Finally, a Q I can answer! You can also talk to our common acquaintance who shares a last name with our PCM course director because she was with me. I showed up in scrubs which turned out to be fine with the residents. They didn't make me change into theirs or anything like that. They suggested to wear my white coat too (though I didn't bring mine) to keep people from asking us to give sponge baths or something. One of the four of us brought an evaluation form and left it with a resident.
There is no problem with leaving early. In fact, I kinda thought that they were tired of babysitting us. It was slow the night that I was there, and the only potential baby delivery had already passed by the time we got to the floor.
Here's the thing about Saints that I didn't know before I went there. Their services (med, ob/gyn, ER, medicine) appear to be covered by their family medicine program, so it doesn't really matter which service you are assigned to (at least the evening I was there) after hours.
The house officer should have all of the team lists printed out, and he/she can assign you all to find a patient to interview somewhere in the hospital. Most of them will be med/surg even if your assignment is ER. I think that this is an easier place to interview than a clinic because the pt literally has nothing else to do but sit in bed. I REALLY did not want to go into an ER waiting room for an interview--disaster waiting to happen in my past experience.
As for the instruction sheet talking about "looking for action," Saints is just as understaffed as everybody else. I don't like to bother nurses personally, and it really didn't look like there was a lot of "action" happening. The teams will know about it if there is any, so I wouldn't mess with nursing.
Here is a tidbit, though, that will help you in your interview. Snatch the chart first! Many M1's (hell M3's) are tentative about these things, but the floor doesn't care as long as you don't run off with it. I learn a lot more that way because the chart has stuff like their med history on it that the pt won't remember, and I think I learn more out of the interviewing experience by grasping what the pt DOESN'T understand.
Last bit of advice... Practice your physical exam skills too even though it's not required. My pt let me do a mini-physical on her, and I was appreciative because she was larger than most of the people who will let me practice.
I wouldn't worry about it. You look great in anything.
Should I feel guilty about not having been to class since Monday morning? Maybe I should start studying.
