Category Archives: Medical Students

Does Taking a Year Off Kill Your Chances For Residency?

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Many students think that taking a year off anytime during medical school will hurt your chances for residency. The truth is that it largely depends on what you did during that time. If you are seeking to enter very competitive specialties such as dermatology or radiology, taking a year off will hurt you more than if you’re shooting for a spot in internal medicine. If you do decide to take a year off, what should you do?

Research

Many students take a year off for a break before residency and decide to pad their CV with some research experience. In fact, many students think it is necessary to have research on their CV for specialties such as radiology or opthalmology (and usually complete this research during medical school). The bottom line is that research is good for your CV, particularly if it is clinically-oriented, no matter what you are deciding to pursue. This does not mean you absolutely need research experience under your belt in order to score a residency spot of your choosing.

Volunteer Health Work

Something like going overseas and volunteering in some third-world country providing health care to people would be ideal. As most of you already know, this kind of stuff isn’t my cup of tea. But, if you do decide to take a year off, this is another great option so that you don’t lose out on your dream residency.

Other options include the typical stuff that you would expect: Working for a non-profit agency, building homes for Habitat for Humanity, working in a soup kitchen, starting a new charity, etc. You may want to check this site out for some free stuff while you’re looking for charity options.

What You Would (Actually) Like To Do

Now, most of you reading this would probably like to do something more relaxing or fun. I’ll be the first person to tell you that I don’t blame you at all. But, taking a year off and spending it skiing in Colorado does not look good to program directors. It’s a sad, sad fact.

God forbid you do anything for pure enjoyment if you expect to re-enter medicine a year later. Anything other than clinically-oriented grunt work or something to “better the community” during your year off immediately erases any type of medical knowledge that you have gained over the last four years and makes you totally inadequate for the practice of medicine. That’s what the program directors would have you believe.

In order to stay competitive, you have to play their game. Unfortunately if you want a year off, you’ll need to be in a lab somewhere or volunteering at some free clinic in Kenya. There are some exceptions to this rule, such as becoming ill or pregnant.

If you do decide to take some time off, expect to answer the question about what you did during your time off during your interviews. Remember, they don’t know exactly what you did during your year off – and how many people really call and check on references?

As I said earlier, taking a year off doesn’t completely put you out of the running for the residency spot that you want. You’ll just need to finesse the things that you do during your year off and what you tell the program directors during your interviews.

Anti-Social Breeding Ground

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From MDAlien

Greetings from the glorious time of life referred to as the third year of medical school/the breeding ground of antisocial personalities. I’m presently in the midst of my surgery rotation after having done IM, neurology, EM, family med, psych, and OB/GYN.

The following is exactly how I felt during an evening at the end of my day. Don’t try to say you will never sound as angry, cynical, or crazy as this. I didn’t think I would either, but trust me, it happens.
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There was a time when I was a nice person. I vaguely remembered that time, but after the 14th hour of being at the hospital, I’m sitting in the ICU – waiting for the attending to finish his stupid story about the fish he caught that one time that was ‘this big’ – and a horrible thought crosses my mind. “We still have 4 more patients to round on . . . “

I drop my eyes to our patient census and skim the list. There is Mrs. Smith, 85 YO WF w/COPD, CAD, CHF, past MI, recent ileostomy. Look she has pneumonia and she’s on a vent. Even better, she hasn’t been conscious for a week, lived in an ECF, and her family left her full code. Mrs. Smith is on three different antibiotics, which aren’t doing anything to budge her raging sepsis and she’s on the dobutamine drip that seem to not be raising her BP the least bit. Our other three patients are in pretty similar sad shapes. They are all going to die.

Then the next horrible though crosses my mind, ‘can’t these fricking people just die so I can go home already?” Yes, I did just wish some innocent grandma to die because her terminal illness is ruining my day. All of our efforts are completely futile in her case, but when she starts coding tomorrow, I’ll have to go with the team to attempt to save her. Which will put us even further behind on our ever growing census. Thanks dumb grieving family for putting ME through this.

Now I glance at my resident who is still nodding at the stupid story. I’m so annoyed with you that if I had an uzi I’d be gunning for you. Why the hell haven’t you let me go home? The med students don’t even see the ICU patients because this is our surgery rotation. I’ve been here doing nothing for two hours. I can’t write orders, I can’t see patients by myself, and the patients we are seeing I don’t even round on. You aren’t teaching me – no, pimping isn’t teaching – and since you’ve ignored my existence except when I failed to give you that imaginary crucial bit of info the attending scooped you on, why am I still here?

