Tips for kissing ass

Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine
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redpanda said:
This: gunner baking. Brought choc chip cookies for long call day (because cookies at 7pm=delicious). Next day, other med student brings in gourmet pastry from fancy pastry shop in town. Apparently, the cookies were sooooo proletarian.
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Well you should have coordinated the baked goods with the other med student. Since you didn't, it became a baked goods arms race.
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I did bring in donuts one time, for me and a couple other med students. I would be damned if any of the residents got their paws on my donuts.
 
JP2740 said:
I did bring in donuts one time, for me and a couple other med students. I would be damned if any of the residents got their paws on my donuts.
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Krispy kreme or Dunkin
 
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redpanda said:
This: gunner baking. Brought choc chip cookies for long call day (because cookies at 7pm=delicious). Next day, other med student brings in gourmet pastry from fancy pastry shop in town. Apparently, the cookies were sooooo proletarian.
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this is what i would do, except i would claim i spent all night slaving away making them while simultaneously studying for whatever exam it is that everyone had coming up.

and show up with perfect hair and makeup, because why not?

(damn, its a good thing i never went to med school)
 
fancymylotus said:
this is what i would do, except i would claim i spent all night slaving away making them while simultaneously studying for whatever exam it is that everyone had coming up.

and show up with perfect hair and makeup, because why not?

(damn, its a good thing i never went to med school)
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Lying is a great way to get people to like you
 
But yeah if you can't handle the heat I'd stay out of the kitchen
 
chipwhitley said:
Well you should have coordinated the baked goods with the other med student. Since you didn't, it became a baked goods arms race.
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Lol. I'm not paranoid enough for that, nor (given that I know this person's history of interactions with other peers) would it have prevented an arms race.
 
charmiedermie said:
I stand by the skin thing. Lol. We had one girl asked by an attending to the side if something was wrong. He assumed it because her hair was always kept in a ponytail or in a bun but was wet out of the shower, her skin was really pale w/o makeup, and when she was tired she had accentuated bags under her eyes. Probably not a huge problem for guys though.
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Reminded me of this.
 
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VisionaryTics said:
Eh. If a student wants to try something they're uncomfortable with (putting in lines, suturing, packing wounds, putting in Foley, small procedures, etc), I love when they volunteer. Gives an opportunity to teach. I don't get pissed at students for making a case go slightly longer or whatever. We're here to teach, and you're here to learn.
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I'm about 5 for 150 when it comes to asking to do things. "Why don't you just watch this one and you can do it next time" translation: you will never get to do this while I'm on service
 
bottom line, you want to earn the respect of your residents and attendings. and that will never happen if you kiss a--, or bring in baked goods, or act like a jerk and try to one-up the other students on service.

my only advice is to be on time, read about your patients, and be a normal human being. as it turns out, only about 50% of students can accomplish all this.
 
The last 25 years on this dying planet have shown me that LIFE is about kissing ass- not just third year of medical school. Practice looking interested. Nothing is as offputting as a person with dull eyes and a blah disposition.
 
If you tend to be on the quiet side and not make much small talk, will that be a problem? (assuming you know your stuff and get it done, are nice, enthusiastic, etc)
 
Psai said:
I'm about 5 for 150 when it comes to asking to do things. "Why don't you just watch this one and you can do it next time" translation: you will never get to do this while I'm on service
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God forbid you mention you have done it before
 
doc05 said:
bottom line, you want to earn the respect of your residents and attendings. and that will never happen if you kiss a--, or bring in baked goods, or act like a jerk and try to one-up the other students on service.

my only advice is to be on time, read about your patients, and be a normal human being. as it turns out, only about 50% of students can accomplish all this.
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Bolded for emphasis because this is one of those things med students, for some reason, forget. Heck, I admit, maybe I was also being a weirdo during my earlier clerkships. After I started to act more like my normal self, I've had staff respond to me in a more positive manner.

During my time in the HIV/ID clinic, a staff member approach me and compliment me on my smile, then proceeded to tell me that she thought all my other classmates were weird because they never smiled, said hi to the staff, and they seemed so stiff, but I seemed a lot more relaxed and full of positive emotions. I've been getting great clinical evals since.
 
