Did/ do you abhor the clinical experience?

[sapience8x]

Did you guys Hate the clinical aspect of medicine and then decide to go into path or did you think that path was really cool and clinical was okay too but path was sooo much more interesting that you decided to go into it and then lost interest in the clinical expereience?
I ask becuase i don't mind clinical stuff. it is annoying now because it is interfering with my classes but otherwise i don't mind. BUt I am fascinated by pathology. however the more interest i take in pathology i do notice that my clinical interest declines a little moreand the fact that i won't be doing any thing clinical in path bothers me less and less. i stlll have third year to deal with so i might come out hating all things clinical. or migiht still think it is okay and path is really the best but with even just a modicum of clinical interest do you think that i would miss it in Path?
just asking becuase all you guys seems to trash clinical experiences that i am beginnig to wondering if that is a prerequisite.

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[b&ierstiefel]

1. In all honesty, I hated being a 3rd year med student much more than the actual clinical experience.
2. The clinical experience, in theory and principle is not too bad. However, it quickly deteriorates in the culture of cover-your-ass medicine and mindnumbing evidence-based protocols.
3. I really liked pathology. I love microscopy. I like looking at cells and tissues and making diagnoses. I love science. Pathology, I found, was the best fit for me in terms of applying medical knowledge to the advancement of science and discovery of new knowledge.

 

[PathOne]

No, but it helps.

Seriously, people will hopefully choose path because they like path, not because they dislike clinical med.

And yes, your clinical skillz WILL get rusty after a while. Just like the slide readin' skillz of a surgeon or psychiatrist or whatever fades after a while.

 

[cytoborg]

I loved clinical medicine and while there were certainly miserable times on the wards, overall I enjoyed patient care. I would have enjoyed a number of specialties but out of all of them, path seemed like the coolest. Like you, the more and more into path I get, the less I regret leaving patient care. This is somewhat surprising as I really did love it. But path is just that cool!

 

[Pingu]

There was a point I reached in clinical medicine where I said 'If I do this for the next 30 years I will wind up in an asylum" I actually didn't even think about path until quite a ways into 4th year (October) because it just never occurred to me that that would be my chosen field...despite my interest in looking at slides, my research background, and my genetics major. But I absolutely knew for certain that I could never have done clinical medicine due to my hatred of rounding and clinic.

 

[DrBloodmoney]

I knew that if I went into clinical medicine, and had to go to clinic EVER... I would loose my mind in the span of a few months. Medicine clinic is my idea of a personal hell. Where the demons come in and b*tch about their belly hurting and don't take their diabetes medication. I'm feeling a bit hot just thinking about it.

 

[Thrombus]

absolutely nothing in this world is worse than being a 3rd year medical student

a close second would be a lame duck 4th year

you have zero resonsibility and all you do is redundant, meaningless work

you spend hours upon end at the hospital

you are miserable everytime you go home

nothing is worse than waking up at 5 AM to go stand for hours and hours listening to management options, being berated because you don't know the 20 etiologies of pancreatitis, etc. etc.

then doing secretary work every afternoon and getting scutted by nurses, circulators, janitors, etc. etc.

can't wait to be a resident and at least going home knowing i did something useful for the day

 

[Pookies]

Clinical is fine.

I almost went into peds.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

absolutely nothing in this world is worse than being a 3rd year medical student

I was recently asked by an MSTP student who was going to return to the wards this summer, "So how did you like M3 year?"

My response: "I would not even wish M3 year onto my worst enemy."

 

[geddy]

I loved my 3rd year, but that's because I didn't know what I wanted to do yet, so everything was interesting to me. But I could never see myself doing any of it, I realized. That's the great thing about med school - I can do just about anything for 6 weeks

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I loved my 3rd year, but that's because I didn't know what I wanted to do yet, so everything was interesting to me. But I could never see myself doing any of it, I realized. That's the great thing about med school - I can do just about anything for 6 weeks

but see geddy, you're just a happy person. you don't dislike anything.

 

[geddy]

but see geddy, you're just a happy person. you don't dislike anything.

