The above reddit posts seem to suggest that way, otherwise they wouldn't be so cheering to quickly cancel that opportunity
Med students cheer about stupid things all the time. I once got an ovation from our entire 200+ class for (incorrectly) arguing that a test answer should be counted as correct. Besides, it seems that there were plenty of students who actually did sign up for the activity, you really think that they're comforted knowing they don't get to do this now because a bunch of their classmates whined about it?
The problem is words got around in medical school at the speed of light. It's worse than middle school or high school. Some people will be seen as good team players" among some faculties and others won't.
I was very close with my Neuroanatomy professor in med school; that individual knew most of the 'gossipy' things that happened in my class before I did, and was not shy about letting me know other faculty members know these things.
I dont know how it is everywhere, but many of friends who attended med school in the US said their institutions were similar to mine in term of gossip and BS etc...
You really think that faculty are going to care enough about this to tank people's careers? If they have enough time to pull that then they're either not busy enough or they're the cattier than the average admin.
Again, if patients need care today, 2 immediate things need to be done
1. Give med students clinical responsibilities.
2. Mass send this volunteer opportunity TO EVERYONE affiliated with the hospital system, med school and other health professional schools and not just to MS1s/MS2s.
1. M3's and M4's already have clinical responsibilities related to COVID at many places. If you're suggesting early graduation to full clinical duties like in Italy, I'd consider looking at the outcomes on the health and mental of those students before rushing to support that. Cliffnotes, severe depression doubled to nearly 50% of early graduates, severe anxiety tripled to nearly 50% of early graduates, and rates of burnout significantly increased while sense of accomplishment went basically unchanged.
Error - Cookies Turned Off
Yes, this is a critical situation, but throwing students into positions they're not ready to handle is not the right choice, imo. Though we already seemed to be doing that with mid-levels, so what the heck I guess.
2. Fair, but I'm guessing M3 and M4s are already involved as they're on their rotations and other health professionals aren't likely to volunteer to do extra of what they're already getting paid to do. Though I do agree that this could have been marketed to a broader group (pre-meds as well).
Again, this wasn't a volunteer experience offered to everyone regardless of background, it was pointed directly at a specific demographic that is more likely to feel like they *have* to help.
Yes, offering it to M1s and M2s only is such a narrow demographic. They're CLEARLY being targeted for oppression. /sarcasm
If it makes anybody feel any better about my opinions here, I spearheaded one of these campaigns to get staff back into the hospitals to combat the shortage of RNs for a major hospital system. When I did that, I specifically *DID NOT* reach out to the medical school to try to browbeat students into helping because I understood the power dynamics at play.
Good for you, but this is a crap argument that perpetuates the idea that med students are children who need to be protected and not adults capable of making their own decisions. It's the same concept as med schools having dress codes for didactics or mandatory lectures, but prohibiting students from doing something instead of requiring it. If they don't want to do it, they don't have to do it. Yes, med students and their classes should rally together and stand up for their rights, especially if they feel they're being coerced by a power-dynamic system that relies on an argument of appealing to authority and little else. But med students are still adults. They do not need to be treated like a protected class who can't make their own decisions or need guardians swooping to rescue medical students en masse.
That argument is the thing that bothers me the most about this whole thread. These aren't 6 year olds who don't know not to take candy from strangers, they're adults and their entitled to decide whether they want to participate in a situation like this or not without everyone else telling them what they should or shouldn't be doing.
It depends on how the class reacts and how many take up the opportunity. Standing out in a negative way can hugely kneecap medical students, even if that negative way is simply *not* doing an extra activity. I have examples of this in practice, but they are too specific and would be identifying. Maybe you just aren't familiar with how cutthroat med schools are right now?
Lol, is this a joke? I directly work with med students every day and am acutely aware about how cut-throat they can be. But how could I possibly know? It's not like I...went to med school... And from the reddit thread it doesn't seem like anyone was "browbeaten" into this, and I have a hard time taking a lot of these arguments seriously considering they're coming from a user named "F***worksomuch"...
I get it, med students get singled out. I've seen it too. I just don't believe that any non-malignant admin would go after students for not volunteering for a...wait for it...VOLUNTARY opportunity. Everything about the way the messages were worded suggested that this was not the case and actually seemed to discourage some people from participating. This is coming from someone who went to a med school with malignant administrators as well as someone who was singled-out by them more than once (both positively and negatively).