Oh, hi!
i started Internal Medicine. everyone says they learn a lot on this rotation and, after only one day, i can see why. we saw 18 patients today and that gave me about 1800 things to look up tonight.
this is going to be a mind-numbing and grueling rotation, with long days and work straight through Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year’s (oh boohoo, i know!). our (10? 11? hour) days start at 7am and i’m on a team with 4 residents and 3 other students. yes, that makes 8! i’ve suddenly become part of the white-coat pack that shuffles behind the doctor and moves from room to room in an albino herd-like fashion. it’s a little different than the solo flying and co-piloting i did on OB and at the Family Medicine outpatient clinic.
speaking of Family Medicine, it’s done!
after each rotation we get mini performance reviews from the supervising resident or attending. some of them are even nice enough to take the time to give you concrete feedback (you know, other than just “you did good”) with advice for how to fix things as you move forward.
during the the performance review i got from the Family Resident attending on Friday, he said something along the lines of: “i know students are told it’s okay to say ‘i don’t know’, but your — and i’m assuming it’s the Canadian in you — mild mannered and non-confrontational personality makes ‘i don’t know’ sort of a sucky answer for you.” he also said nice things like how i’m highly motivated, great with patients and staff, insightful, bright, articulate, and read more than any other student he’s had rotate through.
but even the most articulate “i don’t know” is worse than a theory or blind guess in the dark.
so, if you’ll excuse me, i’m off to read. i need to be able to come up with some big girl words if i’m put on the spot tomorrow.
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October 26th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
I am learning that ‘i don’t know’ or my personal favourite ‘they didn’t teach us that…’ isn’t cutting it anymore, so now I too have converted to wild stabs in the dark. Sometimes I am completely off the mark, but sometimes I surprise myself and the right words come out of my mouth. I find that giving an answer, even if wrong, will prompt an immediate correct answer from the person training me, as opposed to the “yes you do, just think about it…” followed by awkward silence as i think about it..and don’t come up with anything.
October 27th, 2009 at 4:58 am
I think it is great that you got some feedback like that and have learned so much from your experience thus far. Also, I really was surprised at how genuinely pleased you were with your day. I think you have found something that falls on the I could do this for the rest of my life side of the aisle. : )
October 27th, 2009 at 7:49 am
I’m glad you got constructive feedback!
I got pretty much the same feedback from a lab rotation (I’m in the basic sciences) I did. My supervisor said I’m too nice, and that I need to disagree with people, or at least stop saying “I don’t know” because it makes me sound like I don’t care, at best, and stupid, at worst. It’s hard!!
Oddly enough, she also attributed my niceness and non-confrontational nature to the fact that I’m from another country. Especially being at the bottom of the pack and knowing less than most people around me, I hardly have the confidence (and the balls, as my current supervisor likes to say) to speak up when I know I’m right, let alone when I’m clueless.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Maybe you should switch to, “I don’t know. You got a problem with that?!”
October 27th, 2009 at 10:41 am
I’m glad you are the sort of person who takes the feedback and builds and improves from it. Not everyone does.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
If’n you were a family medicine doctor I could come flash my plastic health insurance card to your receptionist. ;-)
October 28th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Dear Jen, wow, you are already on your third rotation! Times flies! This is nice to get feedback from your supervisors! I loooove feedback! Goodluck with the internal medicine rotation, this one seems to be a lot of work. I am sure you will be great!
November 1st, 2009 at 11:02 am
Now I guess you see why I constantly say “I don’t know” is not an acceptable answer when I pimp students in the basic sciences.