OK, fess up now....

[Celiac Plexus]

Every 3rd year med student is faced with a minor dilemma when an attending asks what field he/she is interested in. Did you take the honest approach, and tell the psych attending that "I want to do surgery", or did you lie and say, "I definitely want to be a psychiatrist!"

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[snaggletooth]

You need to add an "I'm just not sure yet" reply/choice for those of us who don't have the talent to pull off a genuine (oh wowy!! I reeelly reeely looooove this stuff!!) interest in psych (or whatever other specialty applies)

 

[dr.evil]

I actually told my internal medicine attending that I thought surgery was more my style. On my evaluation from him, he gave me the highest marks and commented that he felt I would be excellent for any type of surgical specialty! This guy was hardcore I.M. from Duke so I was surprised.

 

[njbmd]

Hey Guys,

The first rule of medicine is: Don't lie. Believe it or not, attendings and residents can tell when you are lying. You can always say that you haven't decided but are keeping your options open. You can also say that you have found that you have liked everything.

If you already know what you want to do, then tell your attendings. Sometimes, they will make sure that you get experiences that will help you later on. For example, I knew that I wanted to be a surgeon when I did my OB-Gyn clerkship. My OB-Gyn attendings made sure that I learned how to assess the acute abdomen in a female patient of childbearing years. It was good stuff.

I can't repeat it too often. Don't lie about anything concerning medicine or your medical eductation. If you lie about inconsequental things, you will lie about big things and people will die. You are only as good as your word and you don't want to be known for dishonesty.

njbmd

 

[mikecwru]

Originally posted by Celiac Plexus
Every 3rd year med student is faced with a minor dilemma when an attending asks what field he/she is interested in. Did you take the honest approach, and tell the psych attending that "I want to do surgery", or did you lie and say, "I definitely want to be a psychiatrist!"

I knew I wanted to do emergency medicine from the beginning. The first few clerkships, I gave the "undecided" answer partly because (a) I could at the time and sound genuine and (b) I was forcing myself to look at things and be open minded. Towards the end, I just told them the whole truth, but the beauty with EM is that you can honestly say "I need to know something about everything." This doesn't work too well for a future peds person in a medicine clerkship.

mike

 

[Celiac Plexus]

I agree with njbmd. One should always tell the truth. When my psych attending asked the students on the first day, "What field are you least likely to go into?", I said, "Psychiatry." It was the truth, but I don't think it helped my psych grade....

In my med rotation I told 'em str8 up that I wanted to do surgery, and they were really cool with that. They sent me to the OR to try and scrub on any of my patients who went for surgery. They were really cool.

I think that most people used the "I'm undecided" line. Only a few people I know lied their asses off. I don't know if it really makes any difference overall. The people who lied probably hurt themselves as often as they helped themselves when it came to evals. Attendings are not stupid and they can usually sniff out BS. I think that attendings will give you a good eval if you bust your a$$ for them, and do your reading.

 

[SomeFakeName]

Hey Celiac Plexus, isn't that line in your signature 'Candy is dandy, but liquer is quicker" from Charlie and the Chocolate factory, b/c I don't know who O. Nash is? I find it funny that a children's movie has a reference to making quick money on alcohol production.

 

[neutropeniaboy]

I never lied.

I usually stated that I was interested in the field as much as it applied to otolaryngology.

(Yes, and that even worked for OB/GYN. OCPs can cause vasomotor/rhinorrhea problems.)

 

[Celiac Plexus]

Originally posted by SomeFakeName
Hey Celiac Plexus, isn't that line in your signature 'Candy is dandy, but liquer is quicker" from Charlie and the Chocolate factory, b/c I don't know who O. Nash is? I find it funny that a children's movie has a reference to making quick money on alcohol production.

Charlie and the chocolate factory eh? I saw that movie years ago but I don't remmeber that line. Roald Dahl may have had a weird sense of humor though because that rhyme has nothing to do with the manufacture of chocolate or liquor. It's by Ogden Nash who was a poet who wrote wacky limericks, and bawdy poetry.

The meaning is pretty simple... but not necessarily politically correct. Then again, most of the best authors aren't/weren't.