What they don't tell you about survivng your clerkships

Walking into a new clerkship can be completely terrifying. What makes it more terrifying is the fear that is instilled in you before you walk in the door. Horror stories about how you will have to spend every waking hour running around doing work, seeing patients, getting coffee for your attendings, being demeaned by the residents and doctors, not knowing any of the answers, waking up at three AM to get to work and not getting home until 10pm at the earliest. Having no life outside of your clerkships. But I think the worst part of all of this is going into it thinking "and so goes the rest of my life." Because if you work that hard as a student you must be working that hard as a resident right? Well let me debunk some of the myths. Yes, the above can be your life for the remainder of your third year, fourth year, and possibly even your residency. But you don't have to let it. Because clerkships, and residency, really aren't as bad as you think they are going to be. In fact, for most people medical school gets MUCH better once the clinical years start. I still hated my life, just not nearly as much. You just have to know a few things. Here is what I learned going through my rotations to make life a bit easier: You can go to the bathroom. There is time to take a small break and run off to the rest room to relieve your poor bladder. I was convinced I was going to have to hold my tiny bladder forever, was getting ready to buy depends pull ups just in case, when I realized that no one would really miss me for the five minutes it takes to use the rest room. Of course there are some exceptions. You can't run off in the middle of a code to go potty, even if you are just standing on the side watching. Leaving the OR to potty is also a bad idea. But go before the next case starts. Leaving rounds to go to the bathroom is permissible but frowned upon. So try not to make a habit of it. Take a break for lunch. Really, as a medical student you are not so important that you need to work through your lunch break. There is always downtime to go get some food. It is ok to ask to go grab some lunch. Again, use your common sense. A code is not the appropriate time. Always bring snacks in case lunch should get delayed for some reason. Bring a book or study material. There is always down time. And you won't always have a computer during that down time. Do not show up at 4am (again, except maybe for surgery). There is no reason to be there that early. And on most rotations, except when on call, you will likely be out between 5-6pm. Afterwards, you can sit and watch tv for awhile. Or catch dinner with friends. Do not make medicine your entire life, or you will go crazy. Study while you are on the wards during down time and then take some evenings off. If there is an upper level on the team, do not let the intern boss you around. Interns have little power. I've had a couple of interns who felt it was in their job description to boss me around and tell me all the mistakes I made and make me feel as small as possible. They are douchebags. Your intern looks good when you look good. Yes, they should tell you when you are doing something wrong, but in a helpful, we all make mistakes kind of way. And they do get to assign you tasks, but they are not your boss. The upper level is. Do not let anyone make you feel inferior. Remember, everyone is there to learn, and we all learn a different way. Your main job as a medical student is to learn. Occasionally you will have to do scut work, we all did. But that is not your main job. And you don't need to make a huge show out of learning, but do make an effort to demonstrate your ability to learn. For instance, if you don't know something and the attending asks you to go read about it, the next day do bring up that you took the time to learn about it, and ask if you are understanding it correctly. Do not make a huge show of the twenty different articles you read about it. You don't have to be a gunner, but you do have to show interest and some initiative. It is okay to not know things. No one knows everything. If you don't know something, DO NOT lie about it. Never say you did something that you didn't do. Because it may come back to bite you. Remember that we all make stupid mistakes. On one of my clerkships I was evaluating a guy with stomach pain and completely forgot to do the physical exam. When asked about the exam I just said "wow, I am an idiot, I didn't do one, let me go do it and I'll come back and finish this presentation." It was no big deal. I got teased, but not ruthlessly beaten down by it. If someone is making a big show of how amazing they are at your expense, it means THEY feel insecure and need to take it out on you. Don't let them get to you. Just do your best. This is all about survival, get through it and move on to the next one. Some of the rotations you will LOVE. they will be super exciting, you'll look forward to going, you'll enjoy the work. Others are so boring you want to poke your eyes out. And sometimes the one you love is the one others hate. Who cares, it's about what you like. For the ones you don't like, put on your happy face and remember it is only a month (or eighth weeks tops). And let yourself enjoy things. I even enjoyed some of my surgery rotation, and I hate surgery. But when I liked something I went with it. I actually hated very little of my rotations. I was surprised by the ones I liked. Go home when someone tells you to. Just do it. Offer to help one last time, then if told to go home again, just go. Pay attention to the lifestyle of the residents, their stress level, the work load, and the hours. Because these are things that help you decide what you want to do with your life. You can absolutely love surgery but hate the lifestyle. So then pay attention to things you enjoy that have procedures, because there are other jobs that involve procedures that you may be able to do without the hectic life of a surgeon. I, for instance, hate procedures and am so excited to finish my off service months so I can go back to the comfort of psychiatry where the only thing I have to do is talk and listen. And give drugs. Ah, the life. Also, don't feel bad about what it is you like. I know I felt like if I went into psychiatry I would not be a real doctor and why go through all of medical school to just go into psychiatry, and so I decided to go into peds instead, andthank goodness I didn't get in because being a "real doctor" is totally over rated. I would have hated being a pediatrician! I LOVE psychiatry. And I don't care who doesn't. Because it is my life, not theirs. So do what you love. Last bit of advice. You are still a human being with things that cannot always be taken care of on your one sunday a week off. So sometimes you have to schedule an appointment of some kind into the afternoon. It is okay. Don't take everyday of the week off. But go see your doctor. Take your car in. I once left work early to pay a parking ticket. It was embarrassing to ask for the time to do it, but it couldn't wait any longer. I also would sometimes leave work early for therapy if I couldn't get a later appointment in the evening. It is ok to do every once in awhile. And that's all I can think of right now. I'm back to feeling like a medical student now that I'm on internal medicine again haha. Except when we round I don't have to go into every patient's room, and when we are done with my patients I can go back to work haha.