We'll see about that... Have you heard about my developmental pediatric rotation?

 

[Thrombus]

MEDICINE...well, i spent 14 hours once in a 30 hour "day" doing rounds
another of those 14 were admitting patients/looking up charts/****work, etc.
the other 2 were sitting in conferences listening to never-ending grandrounds on 1 patient/hour

OBGYN -- i will never forget those nights spent up all night listening to shreiks, moans, and wails.....ughhhh

Surgery....nothing worse than rebandaging abscesses every morning...wake up and smell the abscess!!

Psych...just how many weeks do i need to spend "interviewing" crazy people only to find out they are crazier than i could ever imagine....i guess i learned to always be fearful of anyone i meet on the streets

Peds....inpatient not a bad month....you heart really grew during this month....i give you that....but then there was outpatient clinical peds!!! ARGH!!!! Parents!!!

that describes my 3rd year experience

if i had to do it over, i would quit and work at IHOP selling pancakes before that hazing again

 

[yaah]

Well, instead of writing a new message I will give you a link to my previous response because I liked it!

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=1789083&highlight=clinical+medicine#post1789083

And another of my old threads

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?p=1430548

 

[PathOne]

Alas, recycling has cometh to SDN path. This is no way to get more posts than the other forums! As Our Annointed Moderator, you should be the first to rewrite what has been written countless times previously. After all, is that not the purpose of this forum? Or have I missed something?

 

[yaah]

Alas, recycling has cometh to SDN path. This is no way to get more posts than the other forums! As Our Annointed Moderator, you should be the first to rewrite what has been written countless times previously. After all, is that not the purpose of this forum? Or have I missed something?

Well, I said it better the first time. And it's always nice to see old threads because newer visitors might not know they exist. So I do that sometimes. I don't really see any difference.

 

[beary]

I thought that I abhored (is that even a word?) clinical medicine. However, my day in the lab has been such that I long for rounding. I think I may be losing my mind.

Today's plan - AP/CP with no postdoc. I am sure LADoc will be proud.

 

[b&ierstiefel]

I thought that I abhored (is that even a word?) clinical medicine. However, my day in the lab has been such that I long for rounding. I think I may be losing my mind.

Today's plan - AP/CP with no postdoc. I am sure LADoc will be proud.

...in 6 months...

Beary: "I think I'm going into Internal Medicine. Sorry to everyone in SDN path. It was great knowing you all."

 

[beary]

...in 6 months...

Beary: "I think I'm going into Internal Medicine. Sorry to everyone in SDN path. It was great knowing you all."

Hopefully things will not go that far.

 

[yaah]

I predict Beary drops out and becomes a corporate shill for Pfizer.

 

[beary]

I predict Beary drops out and becomes a corporate shill for Pfizer.

Don't tempt me.

 

[yaah]

I predict Beary drops out and moves to Ann Arbor to marry me.

 

[beary]

I predict Beary drops out and moves to Ann Arbor to marry me.

*beary calls registrar to drop out immediately*

If things don't work out with the girl who leaves her phone in the car (sorry I can't think of any other way to describe her ) and even if I don't drop out, I can come to Michigan for my residency and we can get married then! Just wait one year yaah!

 

[b&ierstiefel]

Hey here's an idea. Let Cupid shoot you both in the ass, both of you go to the SDN midwest meetup this weekend, and you two can hook up!

 

[yaah]

*beary calls registrar to drop out immediately*

If things don't work out with the girl who leaves her phone in the car (sorry I can't think of any other way to describe her ) and even if I don't drop out, I can come to Michigan for my residency and we can get married then! Just wait one year yaah!

Sorry, can't wait that long. I have needs.

 

[bananaface]

Sorry, can't wait that long. I have needs.

So, masturbate.

 

[deschutes]

This is still one of my favourite SDNPath posts of all time...

[edit]Except for the part about Infernal.
FM = GS >>>>> IM

Every other rotation besides pathology left me with at least a few days of muttering to myself, "What in God's name am I doing here?"