CherryRedDracul said:
Bolded for emphasis because this is one of those things med students, for some reason, forget. Heck, I admit, maybe I was also being a weirdo during my earlier clerkships. After I started to act more like my normal self, I've had staff respond to me in a more positive manner.

During my time in the HIV/ID clinic, a staff member approach me and compliment me on my smile, then proceeded to tell me that she thought all my other classmates were weird because they never smiled, said hi to the staff, and they seemed so stiff, but I seemed a lot more relaxed and full of positive emotions. I've been getting great clinical evals since.
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Because medical students are deathly afraid of (and rightly so) being normal humans. I say this because you'll eventually deal with lots of people that take considerable offense to you being normal. The risks of that are huge.
And I'm not saying you're wrong in being who you are. But the reality is that people avoid that because of the potential ramifications
 
Kaustikos said:
Because medical students are deathly afraid of (and rightly so) being normal humans. I say this because you'll eventually deal with lots of people that take considerable offense to you being normal. The risks of that are huge.
And I'm not saying you're wrong in being who you are. But the reality is that people avoid that because of the potential ramifications
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And I think that, ironically, leads to their downfall (or at least not as good of a clinical evaluation). People sometimes forget that health care workers are humans, too. But I do agree that some people would take offense to us medical students being normal, but that's usually because they're weird themselves. That happened to me during OB/GYN with one of the interns and it did affect how I interacted everyone for the next two rotations ... negatively though. I still hate that intern so much and I (and my classmates) destroyed her on resident evals in response.
 
CherryRedDracul said:
And I think that, ironically, leads to their downfall (or at least not as good of a clinical evaluation). People sometimes forget that health care workers are humans, too. But I do agree that some people would take offense to us medical students being normal, but that's usually because they're weird themselves. That happened to me during OB/GYN with one of the interns and it did affect how I interacted everyone for the next two rotations ... negatively though. I still hate that intern so much and I (and my classmates) destroyed her on resident evals in response.
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While there will be people who deride you for being normal (and I agree they usually have some pathology themselves), you're absolutely right that the best thing a student can do is ****ing act like a normal person,

I'm in a room with you for 40+ hours per week. Please do something else than try and show off your medical knowledge. Talk about recent movies you've seen, tell a funny joke, tell me about your family or your dog, ask for assistance with an unusual patient encounter or ask about things that you aren't going to find in Surgical Recall, let's talk about Josh Duggar and how the event was handled.
 
Until one becomes am attending, it seems like from MS3 to attending, one will have to do some ass kissing...
 
W19 said:
Until one becomes am attending, it seems like from MS3 to attending, one will have to do some ass kissing...
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And that is just so wrong; but ass kissing definitions can vary. Some folks will want to talk trivia and some will not. You have to try to get a feel for the person, and that may not always be easy. The best solution then is to be yourself--as long as you are not too far out there, let the chips fall where they may.

My things is, do you really want me to impress you, or do you want me to learn and/or do my best to get the job done--whatever that may be at that point? Pimping knowledge, well, that is what it is.

I do agree with WS in that taking a genuine interest in others or things of general interest is helpful. Personally mostly those that do a better job at being quiet do well. Let the superior do the talking, except where you have a genuine inquiry or interest on something--and even then tread carefully.
 
Winged Scapula said:
Typically not true for surgical rotations; knowing WHEN to talk is an important skill but the quiet ones on surgery tend to receive poorer grades.
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LOL. Maybe it's a CT surgery thing--especially on rounds. People know they will get queried in the OR--and if they don't, they find out in a flash. Figuring out w/ whom, how, when, etc, that can get tricky with certain people. I've seen a lot of people beaten up verbally no matter what they do. It all depends. The surgical oncology attending today has an incredible personality and loves to teach, so he is not intimidating outside the OR. In the OR, w/ surgeons, well, it depends on the pressure of the cases and schedule and other factors--at least this is what I have seen. Many factors to consider--the stress factor is one of them IMHO.
 
