As the audition season for 4th year medical students is nearing the end, I have observed a few things that I want to share. These are from the accumulation of my first-hand experience working medical students and of feedbacks from the residents.
James is a hardworking, cordial 4th year medical student who wants to do emergency medicine. He has set up rotations at 4 different hospitals and was at his 2nd rotation when I met him. James was never late or went home before anyone else. He always asked questions, sometimes may be at the inappropriate time; nevertheless, he showed his enthusiasm for learning medicine. However, after the first week, the residents noticed that James did not interact much with any other medical students, the ER staff, or other residents from a different service. All the EM residents agree that James has strong work ethics and is reliable, but he was not showing himself as a team player. The EM residents do not know anything else about James or James' background beyond his meticulous work. They decided that he would be ‘considered' but not strongly.
Jennifer is an intelligent, quick-on-her-feet 4th year medical student who is interested in Internal Medicine. She could answer any medical questions (or ‘pimp questions') more accurately than any interns or junior residents. During didactic session, she was most noticeable for her in-depth questions and comments. She showed great enthusiasm towards the field she is interested in. She interacted well with the IM residents on her service. However, she was dismissive towards other non-IM residents. Other non-IM residents expressed their opinions that Jennifer was rude and challenged them quite often. It appears that Jennifer was a perfect shining star among the IM residents, but she was deemed hostile by the non-IM residents.
Todd, from day one, had shown a lot of potential as a shining star. Todd is pursing Family Medicine as a career. Todd always shows up earlier than anyone else in his service. He is helpful to both his peers and to the residents whom he works with. All the people around him could see that he enjoys his rotation and is most likely deemed as a high potential candidate. Todd continually expressed that he dislikes all of the rotations he had before and really wants to come back to is current rotation as an intern next year. Todd, furthermore, shared a lot of opinions about how ‘terrible' the other hospitals and their residents are.
Audition rotations can the best time for medical students...or they can be the most stressful time. It is the best time to experience the differences in clinical practice from different hospitals. It is a time we realize that not everything we learn from textbooks is true in a clinical setting. It is also a time we learn about strengths and weaknesses of different hospital systems and embrace the experience we gain.
Sometimes, however, it can be the most stressful time of our career, as we are in a new setting, away from home, and, most of all, what we do is being judged by others who are quite critical in their selection for the next year's intern group. Although work ethics, reliability, effective communication, medical knowledge, and many other characteristics are highly sought after, many other factors come into play.
As medicine is advancing towards patient-centered care, clinicians from different services provide interprofessional collaboration to care for our patients and certain programs may prefer to have a team player who works well with others beyond the boundary of their own service.
You can follow Jimmy on Twitter (@JimmyTamHuyPham) or at his website: jimmytamhuypham.com.
**The post originally appeared on Medscape's "The Differential" on November 16, 2015.
James is a hardworking, cordial 4th year medical student who wants to do emergency medicine. He has set up rotations at 4 different hospitals and was at his 2nd rotation when I met him. James was never late or went home before anyone else. He always asked questions, sometimes may be at the inappropriate time; nevertheless, he showed his enthusiasm for learning medicine. However, after the first week, the residents noticed that James did not interact much with any other medical students, the ER staff, or other residents from a different service. All the EM residents agree that James has strong work ethics and is reliable, but he was not showing himself as a team player. The EM residents do not know anything else about James or James' background beyond his meticulous work. They decided that he would be ‘considered' but not strongly.
Jennifer is an intelligent, quick-on-her-feet 4th year medical student who is interested in Internal Medicine. She could answer any medical questions (or ‘pimp questions') more accurately than any interns or junior residents. During didactic session, she was most noticeable for her in-depth questions and comments. She showed great enthusiasm towards the field she is interested in. She interacted well with the IM residents on her service. However, she was dismissive towards other non-IM residents. Other non-IM residents expressed their opinions that Jennifer was rude and challenged them quite often. It appears that Jennifer was a perfect shining star among the IM residents, but she was deemed hostile by the non-IM residents.
Todd, from day one, had shown a lot of potential as a shining star. Todd is pursing Family Medicine as a career. Todd always shows up earlier than anyone else in his service. He is helpful to both his peers and to the residents whom he works with. All the people around him could see that he enjoys his rotation and is most likely deemed as a high potential candidate. Todd continually expressed that he dislikes all of the rotations he had before and really wants to come back to is current rotation as an intern next year. Todd, furthermore, shared a lot of opinions about how ‘terrible' the other hospitals and their residents are.
Audition rotations can the best time for medical students...or they can be the most stressful time. It is the best time to experience the differences in clinical practice from different hospitals. It is a time we realize that not everything we learn from textbooks is true in a clinical setting. It is also a time we learn about strengths and weaknesses of different hospital systems and embrace the experience we gain.
Sometimes, however, it can be the most stressful time of our career, as we are in a new setting, away from home, and, most of all, what we do is being judged by others who are quite critical in their selection for the next year's intern group. Although work ethics, reliability, effective communication, medical knowledge, and many other characteristics are highly sought after, many other factors come into play.
As medicine is advancing towards patient-centered care, clinicians from different services provide interprofessional collaboration to care for our patients and certain programs may prefer to have a team player who works well with others beyond the boundary of their own service.
You can follow Jimmy on Twitter (@JimmyTamHuyPham) or at his website: jimmytamhuypham.com.
**The post originally appeared on Medscape's "The Differential" on November 16, 2015.