to have breakfast this morning – it worked somewhat. Unfortunately both lectures I attended were complete wastes of time and effort. Both were also pretty boring which made it somewhat difficult for me to seriously pay attention.
But that said, it was the worst case scenario, and I still feel like I did a great job of staying awake. There is something I’m realizing about the grades and much of the frustration that is coming out of studying here right now. Your grades on a quiz aren’t directly correlated to how much studying you do. Nor are they proportional from quiz to quiz. It depends on what exactly you study, and when you start studying. Now, if you start studying the “memorization” topics sooner, then you will do just fine on those questions. The concept questions you have to understand sometime before the quiz, whether its’ 15 minutes or 5 days before. But you could put 45-50 hours into studying for the quizzes and it doesn’t necessarily matter. You might barely pass. And conversely you could cram the night before and you could rock the quiz, scoring well ahead of the pack. It really just depends on the quiz.
And that is what is frustrating.
There doesn’t seem to be a strong incentive to study and KNOW/UNDERSTAND the important things. The quizzes represent very little to the students other than random slices of information that may or may not have been covered in the book.
Rarely – well, never actually – are we given explanations to the quiz answers. Just the answer. Our quizzes are never returned. The information is important right now, it will be heavily represented on the boards because it forms the basis of most of the pathology that can go right or wrong. But the fact of the matter is, we need to have this information mastered, but the quizzes encourage us to NOT master the material, rather they encourage memorization of selected facts that have no basis in reason, and therefore aren’t even permanently reasonable to memorize.
People deserve doctors who actually know what they are doing. I’ve heard entirely way too many brand new residents say that medical school was a joke and didn’t really teach them what they needed to know – and on top of it, the only reason it was stressful was the hours that you had to work to pass the quizzes.
Why such discontent from a group of highly motivated, self-selected people? Why such disdain for the educational foundations that the medical establishment has promoted and developed for decades?
Does the discontent carry on into practice?
It seems like it may. Today the New York Times carried a story about physicians who are completely dissatisfied with the non-clinical aspects of being a physician. Aggravated by issues such as billing, insurance, paperwork, etc… many physicians are moving to cut insurance companies out of their bottom lines.
To be honest I’m almost considering the exact same policy when I practice, but I’m not sure if I can do that. Not realistically, not as a surgeon. Working at an academic hospital.
I heard today that attending spine surgeons can start at 750K per year. It made me gasp. The possibility for excellent compensation and great hours definitely looms out there. I just have to find it.
Perhaps the growing job dissatisfaction and disillusionment of medicine is partially responsible for the divorce rate that hovers around 33% for surgeons. What is funny is that psychiatrists tend to divorce at about 51%.
All these facts swirling around in my head make me wonder what I’m doing here sometimes. In general I would like to ensure that I have some days that tend to be long, and other days that are short and easy. I would be fine with working three 24 hour shifts a week including trauma call. That would put me at 72 hours a week, but with 4 whole days to spend with family.
It’s interesting to think about the possibilities. All I ever wanted was to be content. I’m going to have to figure out a way to manufacture contentment in the context of school and almost irresponsible lecture quality. I’m realizing that I will have to TEACH MYSELF medicine. I’m not sure how that makes me feel about the doctors that I’ve seen in the past.
Medical school is amazing in its’ ability to prompt long-lasting, deep seated anxiety. I’m going to be just fine. The investment I’m making in myself will pay lasting dividends. I’m just hoping I get to engage in something that I actually like. Because right now that doesn’t feel assured.
Then again this is the real world where nothing is…
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