"You can go home" means...

[Pox in a box]

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What does this mean?

 

[Anasazi23]

When I say this to medical students, it generally means, "I don't anticipate anything particularly interesting or worthwhile from a learning standpoint from here on out. You'll be a resident soon enough, and won't have the luxury. Head home and enjoy yourself."

 

[Mumpu]

It means "get the hell out before I change my mind."

The only case where staying MAY benefit you is on a general surgery rotation if you are a major surgery gunner.

 

[kc361]

I've had several residents explicitly tell me that when a resident says you can go home, he/she means it - take advantage of it. Either they need to be on their own for a while without the responsibility of supervising you, or they actually like you, know that you'll be swamped with work as a resident yourself, and don't see a reason to needlessly keep you in the hospital.
Initially, I offer to stay on and help out, but if they repeat the statement, I head home.

 

[fuzzyerin]

What does this mean?

It means go home. When I was a MS III, I might have hung around initially because I wasn't sure. But I'll tell you, by the time I was an MS IV, I was telling my resident that I was done with my work and I was leaving. As a PGY-1 now, I'll be sending my med student home when there's nothing to do. You've got lots to read and that's more educational than following a lost intern around.

 

[djipopo]

it can mean any of the above. but the point is - take your a$$ home!

take advantage of the fact that you don't need to be there all night, yet. 😀

 

[phllystyl]

Get out quickly. 😉

Don't stick around and give them a chance to let you stay longer 😉

 

[bigfrank]

What does this mean?

Pox, don't think too much. Residents don't care enough to play mind games with you. When you're asked to go home, say THANKS and get the hell outta there.

 

[DOtobe]

As everyone else has said, go home means go home! It takes MS-III's a while to understand this. When I was an MS-III I was always worried they were testing me, but they're not!

 

[Pox in a box]

Pox, don't think too much. Residents don't care enough to play mind games with you. When you're asked to go home, say THANKS and get the hell outta there.

Don't worry. I haven't turned down the offer yet. I actually heard that last sentence verbatim yesterday post-call. I was so tired and gladly accepted.

 

[vladtaltos]

Medicine - go home
Surgery - stay

 

[Pox in a box]

Medicine - go home
Surgery - stay

Why?

 

[vladtaltos]

what I was told by a Radiology Resident;

Medicine - they care more about what you know than you actually being there (not to say that your time there isn't noted but your knowledge shown while you are there counts more). "go home" doesn't mean go home and sleep, but go home and study the patient, the disease etc. You really can't do that if you decide to spend all of your time on the ward. As the Clerkship director said, "we can do just fine without you, but you are appreciated."

Surgery - pretty much a we-want-to-see-who-works-the-hardest-type-deal.

Ob/Gyn - you will be lucky if that phrase ever gets uttered.

 

[VincentAdultman]

Damn I love family.....take everything at its word and expect no mind games.

 

[HiddenTruth]

This is an interesting thread. I am sure these thoughts circulate through a lot of students' heads.

 

[ThinkFast007]

what I was told by a Radiology Resident;

Medicine - they care more about what you know than you actually being there (not to say that your time there isn't noted but your knowledge shown while you are there counts more). "go home" doesn't mean go home and sleep, but go home and study the patient, the disease etc. You really can't do that if you decide to spend all of your time on the ward. As the Clerkship director said, "we can do just fine without you, but you are appreciated."

Surgery - pretty much a we-want-to-see-who-works-the-hardest-type-deal.

Ob/Gyn - you will be lucky if that phrase ever gets uttered.

being almost a MS4 now, i cant OVEREMPHASIZE what dr. vladtaltos just said

 

[blue2000]

As a surgery intern, I think there is some truth to the above statements, but I would add a few iterations (these subtleties are what make being an M3 so hard):

If the ORs are running late, and another medical student isn't scrubbing on the late case, you should stay, especially if you are interested in surgery. Surgery is hard work (as are many other fields), and if you can't be bothered to stay for the late case as a M3, how will you handle the unexpected occurrences of late cases as a resident?

If however, all I have left to do is a quick chart check and order entry before I go home, and I tell you to go, please, go. Somethings are boring and mundane, and if you are hanging around I'll feel the need to make you a part of it, and all I'm thinking about is what I'm going to pick up for dinner and whether I'll get a run in before dark.

In my opinion, there is a world of difference between the phrases "you can go if you'd like" and "you should go home."

 

[Pox in a box]

As a surgery intern, I think there is some truth to the above statements, but I would add a few iterations (these subtleties are what make being an M3 so hard):

If the ORs are running late, and another medical student isn't scrubbing on the late case, you should stay, especially if you are interested in surgery. Surgery is hard work (as are many other fields), and if you can't be bothered to stay for the late case as a M3, how will you handle the unexpected occurrences of late cases as a resident?