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jl lin said:
LOL. Maybe it's a CT surgery thing--especially on rounds. People know they will get queried in the OR--and if they don't, they find out in a flash. Figuring out w/ whom, how, when, etc, that can get tricky with certain people. I've seen a lot of people beaten up verbally no matter what they do. It all depends. The surgical oncology attending today has an incredible personality and loves to teach, so he is not intimidating outside the OR. In the OR, w/ surgeons, well, it depends on the pressure of the cases and schedule and other factors--at least this is what I have seen. Many factors to consider--the stress factor is one of them IMHO.
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Not sure if you're lecturing me on what surgeons are like...
 
Winged Scapula said:
Not sure if you're lecturing me on what surgeons are like...
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Not even. Just my varying perspective.

And just so you know I'm simply making a genuine observation, I will share the following. I mean it's not just me. People may love working with someone like you b/c you love to teach and so on. . . but there is this:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...surgical-rotation-review-on-clerkship.851094/

See post 2, but other perspectives there balance things out as well.

Sometimes it's just damn hard to read people, and you sure as heck can make yourself crazy in trying to please everyone. Sometimes it's damned if you do, damned if you don't, it seems. Residents/Fellows and even attendings talk, and sometimes nurses can see a lot of stuff. Doesn't mean they know anything close to what you know. It's just they what they have observed and have had shared with them, perhaps over a considerable period of time, are legit perspectives too. Lots of individual variation though so. . .
 
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jl lin said:
Not even. Just my varying perspective.

And just so you know I'm simply making a genuine observation, I will share the following. I mean it's not just me. People may love working with someone like you b/c you love to teach and so on. . . but there is this:

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/thr...surgical-rotation-review-on-clerkship.851094/

See post 2, but other perspectives there balance things out as well.

Sometimes it's just damn hard to read people, and you sure as heck can make yourself crazy in trying to please everyone. Sometimes it's damned if you do, damned if you don't, it seems. Residents/Fellows and even attendings talk, and sometimes nurses can see a lot of stuff. Doesn't mean they know anything close to what you know. It's just they what they have observed and have had shared with them, perhaps over a considerable period of time, are legit perspectives too. Lots of individual variation though so. . .
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Of course there is variance in people's experiences on surgical rotations.

Of course there is variance in how surgeons approach students and residents.

Of course nurses can observe interactions and make cogent observations on those interactions.

My point is is that you presented your rather limited and skewed observation that being quiet on the surgical rotation was the best way to obtain a good grade. While I don't have the time, I could find numerous threads here which students have claimed the opposite: they've gotten poor grades because they were quiet and shy. I recall several posts in which students were nervous about their surgical rotation because they had been advised by their classmates that they needed to speak up and be outgoing.

In my many years, in many hospitals, and many institutions across The United States, I have a certainly observed variation in how medical students are perceived. I talk with my surgical colleagues every day. My experience is the vast majority prefer outgoing, friendly and interactive medical student over someone who remains silent unless spoken to.

While there may be at exceptions, and perhaps CT surgery IS that exception, surgeons are typically by nature outgoing themselves and want medical students to reflect that. That's why I stand by my observation that advising medical students to be quiet on surgical rotations is unlikely to be helpful and perhaps can result in a negative impact on their grade.

This was not meant to negate your experience or to suggest that nurses don't make valuable observations but rather that I suggest that your observation is skewed either by the individuals you work with and does not accurately reflect the wider variety of surgeons across the United States.
 
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I am technically a MS2 now and it seems like from now and on, the med school experience will be soul crushing, ass kissing etc... I am doing research right now with a very bright PI who is an MD and sometimes I have to laugh at his jokes that don't really care about... I laughed at one joke he made the other day even if I did not understand the stupid joke (Some of these jokes probably make sense to native, and I am not). If it's going to take some ass kissing to get that MD degree, I am up to the task.🙁
 
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W19 said:
I am technically a MS2 now and it seems like from now and on, the med school experience will be soul crushing, ass kissing etc... I am doing research right now with a very bright PI who is an MD and sometimes I have to laugh at his jokes that don't really care about... I laughed at one joke he made the other day even if I did not understand the stupid joke (Some of these jokes probably make sense to native, and I am not). If it's going to take some ass kissing to get that MD degree, I am up to the task.🙁
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...what?
 
