September 4, 2008
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Lather. Rinse. Repeat
Todays Choose your own adventure post topic is from Greek Physique, who asks “How frustrating does the endless cycle of rotations get?”
For those of you unfamiliar with medical school, third and fourth year consist of rotations. Med students spend approximately 6-8 weeks at a time in each of the core specialties (e.g. medicine, surgery, obstetrics, pediatrics) in various hospitals and during 4th year 4 weeks at a time in electives scheduled to the students own preference (gastroenterology, ophthalmology, etc.)
This can get a little disorienting as during the first week in any new rotation you are trying to learn the ins and outs of the hospital, the specialty, the area, your team and any number of variables. Compounding this confusion during the longer rotations is that the residents/attendings change each month as residency still includes rotations. For some, it can feel like by the time you finally learn what you are doing, and appear competent, you have to move on to somewhere else
Like anything else, this has its ups and downs. There were a few rotations I out and out hated (ER/Neurology). Knowing that they would be over relatively soon made suffering through them easier, even if time occasionally dragged out to infinity countind down the days.
Other rotations, such as OB/Gyn and Psychology, i knew I had no interest in, so these brief rotations would be my only exposure to the field, giving me a chance to learn without the pressure of looming years of the same monotonous work ahead of me. These made for some of the best learning experiences, even if they were not my favorite rotations, because I really made an effort to learn all I could, knowing I was unlikely to get another chance where i would be so able to ask questions and make mistakes
And finally for the rotations I was interested in as possible career choices (medicine/surgery/pediatrics) It gave me just long enough to see what I liked and didnt like about each specialty, and to see if I could mentally prepare myself for the long road ahead. At the end of the rotation I can think back and still remember how some rotations seemed to fly by and others drag, and that knowledge helped to limit my choices down to what specialty i would be applying for for my residency.
So in short, I didnt find the endless cycle of rotation particularly frustrating, because it ends up being a rather unique experience in the lives of medical students/doctors. Sure, your entire environment changes every couple months, but it also makes you fresher in your knowledge of certain fields when entering into others, and it also creates some intangible bond with other students and residents as you all had to ride this carousel of modern medical training before being allowed into the big kids world of healthcare rollercoasters. Though I may disagree with the emphasis placed on certain specialties over others, I wouldnt change the rotation education system for all those incoming students-its part of what being a med student is all about.
-Almost Dr J
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Comments (5)
this is the crazy year in every medical student’s life. i said to myself before that even for 10 thousand bucks, i wouldn’t do it, but needless to say, I’m doing another year of it again… for a lot less! tsk tsk
@GreekPhysique - haha if by chosen, you mean, did i respond to every single question, then yes, you were chosen
Cool, thanks for sharing.
I forgot to come back and see if my particular question had been chosen.
thanks doctor! i enjoy reading ur xanga!
I didn’t know doctors had to do this – that is really interesting.