Random Things in the Internet: "Bad" Medical Students

by Kendra Campbell, MD, Psychiatry/Mental Health, 07:57PM Feb 24, 2011 from http://blogs.medscape.com/kendracampbell

Taken from Google Image

I've written some posts in the past about how to shine during your clinical rotations. But an experience today inspired me to write about "bad" medical students. We were having a resident lecture by one of our psychiatry attendings, and he invited his medical students to join us. I couldn't help but stare in disbelief at one of the med students, in particular (and keep in mind that this was a small room with less than 20 people in it). One of the students clearly had his phone in his hand, although he was attempting to cover it up (but doing a rather dreadful job). For about 95% of the lecture, he stared at his phone, occasionally typing things or apparently reading stuff from the screen. He looked away from his phone only once that I observed, and never looked at the lecturer. It was really quite incredible, actually.

During my psychiatry program, we had an entire course on "how to teach medical students." We were taught tips and tricks on providing quality education to our students. In addition, we had lectures on how to deal with "bad students." We were introduced to various situations that we might encounter, and were taught ways to handle them. For some reason, psychiatry seems to be one of those fields that some future doctors believe that they'll "never need in the future," and as such, it can bring out the worst in students. 

I thought I would list examples of some of the "bad" medical students, whom I encountered as a resident, as a "don't do" list for med students:

1. The disinterested medical student. See above example. As an aside, let me say that although you may think that you will NEVER need to know psychiatry as a surgeon, you are wrong. Trust me on this one. So, even if you could care less about a particular specialty, it's really important to "fake it 'til you make it." It really doesn't take that much extra energy to act interested. And yes, residents and attendings DO notice when you take absolutely no interest in learning.

2. The "no" medical student. I was actually quite shocked the first time I asked a medical student to take a history from a patient when she responded "no." While it's entirely reasonable to refuse to do something you are uncomfortable with, refusing to perform required duties is certainly not a good way to get a good evaluation (or learn!).

3. The late medical student. While there are always excusable reasons to be late on occasion, chronic tardiness is very unprofessional, and is definitely noticed by your resident and attending.

4. The medical student without a clue. No one expects med students to know everything, or to be able to answer all questions. But when a student is obviously not taking the time to learn about a particular specialty or topic, it really shows. We all understand that you don't have the luxury of studying all day long, but reading for even 20 minutes a day will show that you at least have the motivation to learn.

5. The distracted medical student. We all have lives outside of med school and residency, and emergencies arise. But constantly texting or being pre-occupied with things other than the rotation looks unprofessional, and does not go unnoticed.

I hope this list is helpful to some of you out there. Please do provide examples from your own experience or add to the list!

Kendra Campbell, of http://www.doctorpsychobabble.com/