Winged Scapula said:
Of course there is variance in people's experiences on surgical rotations.

Of course there is variance in how surgeons approach students and residents.

Of course nurses can observe interactions and make cogent observations on those interactions.

My point is is that you presented your rather limited and skewed observation that being quiet on the surgical rotation was the best way to obtain a good grade. While I don't have the time, I could find numerous threads here which students have claimed the opposite: they've gotten poor grades because they were quiet and shy. I recall several posts in which students were nervous about their surgical rotation because they had been advised by their classmates that they needed to speak up and be outgoing.

In my many years, in many hospitals, and many institutions across The United States, I have a certainly observed variation in how medical students are perceived. I talk with my surgical colleagues every day. My experience is the vast majority prefer inappropriately outgoing friendly and interactive medical student over someone who remains silent unless spoken to.

While there may be at exceptions, and perhaps CT surgery is that exception, surgeons are typically by nature outgoing themselves and want medical students to reflect that. That's why I stand by my observation that advising medical students to be quiet on surgical rotations is unlikely to be helpful and perhaps can result in a negative impact on their grade.

This was not meant to negate your experience or to suggest that nurses don't make valuable observations but rather that I suggest that your observation is skewed either by the individuals you work with and does not accurately reflect the wider variety of surgeons across the United States.
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WS, I have no problem at all deferring to your experience and expertise. I shared my, as you say, "skewed" perspective, simple as that. Each person will have to determine the social dynamics in which she or he will be asked to function/perform. All I am saying is that it's not always easy, and sometimes, you just have to accept that people are as they are, for whatever reasons.
I have too worked with a number of excellent surgeons that were, by nature, more reserved and focused on their work. I have also worked with some that were a little more gregarious; but limited their displays as such. In general, although medicine may be changing in many ways, it is still pretty conservative in certain ways. Also, in my experience, the demands of surgery, especially in training, limits the time they can spend w/ patients. Of course there are always exceptions and exceptional situations either way.

I can't really care that much, b/c mostly--99% of the time in the years I have worked I have had great experiences with surgeons (the number of which is not small), and I try to accept people as they are and try not to get bent out of shape one way or another--so long as we are all putting the patient/family first.

I don't care about the surgeon's club in terms of what the expected behavior is, for a number of reasons that I have no interest in expanding upon at this time. Of course every group has a way of accepting or rejecting. For student surgical rotations. again. the student is just going to have to do his best to figure out how to speak and act, given the particular group of people.

For surgeons in particular, I respect what they do probably more than the average non-surgical nurse or the general public, b/c their's is quite a heavy load to carry in many ways. Some surgeons I naturally respect more, b/c they are either super gifted, super insightful and talented, or some combination of all all of these things. In my experience in particular, I don't think that the personality of the surgeon should be the number one focus of the patient/family. What they do and how good they are at doing it, as how well they manage post-operatively, these are the essential things to me.

If the surgeon is a truly compassionate and understanding soul, who also has those aforementioned things, so much the better. Yes, I know that people learn to compartmentalize in order to survive and get the work done. But in my opinion, deeply compassionate and understanding people, in general, are more rare than prevalent. Don't misunderstand. I am not saying compassionate and understanding people are not around or even prevalent. I am saying deeply compassionate, understanding people--intuitively so, are rarer in general. For some folks, it's just more of an innate gift that they have.

In undergoing a surgical procedure, I want carefulness, adeptness of skill, amazing knowledge, and the ability to think fast and critically when surprises arise. Mostly I want amazing skill and expertise from a surgeon. I mean, every patient wants their doc, whatever kind s/he is, to listen to them. That is just the plain truth. But I ultimately don't care so much what the surgeon's personality is as much as his/her overall skill, talent, adeptness, etc as she or he cuts or pokes (where minimally invasive or not) into my body. When I think on the gravity of what is being done to a surgical patient to help make him or better, those things come first.