If however, all I have left to do is a quick chart check and order entry before I go home, and I tell you to go, please, go. Somethings are boring and mundane, and if you are hanging around I'll feel the need to make you a part of it, and all I'm thinking about is what I'm going to pick up for dinner and whether I'll get a run in before dark.

In my opinion, there is a world of difference between the phrases "you can go if you'd like" and "you should go home."

How much of a difference is it going to make one way or the other? You're not going to get docked on your eval if you leave. You definitely might not be seen as a shiner and one who goes above and beyond but look at what you could have gained: more time to study for the shelf exam and more R & R. Being on the surgery service, I can tell you that it's tough getting any time to study. When I go home at night, I usually can't study more than 20 good minutes because I'm so exhausted. I end up falling asleep. I haven't ever had someone tell me "You can stay if you like." They always hint that there's really no reason to be there and to save time for something productive by getting out of Dodge.

 

[uclabruins47]

if it's said like that, it means 'im being very nice and you should really go home.' dude, im on ob right now and i would be glad to hear my resident to tell me to go home instead of actually trying to hint to her that i want to go home since it's like 5 pm and i've been there since 6 am. today another resident said that 'you can go home if you like, but it's your educational benefit if you stay for a delivery on the patient you're following. im not gonna twist ur arms to stay but i'm not gonna boot you out at 5 either" but all of us just left anyways cuz it's been 10 hours already and we dont even know when she'll deliver anyways and we aint gonna stick around for any longer if we aren't on call. i barely have any time to read, what the f 😕

👎 👎 👎

 

[Bobblehead]

This is one of those vagaries of life that you'll just have to suck up unfortunately. For what it's worth whenever I've said "go home" I meant go home. That could be for selfless reasons (i.e. you don't have to suffer through 6pm evening rounds while I do, this is boring me and probably boring you as well) or selfish reasons (i.e. I want to be left alone, you slow me down, you're annoying as hell). But the instruction is always true, go home means go home.

 

[raspberry swirl]

i just finished my first month of rotations. during the first week, when my resident or intern would tell me i could go, i'd usually say "oh its early, i dont mind sticking around for a bit". that lasted a week. now when one of them tells me its ok to go, i LITERALLY bolt for the stairs (dont wait for the elevator, because while you wait, they'll get paged with an admission and then you'll get sucked in). i dont know about other services, since i've only done medicine so far, but i realized after that week that its probably annoying for them to have me sitting right next to them while they dictate or write notes or make calls. i see my patients, write my notes, join my intern and resident to see any new patients after i finish, follow up on anything and then i LEAVE the minute either of them hints that i can go. i usually just say "are you sure there's nothing i can do for you quick before i leave?" and sometimes theyll have me pop my head in a patient's room to ask a question they forgot, or have me call radiology and check on something, but usually they say, "naw i have to be here all night anyway, it will give me something to do". i say "thanks" and peace out. take everyone's advice! leave!

 

[Hoo\/er]

i just finished my first month of rotations. during the first week, when my resident or intern would tell me i could go, i'd usually say "oh its early, i dont mind sticking around for a bit". that lasted a week. now when one of them tells me its ok to go, i LITERALLY bolt for the stairs (dont wait for the elevator, because while you wait, they'll get paged with an admission and then you'll get sucked in).

That's funny you mention that you hit the stairs instead of taking the elevator to leave cuz I do the same thing for the exact same reason you do

I can't wait to get the **** outta there, and I usually think about it all day long. Ahh, med school sucks...but only one hellish year left and then I'm done with medicine for life. Thank God.

 

[bigfrank]

what I was told by a Radiology Resident;

Medicine - they care more about what you know than you actually being there (not to say that your time there isn't noted but your knowledge shown while you are there counts more). "go home" doesn't mean go home and sleep, but go home and study the patient, the disease etc. You really can't do that if you decide to spend all of your time on the ward. As the Clerkship director said, "we can do just fine without you, but you are appreciated."

Surgery - pretty much a we-want-to-see-who-works-the-hardest-type-deal.

Ob/Gyn - you will be lucky if that phrase ever gets uttered.

This is only true if you're considering leaving without telling anybody. If anybody from the above 3 tells you to GO HOME you can do just that.

Again, and I can't stress this enough: Many medical students have an unnecessarily stressful third year because they become faintly and unintentionally narcissistic/paranoid. Into the year, you'll see what I mean. They fall into the mindset that their residents care very deeply about them, want to play mind games, and center their hectic lives around manipulating them and watching their every move. This couldn't be further from the truth. If you work hard while you're there and are nice, the third year is not horrible.

Finally, IF your surgery intern/chief says to GO HOME, it's really OK to do so. They won't lose any sleep over it.

 

[Whisker Barrel Cortex]

For God's sake, GO HOME!