Ive been on my peds rotation (my first rotation) for only 2 weeks and 2 days and I think the most important thing I've learned is that as a student, my job is to impress people. It's actually kinda sad, because at the end of the day, I don't really feel like I've accomplished the full extent to what my job entitles. I should explain...
Even before rotations started, I guess I was super eager to go around the hospital talking to patients and really helping people. Instead of doing this, I feel like I've been going around the hospital doing other tasks (getting lab results, printing out stuff, etc.). It's not like I have a choice in this because med students just have to do whatever the residents/interns tell them to do. Why? Because we're basically there to make a good impression. Unfortunately, most of our grades are based on the subjective opinions of our superiors. I feel like there's so much luck involved (if you get assigned a nice resident who's generous with grades..then you're pretty much set. if not...then too bad), of which I am not a fan. I understand that doing all the bitch work is a part of learning the system, but I guess I'm disappointed by the end of the day when I've only gotten to speak to my patient for a total of like 10-15 minutes during the day.
I'm just hoping that this is only true because I just started third year, or because I'm at a sub-par teaching hospital for peds. All I'm asking for is more patient interaction and less having my guard up the entire day, waiting for residents to be around so I can try and please them.
the faster you learn to play the game, the better. you can still spend time and care about your patients, but you gotta play the game too. they aren't mutually exclusive things. and yes what residents/attendings you get is part of the luck/game.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the advice! Yea, i guess I still have to learn how to balance the two. I see myself becoming a little too obsessed with making sure that all the technical stuff (like write-ups) are perfect that i end up neglecting patient care. Hopefully I'll learn to do this soon.
ReplyDeleteI suck at playing the game. I bank on being a personable guy who's proactive enough to figure out all that's going on with my patients. Getting lab results (and being able to interpret what they mean) is actually really important. The scut work, as they say, only increases as an intern/resident.
ReplyDeleteHopefully you'll have more patient interactions on outpatient!! That's where most of my patient interactions came from prior to my sub-I (which is rather grueling).