Attending, if I shot the resident, you’re next. Stop telling the fucking story and let me leave. You didn’t bother to show up here until after 7pm to round on your patients, and I know your last surgery ended at 4pm because I was there. I was that med student who held the retractor for two hours that you periodically yelled at for not being able to identify random things in a body cavity that I was too far away to even see beyond my retractor. Don’t you dare start whining about how much harder you worked in residency before the 80 hour work week. In case you haven’t noticed, the 80 work week is a joke and I was here 100 hours last week. So fuck you and shut the hell up.

You know, the hospital doesn’t have metal detectors to use on the staff. I look around at the members of my team and try to figure out which one of us are going to snap, go postal, and start mowing down the patients and the oh-so annoying nurses. Who has been abused the most? The other med student who is getting treated like shit for stating he wanted to go into peds? Or maybe the intern that was left in charge of 50 patients alone while the residents went to the OR and is about to getting it for not knowing Mr. L’s latest potassium. What the hell, it’s totally going to be me, the sweet innocent seeming seething ball of rage that I am.

One hour later, we are sent home and reminded to be back before 5am tomorrow. Thanks, like I’m going to forget that since it means I’ll be heading to bed immediately upon getting home. I see people coming out from dinner at the local resturaunts and I hate them for having real lives. I debate briefly about whether I can hit some of them in the crosswalk and get away with it. Probably not, but prison seems like a good alternative to going back to the hospital tomorrow.

As I finally get ready for bed, I think back about how much I hate the hospital and how awesome it would be if it got hit by an asteroid or something between now and when I’m supposed to be there. Then I have the horrible thought – in the event of a natural disaster, I would have to stay at the hospital even longer.
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**MDAlien would like to point out that most of the anti-social feelings went away after she got off the service – except those toward the attending. No patients were harmed or mishandled in the survival of that rotation. **

Gunner Links

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I thought it would be fun to see what all I could dig up using Google and the search query “gunner” “medical school.” Here is what I found. Enjoy.

Prove to me that your Google search powers are superior to mine, and post any kick-ass gunner links that you find or that you may know of. I know there’s more out there.

Five First Year Mistakes To Avoid

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So you’ve made it to medical school. Good job. Now comes the hard part of not looking like a tool. Here are five mistakes that will make you stand out of your class like a sore thumb.

1. Telling Everybody That You’re In Medical School

Yeah, we get it. You’re in medical school. Strong work. What you don’t get is that nobody else really cares. This especially includes the guy at the gas station or your waiter or waitress at a local restaurant. You look like an ass, so don’t do it. Bonus points if one of your friends follows up your comment with “He just tells everybody that because of low self-esteem. He really works down at Wal-Mart as a door greeter.”

2. Placing Your Stethoscope Around Your Rear View Mirror

Don’t. Do. It. Nothing says “Look at me, I’m a nurse” more than committing this terrible mistake. Not to mention it dangles into your field of vision, so it’s a danger to everybody else on the road. I thought you wanted to save people, not stick them in the hospital while you’re too busy looking to see who’s noticing your dangling piece of medical crap.

MD2B3. Vanity Plates

OK, so dad bought the Mercedes and pays extra for a vanity plate so you can drive around looking like an ass. Definitely a sound investment. If you want to essentially guarantee that someone will key your car at some point before the first month of medical school is over, have a vanity plate. But, since Dad bought the care to begin with, you probably don’t give a shit one way or the other.

4. Wearing Your White Coat Outside of the Hospital

You’ll get your white coat during first year, although your need for one is practically zero at this point in your medical career. One thing to remember is to never wear it outside of the hospital. The locals around your medical school have been seeing white coats for a hell of a lot longer than you have. They don’t give a shit, and see you wearing it outside of the hospital as a weak cry for attention. Don’t be an attention whore.

5. Telling Everybody Where You Went to College

Every medical class has this guy. By the end of the first week of medical school, the whole class knows where he went to college, what his GPA was, and how great his MCAT score is. Newsflash: You’re in class with other students who went to a state school and have average MCAT scores and GPAs. If you were so great, your whole class would consist of people like yourself. Nobody cares about which Ivy League school raped your parent’s checking account.

Maximum Imprisonment

Making these mistakes will not only have your entire class talking about you in record time, but you’ll also look like a complete and total tool. The punishment fits the crime.