What I've learned is in general--in my experience- surgeons are not as much about what you say, as what you do--meaning they watch carefully and learn whether or not they can trust you or not. I suppose, then, to your point, when MSs are on surgical rotations, surgical residents, fellows, and attendings will seek discussions and dialogues to ascertain surgical knowledge, interest/enthusiasm, and so forth. But I could honestly name probably >10 top surgeons in my area that are not particularly gregarious, but rather somewhat reserved. Yes, I could name another 10 that are more outgoing and just a total pleasure to be around. That's fine.

Ultimately, however, what I have seen and learned is that it is a lot about reading people and situations, and sometimes that is easier to do than at other times. Of course once you are accepted into a group, then the group is more likely to support you.

Either way, it's nothing to get bugged about in my opinion.
 
BTW, I did not say it was the best way to get a good grade. That was a misinterpretation. There are a lot of times where you have to keep your mouth shut and learning to read the situations is the key. That was my point. But I have seen people beaten up--damned no matter what they do. That's kind of counterproductive for everyone.

It's all about interpretation too. Kissing ass versus pushing oneself as outgoing. . .well, it's silly to me. How will a more reserved person not necessarily make a good or excellent surgeon--especially since I have worked with those that are reserved--whether or not they reek of being in the boy's club? OK. Maybe the process was harder for them, b/c they didn't play such games--b/c it just wasn't their personality or nature to be that way. It shouldn't have been in my humble opinion.

And being shy was not what I was talking about at all. Medicine in general is going to be very tough for those that are timid and shy, which, at least in my mind, is different from being more on the reserved side of things. Seems to me, you can't be too shy and you can't be too outspoken. It's something somewhere in the middle, and the "optimal point" on that spectrum will vary, depending upon the person/s with whom one is working.
 
Psai said:
So it's my fault that no one lets me do things? I got in trouble for palpating the abdomen on surgery
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Yes and No? I'm just saying that these generalizations are hit or miss for some rotations. Everyone is different and it's sometimes tiring trying to get a handle of how every single ****ing person in every damn department acts so you can accommodate them. I'm not saying it's impossible, but the reality is that being yourself ultimately leads to someone else hating you for it, because you'll run into that person who's not only unlike you but just hates people like you and will use it against you. I'm not jaded about it, just realistic.
You'll have a team with residents that admire your personality/work ethic but some of them hate you for it and will use it against you. Like being in the OR and the attending admires your contribution during the procedure and tells you to close but that one resident whom hates you because of your personality will cock-block you when the attending leaves and close for you just to "make a point" or whatever.
I'm not placing fault in people who decide "You know what, **** it, this is who I am." and ultimately stop trying to be a constant ass kisser 100% of the time to show people who they are. I've done it. And, like you gave an example of, have been subject to punishment for it. Thankfully, it's been a minor thing compared to those who've enjoyed me candor and personality. But, that feeling, when you work with someone whom you know 100% doesn't admire/like/enjoy whom you are... it's a soul-crunching feeling. I've had to revert to just being the quiet sub-servant bitch just to not piss them off lol

CherryRedDracul said:
And I think that, ironically, leads to their downfall (or at least not as good of a clinical evaluation). People sometimes forget that health care workers are humans, too. But I do agree that some people would take offense to us medical students being normal, but that's usually because they're weird themselves. That happened to me during OB/GYN with one of the interns and it did affect how I interacted everyone for the next two rotations ... negatively though. I still hate that intern so much and I (and my classmates) destroyed her on resident evals in response.
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Yeah. I'm an advocate of being whom you are, but I just stress that it will ultimately mean dealing with people (higher than you) whom hate you for it. Just be prepared for it. Worse is when it's an attending. I honestly think this thread proves that yes, being who you are is generally a good thing, but that it's not something you'll experience with 100% satisfaction. I do do my fair share of ass kissing, but it's not deliberate/intentional for my grades, but more along the lines of trying to make the interns/residents/etc day better however I can. If it means dealing with a patient who's an dingus, fine. If it means being a scapegoat for a consult to another specialty, that's fine as long as I generally enjoy working with you. I've honestly had more fun being the scapegoat for consults on so many occasions. I don't suck at it (nor am I great), but I know the frustration of getting someone to see a patient. And if I can take that headache away from them to get this accomplished, that's fine. Also, I'm not gonna lie, I do enjoy saying "I'm just a medical student"... kind of like a purposeful troll. Yes, it pisses some people off, but it's kind of funny. "Can I speak to your superior?" "No, they're busy. They told me to ask you to come down and see X patient." Anyways, that's the end....

