concerning." I'm not really super upset with myself, more frustrated, and more upset that I'm in a situation I'm aware of with no idea how to fix. She's not wrong that I miss meetings a lot, and that I have forgotten assignments before. I do think I'm not amazing at organization or paying attention to detail. And I'm also frustrated the professor in question is blowing up an okay H&P (it wasn't amazing or anything but also not as awful as shes making it sound) because I missed a meeting. (I reviewed the H&P after with 2 other people).

I mean in a day I won't care anymore and will drown any problems with copious amounts of Netflix sitcoms and catching up on Anki haha.

I just reread the inital comment and I was being as dramatic as my professor.

Glad to hear you're doing okay then. Don't let one negative comment slow you down. But it's great you're using that comment by the professor to re-organize the way you are doing things, especially if you agree with organizational issues as well as attention to detail. Once again, if the school provides resources and you have no idea how to fix the issues, use them. Also friends as well, there's no one method that works for everyone but getting new ideas or input into how you're conducting yourself can greatly help.

And I'm on my like 3rd or 4th re-run of The Office and Parks and Rec. Driving my wife insane.

 

[Osteosaur]

When you know about an important meeting set an alarm for the night before, or use a calendar app with alerts. And always check your school email each day.

 

[TheTravelingShrink]

A differential diagnosis here includes at least the following: I'm raising these possible diagnoses not to slap on a label, but rather because each of these can be remedied, which would lead you to feel better about yourself as a medical student and later, as a clinician.

DDx: ADHD, some form of insomnia, major depressive disorder, challenges with executive functioning, and possibly, ambivalence around being a medical student and an accompanying identity disturbance vs adjustment to other stressors, or impairment in concentration due to a medical condition. You haven't talked about compulsive gaming or substance use, but these could also be explanations.

I second that it is worth going to your school's department of mental health and counseling for an evaluation and if the major diagnoses don't apply, psychotherapy (which I think most doctors should go into), and of course, making sure that your thyroid functioning and general labs are normal.

If you've *always* had a difficult time with organization, getting neuropsych testing might help you identify whether this is a challenge regarding executive functioning and getting coaching will help - with strategies like setting an alarm, a calendar app, etc being helpful. This will also help you be a better clinician as you'll understand some what your patients struggle with. You might also be extremely intelligent and as such have been able to compensate for inattentive subtype of ADHD but are now getting overwhelmed.