What Makes a Bad Medical Student?

Anna Burkhead -- Residents on “core” services such as Internal Medicine, Surgery, and OB/GYN work with a lot of medical students. Since their schedules don’t always entirely line up with students’ schedules, they may work with a new student as often as every 1-2 weeks, or as long as a month, for every year of their residency.
That’s a lot of medical students! And as much as I would like to believe that all of the students are stellar in knowledge, dedication, and attitude, I know it is not true.
I would venture to guess that most of the medical students reading this entry have been told by a resident or attending at some point that they are “good” students, or that their work has been “excellent”, or their write-ups “outstanding”. It’s easy to praise someone to their face. It’s not as easy to tell them they’re doing a bad job. Therefore, if you’re a “bad” medical student, you may not know it until you get your evaluations back. And at that point, it’s too late to change.
(At this point you may be asking yourself, “If I’ve never received any true positive feedback face-to-face, does that mean the residents have only negative feedback for me, and that I’m a ‘bad’ medical student?” Hmmmm….)
I’ve asked a few residents to give me a few tips, and I’ve compiled a list of things that make a medical student “bad”:
-#1 overall = BAD ATTITUDE. If you balk when your intern asks you to write the note on your patient for that day, or if you repeatedly say no to scrubbing in on late afternoon OR cases, you may be a bad medical student.
-Disappearing for extended periods, multiple times per day, to read or nap or goof around. I’m not saying you need to be married to your team, but make them aware you’re available and willing to help.
-Not appearing interested. Even if you detest surgery, or if you’d rather poke yourself with a MRSA-flavored fork than interview a manic patient, try to make a conscious effort to look engrossed. This may be as simple as altering your resting facial expression.
-Correcting your resident on rounds, or its extreme variant, “The Reverse Pimp”. Some medical students get so bent out of shape over being asked difficult “pimp” questions that they decide to try the “taste of your own medicine” routine. If you ask your resident or attending a question that is fact-based, a picky detail, or something that you’d find in a long paragraph of your basic science book, and you don’t ask it in a curious “I’m asking because I don’t know” manner, you may be a Reverse Pimper. Steer clear.
The above are just a few characteristics of “bad” medical students; there are countless others. Take a glance at the column “How May I Help You?” and think of the opposite.
My last point is this: even if you’re not the smartest med student ever to don a short white coat, never fear. Not knowing answers does not make you a bad medical student. Attitude and work ethic count for a lot!
(Disclaimer: In no way am I claiming to be the polar opposite of a “bad” medical student, that is, a “perfect” medical student. Just sharing observations and solicited advice :) )