doing physical examination as an observer

[zappeuse]

Hi, during my observership I performed physical examinations under the attending's supervision (I think he wanted to test my knowledge), should I include it in the description of my experience?..

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[quepatho]

Hi, during my observership I performed physical examinations under the attending's supervision (I think he wanted to test my knowledge), should I include it in the description of my experience?..

This seems to be a question that comes up a lot on this forum. The consensus seems to be that if you signed an agreement not to touch patients, then you should probably not have it in writing in ERAS that you explicitly did NOT honor your agreement. Doesn't matter if the attending asked you to or not - that's not a valid excuse.

However, if asked in an interview, it's probably OK simply to explain what you did.

I honestly don't know how program directors feel about observers doing physical exams; my feeling is that they probably don't care one way or the other. And doing or not-doing physical exams probably won't make a huge difference in how your application is received.

Personally, so you know my bias, I would probably hold it against an observer if they wrote it on ERAS. I've had some pretty lousy experiences with observers. I don't think others would, though.

 

[zappeuse]

thank you!