Winged Scapula said:
Typically not true for surgical rotations; knowing WHEN to talk is an important skill but the quiet ones on surgery tend to receive poorer grades.
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Yeah,
That's been my experience. I've been on the receiving end of "shut the **** up, Kaustikos" on some rare occasions, but I learned. Meanwhile, being quiet is like asking to be ridiculed. I was doing Anesthesia and watching this procedure and this poor med student wasn't saying anything. The attending finally says to the student "Do you even know what we're doing? I bet you the student doing Anesthesia looking at the procedure has a better idea". I was kind of mortified... and wanted to respond "A hysterectomy" when they were doing an appendectomy on a male just to make her look better. But I refrained. But...I wish there was a way to telepathically tell someone "HEY! PAY ATTENTION!"
 
Kaustikos said:
Yes and No? I'm just saying that these generalizations are hit or miss for some rotations. Everyone is different and it's sometimes tiring trying to get a handle of how every single ****ing person in every damn department acts so you can accommodate them. I'm not saying it's impossible, but the reality is that being yourself ultimately leads to someone else hating you for it, because you'll run into that person who's not only unlike you but just hates people like you and will use it against you. I'm not jaded about it, just realistic.
You'll have a team with residents that admire your personality/work ethic but some of them hate you for it and will use it against you. Like being in the OR and the attending admires your contribution during the procedure and tells you to close but that one resident whom hates you because of your personality will cock-block you when the attending leaves and close for you just to "make a point" or whatever.
I'm not placing fault in people who decide "You know what, **** it, this is who I am." and ultimately stop trying to be a constant ass kisser 100% of the time to show people who they are. I've done it. And, like you gave an example of, have been subject to punishment for it. Thankfully, it's been a minor thing compared to those who've enjoyed me candor and personality. But, that feeling, when you work with someone whom you know 100% doesn't admire/like/enjoy whom you are... it's a soul-crunching feeling. I've had to revert to just being the quiet sub-servant bitch just to not piss them off lol



Yeah. I'm an advocate of being whom you are, but I just stress that it will ultimately mean dealing with people (higher than you) whom hate you for it. Just be prepared for it. Worse is when it's an attending. I honestly think this thread proves that yes, being who you are is generally a good thing, but that it's not something you'll experience with 100% satisfaction. I do do my fair share of ass kissing, but it's not deliberate/intentional for my grades, but more along the lines of trying to make the interns/residents/etc day better however I can. If it means dealing with a patient who's an dingus, fine. If it means being a scapegoat for a consult to another specialty, that's fine as long as I generally enjoy working with you. I've honestly had more fun being the scapegoat for consults on so many occasions. I don't suck at it (nor am I great), but I know the frustration of getting someone to see a patient. And if I can take that headache away from them to get this accomplished, that's fine. Also, I'm not gonna lie, I do enjoy saying "I'm just a medical student"... kind of like a purposeful troll. Yes, it pisses some people off, but it's kind of funny. "Can I speak to your superior?" "No, they're busy. They told me to ask you to come down and see X patient." Anyways, that's the end....



