Time wasting on rotations...

[JustPlainBill]

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Anyone else tired of all of the time wasted on rotations under the guise of a 'good clinical experience'?

I actually thought I was going to learn something 3rd and 4th year....not so much. Lots of time spent standing around while the attending taught the intern or upper level and the students were like the small children jumping up trying to see over everyone elses shoulders. The residents were so busy that they couldn't teach us......so a lot of us spent a lot of time reading and now in 4th year it's degenerated into playing video games....what a waste....

 

[Disinence2]

You gotta take some initiative!

You can't just stand around and expect someone to teach you.

 

[njbmd]

Any waiting time for me was study time. I tore pages from my books and kept them in my coat pocket. I also had stuff on my Palm Pilot that I could study. I was never one to "hang around" and do nothing on a rotation. I looked for procedures, followed up on labs and discussed them with the intern or got into the OR to scrub any case that I could. My grades and USMLE Step II thanked me for keeping busy as I had plenty of honors.

 

[ucsfstudents]

I also think it depends on which rotation you are on. In any case, being proactive gets you closer to getting honors on your rotation.

 

[MattD]

Yeah, there's ONE reason short white coats have pockets, and that's to carry books to read while the attending is ignoring you 🙂