What to do when your MS3 rotation is mostly shadowing?

[ace_inhibitor111]

Currently doing outpatient medicine and 90% of the time it's just shadowing. Barely learning anything. Feels like a waste of time. All my preceptors just want to get home ASAP, and no-one really has the patience to wait for a student to see a patient, hear a presentation and see the patient a second time. I think in other schools the schedule is adjusted to make room for teaching students? Ironically enough, I'd be more aggressive about seeing patients but I've heard other students get bad evals for being annoying. I'm not sure what to do but could really use advice.

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[Mass Effect]

You need a discussion with your clerkship director and the attending supervising you.

 

[Dantrolene FC]

On my FM rotation, they would room two patients at a time. I would see patient A and the attending would see patient B. When we were both finished, I would give a 30-60 second presentation, and we would see patient A together. So if there were 16 patients for the day, the attending saw all 16 and I saw 8 of them. It seemed like a pretty efficient setup for me.

 

[hallowmann]

That honestly sucks. I'm sorry. I agree regarding talking to the clerkship director. I will say sometimes attendings will make you shadow for 1-2 days then let you see people on your own.

If things don't change, then honestly just try to ask questions (not when the attending is writing notes or reviewing the chart on the PC). You can find a way to do it without being annoying. If none of that helps, chalk it up to a crappy rotation, and know that it'll end soon.

 

[Dr. Death]

Keep your head down, enjoy going home early and move on.

 

[OnePunchBiopsy]

Bring it up to your clerkship director.

If that doesn't work, move on, and use the extra time off to study.

When the rotation is done, write about your experience in the evaluation.

 

[sunshinefl]

On my FM rotation, they would room two patients at a time. I would see patient A and the attending would see patient B. When we were both finished, I would give a 30-60 second presentation, and we would see patient A together. So if there were 16 patients for the day, the attending saw all 16 and I saw 8 of them. It seemed like a pretty efficient setup for me.

This is pretty much how my FM and outpatient Peds went. Worked out well for all parties.

 

[ciestar]

This is pretty much how my FM and outpatient Peds went. Worked out well for all parties.

My FM rotations largely worked this way as well as clinic for OB, also ambulatory IM. It’s nice to feel a tad bit autonomous.

 

[VA Hopeful Dr]

On my FM rotation, they would room two patients at a time. I would see patient A and the attending would see patient B. When we were both finished, I would give a 30-60 second presentation, and we would see patient A together. So if there were 16 patients for the day, the attending saw all 16 and I saw 8 of them. It seemed like a pretty efficient setup for me.

That's what most of us who have students do

 

[bahdahboom]

Currently doing outpatient medicine and 90% of the time it's just shadowing. Barely learning anything. Feels like a waste of time. All my preceptors just want to get home ASAP, and no-one really has the patience to wait for a student to see a patient, hear a presentation and see the patient a second time. I think in other schools the schedule is adjusted to make room for teaching students? Ironically enough, I'd be more aggressive about seeing patients but I've heard other students get bad evals for being annoying. I'm not sure what to do but could really use advice.

I've been there and tend to approach this situation in 1 of two ways. Figure out which is best for you:

1. Continue to play the "shadow" role and stay out of everyone's way. It will suck, you will feel like you're wasting time and will constantly be second-guessing your role there. But always be on guard in case they look to you for help. This is the trickier option because there's a good chance they won't care but there's a small chance they give you a poor eval. In my experience, when i chose this option, I was graded fairly but I had a really good feeling that the preceptors really didn't care I didn't do anything.

2. Ask one of your preceptors if there's anything you can help out with and what do they expect from you. Periodically, let them know you're here if they need anything. If they make it clear they dont need your help, I ask the nurses if they want me to take vitals, draw blood, etc. In this way, I'm trying to show initiative and interest. I also realized some preceptors expect you to take initiative but won't say it, and then give you a poor eval if you didnt read their mind and know that's what they wanted 😕

I tend to opt for option 2 and then dial back to option 1 if it's clear I'm in the way.
don't overthink it. We've all had plenty of "shadow" rotations.

 

[radsisrad]

Study for your shelf exam on your phone.

You'll learn in residency everything you need to know for real-world practice.

Yes, I'm jaded.