Yeah,
That's been my experience. I've been on the receiving end of "shut the **** up, Kaustikos" on some rare occasions, but I learned. Meanwhile, being quiet is like asking to be ridiculed. I was doing Anesthesia and watching this procedure and this poor med student wasn't saying anything. The attending finally says to the student "Do you even know what we're doing? I bet you the student doing Anesthesia looking at the procedure has a better idea". I was kind of mortified... and wanted to respond "A hysterectomy" when they were doing an appendectomy on a male just to make her look better. But I refrained. But...I wish there was a way to telepathically tell someone "HEY! PAY ATTENTION!"
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LOL. That'd be me. Thinking of some smart ass reply--and sometimes it's like bench-pressing an elephant to sit on your tongue and not respond. But sure, if you stand there like a robotic dolt, what are others supposed to think?
In reality, as you said, there are people that will for whatever screwy reason just decide to dislike you--no matter what you do. When it's on them, it's their issue, even if they don't want to face it. You can't change them, so you try to make things go as smoothly as possible anyway.

I'm wondering if some don't like older/non-trads that have been around, b/c they are not going to necessarily genuflect in the presence of those higher up on the food chain, or b/c they have been to Emerald City and have seen the Wizard behind the curtain. I like what the Cuba Gooding Jr character in the movie Jerry Maguire said:

"They have been to the circus, you know what I'm saying? They have been to the puppet show and they have seen the strings."

So, we give respect; but we aren't some insecure little 20 somethings (not that all 20 somethings are for God's sake) that will quake and quiver in your presence. Life has made us a little tougher in a number of cases. Sure we may be sensitive, but we are not going to let unfair attitudes break us down.

No, you can't been unprofessional or disrespectful or impersonal either. But who made up this idiotic, unspoken rule that you have to take a lot of unnecessary guff off of people in order to help them become a physician? It's ridiculous.
 
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W19 said:
Until one becomes am attending, it seems like from MS3 to attending, one will have to do some ass kissing...
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I've been ass kissing from the day I was born. Already got the game on lock
 
spicydefinitely post: 16561650 said:
If you tend to be on the quiet side and not make much small talk, will that be a problem? (assuming you know your stuff and get it done, are nice, enthusiastic, etc)
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Yes, it will definitely be a problem.
 
Winged Scapula said:
While there will be people who deride you for being normal (and I agree they usually have some pathology themselves), you're absolutely right that the best thing a student can do is ****ing act like a normal person,

I'm in a room with you for 40+ hours per week. Please do something else than try and show off your medical knowledge. Talk about recent movies you've seen, tell a funny joke, tell me about your family or your dog, ask for assistance with an unusual patient encounter or ask about things that you aren't going to find in Surgical Recall, let's talk about Josh Duggar and how the event was handled.
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Spent the day discussing the topic of how surgeons shouldn't be sarcastic. Scrub tech kept a count of fellows sarcasm for the day. Said he'd never find a job of that was a criteria. Lol

Oops. Quoted wrong person.
Anywho: yeah, I almost prefer pimp sessions involving music, movies, etc.
Or when the attending asked me what the "gold on the ceiling" meant and I responded "they had R Kelly over?"
 
Kaustikos said:
I'm not saying it's impossible, but the reality is that being yourself ultimately leads to someone else hating you for it, because you'll run into that person who's not only unlike you but just hates people like you and will use it against you. I'm not jaded about it, just realistic. You'll have a team with residents that admire your personality/work ethic but some of them hate you for it and will use it against you. But, that feeling, when you work with someone whom you know 100% doesn't admire/like/enjoy whom you are... it's a soul-crunching feeling. I've had to revert to just being the quiet sub-servant bitch just to not piss them off.

Meanwhile, being quiet is like asking to be ridiculed. I was doing Anesthesia and watching this procedure and this poor med student wasn't saying anything. The attending finally says to the student "Do you even know what we're doing? I bet you the student doing Anesthesia looking at the procedure has a better idea". I was kind of mortified... and wanted to respond "A hysterectomy" when they were doing an appendectomy on a male just to make her look better. But I refrained. But...I wish there was a way to telepathically tell someone "HEY! PAY ATTENTION!"
Click to expand...
How do people not understand these basic concepts, or do they just think
everybody-likes-me.gif
?

Your resident is not supposed to be your buddy.
 
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