Team Player

***Warning: severe bitching and whining in this post.***

A couple weeks ago I had a student moment. I lost it on some of my “colleagues” because they’d not been on time to round on patients for a week and we had a patient that wasn’t seen. 15 minutes before rounds my friend and I quickly obtained the information and saw the patient for rounds, but did not write a note. During rounds I explained this, telling the other students (in the presence of the resident) that I would not write the note. There were enough students to see at least one patient and these 3 students had not seen anyone in a week.

This week I was taken aside by the resident who was present during my tirade. She explained that she understood me being upset, but that I was in the wrong for not writing a note on a patient I’d seen. My job was not to monitor other students. I was supposed to ensure that I was seeing patients and covering where it needs to be done. In essence, be a team player.

I find it extremely absurd that when people who have been victimized by parasites and suffer from it are expected to remain stoic. Apparently my expression of frustration showed “weakness” to this resident and showed her that I was a potential “problem student”. Hmmm, what about those who don’t even do their damn work? Aren’t they more of a concern? What about the fact that they’re going to get a very similar evaluation because no one has paid attention to the fact that they aren’t presenting during rounds? Am I just supposed to accept this chronic and habitual laziness while I work longer and harder? And if so, why?

I’ve heard of people talking about letting “gunners” do the work while they slack. I joked about letting other students who were interested in OB/GYN perform all the deliveries, but when it comes down to it I have a work ethic. I’m in no way a gunner on this rotation (perhaps on surgery I was, but certainly not here), but I still feel that when there is a requirement for students to see postpartum patients then everyone needs to be getting here on time and getting their notes written. If there’s a paucity of patients for a couple days and not everyone gets a chance to present at rounds then you can read. Not showing up till morning rounds start is not an option.

It’s just shows a general character flaw in some people who feel they’ll get away with as much as they can whenever they can. It shows a general lack of concern for patients and poor medicine in general. My problem is that I’ll get the same evaluation they do when they clearly don’t deserve it.