Oops…disappeared there again…let’s just say that setting up a home theater system sucks and takes way more time and energy than you would think. Plus I’ve been busy with trying to figure out what order I want to do my clerkships in. Turns out I might as well have not bothered because I didn’t get them in the order I wanted anyway.For the uninitiated, the third year of med school is when students rotate through different required clerkships, gaining clinical experience and hopefully some insight into what specialty they want to pursue. Much fanfare is made about the order of such clerkships and countless strategies abound. Because of the limited number of spots per clerkship per rotation, most schools resort to some sort of lottery system to determine students’ third year schedules. Ours is a long-winded process that apparently doesn’t work too well. Because my schedule sucks. I’m going to go sulk now.
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- on second thought, i suppose it could be worse…So last week, I whined a bit about my third year clerkship schedule. This week, I'm trying to tell myself that it's not so bad. It could have been worse. I could have ended up with Surgery or Internal Medicine first. Then I'd really have cause to complain. But I don't have either of those clerkships first. I have Psychiatry first. Not ideal because I wanted Family Practice first to ease myself into the whole thing and semi-prepare me for Pediatrics second. But I'll live. I think. I hear Peds isn't exactly a walk in the park. And now I'm going into it after Psych, which in no way whatsoever prepares me for it. The other thing that didn't quite fall into place with my schedule is the fact that I ended up not being able to get OB/Gyn before Surgery, which I really wanted so that I could gain some experience with being in the OR/tying surgical knots/etc so that I wouldn't look like a complete idiot come Surgery since I have a more than passing interest in Surgery after all. Of course, the lottery gods decided to spite me and force me to do OB/Gyn last. Yep, that's it. The order is jumbled up and looks almost nothing like what I wanted. But it's not so bad, is it? Well, actually, it is. To me. I want it my way, dammit....
- know what you’re getting yourself intoI cannot stress this point enough when it comes to med school. Contrary to popular belief, it's not for everyone. Some people just aren't cut out for it even if they think they are and their numbers are stellar. It's not all rainbows and butterflies and neither is being a doctor. In fact, a first year at my school committed suicide earlier this year. And two first years at another med school also took their own lives. Sadly, I found myself thinking that the admissions process should have weeded these people out so that those spots wouldn't have been wasted. Yes, it's cold, but I can't help thinking that way because these people should have known what they were getting into and whether they could handle it or not. If you're not tough enough, then step aside and let the people who are tough enough have a shot at it. Because it doesn't get any easier. Besides, you offed yourself in first year?! That's not even when it's the toughest. As my friend said when she heard the news, "What, why kill yourself during first year? Things are still good then. If anything, I would kill myself during third year." Sad, but true. If you can't even handle first year, then you shouldn't even be in med school. There's also an MD volunteering in my lab because she's interested in the specialty that this department is based in and my major professor is somehow connected. She was originally an internal...
- you quit medicine so get off your damn high horseNot too long ago, I wrote about an MD who quit her internal medicine residency to pursue a new specialty instead because she couldn't stand the helplessness that comes from diagnosing people with untreatable conditions. Well, apparently, she decided that this new specialty wouldn't quite solve that problem either (duh!) and is not going to finish residency. Instead, it seems that she plans on pursuing a purely research career, which explains why she's my major professor's new teacher's pet. That's fine with me except for the whole stealing my major professor part. But everyday, I have to listen to her get on her high horse about what's wrong with medicine today. Friday, it was a whole tirade against how doctors are too quick to order imaging instead of taking a good history and performing a good physical. And surprisingly enough, my major professor didn't interrupt her before she could get two words out, which is how I know she's his new teacher's pet. Then today, I was subjected to her rant on how primary care providers aren't compensated well enough for what they do because they're not procedure-based. What is this? Second year of med school?! I've had more than enough of these people who complain about what's wrong with the system yet do nothing to fix it. And really, if she cared so much, why not go into health care reform instead of research? Why not finish residency and be one of those doctors who take good histories and...
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what’s your order? did you have any choice in it at all?