glad to see that our school is not the only one:
“I’ll be the first to admit that I’m a bit weird, but compared to my classmates, I’m probably the most balanced one here. One artist has stated that there are 12 types of medical students. I’ll just summarize as saying that they’re all nuts. The women here have more issues than a magazine stand. These people could fill psychiatry textbooks as case reports. Just keep that in mind when you start flirting with one of your classmates. Also, several students are completely controlled by their parents. Usually mommy, M.D., is footing the bill, meaning that mom comes on the dates with you. Seriously, I knew one girl who had certain rules for her condo because her mother told her to enforce them.
Go on a clinical rotation, find yourself a nurse, and never look back.”
http://halfmd.wordpress.com/
“At one time, being different may have been difficult — for it wasn’t just Princeton’s crickets that startled Sotomayor. The academics and the students on the leafy Gothic campus, with its ivy-covered dormitories and castle-like towers, also made her feel out of place.”
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/15/sotomayor.college/index.html?
when doctors make mistakes
“Errors affect doctors too, increasing the risk of burnout and depression and harming subsequent care.”
at my med school, i think there is a new edition of the guide published every year. seems not much is changed from edition to edition, but i did notice that the latest version (2009) left out some very important details under the “cardinal rules of being a good classmate” section of the guide.
cardinal rule #1: do not get ahead at the expense of your classmate(s). that should be obvious. i hope it is.
cardinal rule #2: do not do something that makes the rest of your classmates look bad. for example, unless you are super-excited and cannot get through the day without having seen your patients, do not go in to round when you have been told that you do not have to because your residents will just wonder where your classmates are. do not make each other look bad.
cardinal rule #3: stick up for each other. particularly when you see something happen that you know is just not right. no one has the right to yell at you or belittle you, so if you see it happen to someone else, tell one of your seniors what has happened and support your classmate.
cardinal rule #4: teach each other. remember the “see one, do one, teach one” saying. unfortunately, it is true in the worst possible way once you are a resident.
DO NOT HORDE INFORMATION. share it with one another and teach each other something new every day.
i don’t know how old my edition is, but seems they shouldn’t have cut these out. it may seem like common sense to most people, but that just means you don’t know med students at all.
i missed orientation, so i don’t know what was said about this topic; but i think they should teach “how to be a good person” the same way they teach “empathy” in doctoring.