Surgery: A 9 hour neurosurgery procedure to decompress a cranial nerve. The patient had experienced an explosion that had deformed his face and thus the surface anatomy was, to say the least, distorted. The neurosurgeon was shorter than me and I was first assist. Thus, since the entire procedure was done with a microscope, I obviously had a sore back at the end of the procedure (I'm 6'5"). He was also a southerner and his accent was grating on me by the end of the procedure. That, and his tossing of the bipolar cautery around the room. I also got tired many other times in surgery of having the attending throw things. And spending 4 hours on a surgery to relieve adhesions is just downright painful.

Psych: The whole freaking rotation. "How are you feeling sir?" "What the hell are you talking about you $%&#!* piece of *&@#! Get me my $%&#!* cigarettes! There is something odd about a specialty where half of the patients don't want your help.

Pedes: Around about the 5th time of trying to see inside a 7 year old's ear by asking them where Big Bird is (is he in your ear? Let me see?) It gets just a little old. And if I have to explain to one more parent why it is more advantageous to have a vaccination than not to...

Family: You have diabetes? Let me send you to a specialist. You have a gall bladder problem? Let me send you to a specialist. You have thyroid problems? Specialist. Cancer? Specialist. Your kid has asthma? Specialist. However, I can give you a vasectomy and remove an ingrown toenail.

OB: The smell and visual of a baby entering the world kind of loses it's luster for me after one viewing. Unless it is my wife, get me away. Gyn Onc was interesting though.

IM: The prospect of having to go through an internal medicine residency makes me seriously think about quitting med school and enrolling in computer repair school.

Plus, I spent all of these rotations much more interested in pathology results whenever my patient had a biopsy. And the physical exam, my goodness. Take the vitals, feel the pulse, listen to the heart, push on the belly. Beyond that, just get the cat scan and the labs already and give me the results. It doesn't matter if I can feel his liver or not. The cat scan says it's huge. It doesn't matter if I see scleral icterus. I know his bilirubin. It doesn't matter if his lungs sound "junky." I have his xrays and his pulse ox.

I know there is an art of the physical exam and everything, but gee whiz. What else is left after all this but pathology! Good thing I really like it! Actually, I probably could have gone through an IM residency if I had to...

 

[Mr. Personality]

just asking becuase all you guys seems to trash clinical experiences that i am beginnig to wondering if that is a prerequisite.

I am going into path more because I like it than because I hate everything else, although it was my intense dislike of clinical medicine that drove me to look at alternatives.

i stlll have third year to deal with so i might come out hating all things clinical.

If you are already slightly annoyed with clinical life, then you will definitely come running over to a non-clinical specialty once 3yr is all over. I truly liked and still like seeing patients and interacting with people, but once you discover the futility of the majority of patient-doctor interactions even in the best of circumstances, it starts to get difficult to get up and spend your day explaining diabetes, encouraging lifestyle changes, writing scripts, listening to people moan about trifling **** and then not have anyone listen to your expensive and well-educated advice. The underlying expectation of most patients is that you are going to fix them without them having to be inconvenienced or made to work. By god, you better not make any of them feel bad or blame them for their condition, even when their problem, despite being warned, is a direct result of their behavior. And you better be available at all hours and not make anyone wait too long either. Ugh.

The bottom line to my beer-brained rant is that I have better things to do with my time than sit in a small room with a stranger and talk to myself.
These things include:
-being in a small room with a diener and a stranger's corpse, talking to a dictaphone.
-sitting in an office diagnosing the banal to the sublime using a 'scope.
-interacting mostly with people of similar abilities and backgrounds as me.
-downing pints of mirth by the fireside.

 

[stormjen]

Hey here's an idea. Let Cupid shoot you both in the ass, both of you go to the SDN midwest meetup this weekend, and you two can hook up!

What midwest meet-up? I'm in the midwest, you fools!

 

[b&ierstiefel]

What midwest meet-up? I'm in the midwest, you fools!

It's something that some of the lounge people are planning. They're planning on having the meetup in Chicago this weekend.