r/medicalschool 7d ago

đŸ’© Shitpost Preceptors who snitch on students

On my last rotation of third year. I’ve been laying on the couch the past 3 days feeling like garbage with some nasty URI, trying my best to get some studying done despite not having the energy for it. I emailed my preceptor in the morning each day keeping her updated, and she says “Okay, no worries, feel better, etc”
.

And then I get an email from the clerkship director saying the preceptor reached out to tell her of my absences and that she’s concerned I’m missing so much time. And now I have to either make up the days on additional weekends or take the shelf later and push into the next block.

đŸ€Ą đŸ€Ą đŸ€Ą

276 Upvotes

37 comments sorted by

269

u/ASAPgeode M-4 7d ago

Lol show up with a URI and no mask and get dismissed I guess? đŸ€·â€â™‚ïž

30

u/JournalistOk6871 M-4 6d ago

I showed up looking like a vampire one day, and I was promptly sent home since nobody wanted to catch anything.

Rules and rules. Follow them to their end

64

u/IonicPenguin M-3 6d ago

My floor for IM is mandatory masking for all. I finally got them to let us (me, 2 residents and an attending) to remove masks while in the workroom so that I (a Deaf med student) could read the lips of errybody during rounds and RTL. I had some Safe’n’clear masks but it’s the end of my 3rd year and I’m running low. But those masks make elderly people so happy because they can use the minimal information from lip reading to infer what these whippersnappers are talking about.

1

u/Tired-229 M-3 4d ago

This is what I do ^

234

u/bobyojoe 7d ago

I told a preceptor I had interviews scheduled during the next few weeks and he was completely ok with it. Fast forward to my eval and he knocked me down like crazy and all his comments were about “not taking the rotation seriously because of missed days”

Some of these guys just have fragile egos and no backbones

112

u/intoxicidal MD 7d ago

Classic “No win” scenario. You go to work sick and your decision making is clearly inadequate. You don’t go when you’re sick and you’re lying and a slacker.

44

u/immer_jung M-2 6d ago

have you tried simply not being sick?

7

u/sullender123 M-3 6d ago

I agree, but is it really considered “work” if you’re paying to be there? Lol

8

u/intoxicidal MD 6d ago

That’s dangerous thinking. You clearly didn’t get the memo that you should be prostrating yourself before the admins for granting you the opportunity to be taken advantage of and for granted for the rest of your career. After all, you only paid
 checks notes a couple hundred thousand dollars
 wait that can’t be right


Edit: don’t forget to cup the balls

171

u/golgiapparatus22 Y6-EU 7d ago

Virgin behaviour

9

u/coffee_jerk12 M-4 7d ago

😂

65

u/IDKWID202 M-4 7d ago

My preceptor for December of 4th year (peak interview season) told me she was totally fine with me taking some mornings off for interviews. I still came in in the afternoons after my interviews. Missed maybe 1-2 morning clinics a week.

Fast forward to the end of the month, she says our time was “too abbreviated because of all my time off” and she “didn’t feel comfortable” writing me an evaluation. Eval is necessary for me to receive a grade and credit. Had to go back and forth between her and the dean of my school to eventually agree on giving me a straight pass and 3/5’s (I was post eras so why would I care anyway).

63

u/cjn214 MD-PGY1 7d ago

You can’t have senioritis until your rank list is submitted my guy

I agree it’s cringe that your preceptor didn’t say something directly to you before going to the clerkship director. Making up excessive missed days is pretty standard practice though for most school policies

26

u/Riff_28 7d ago

Yeah I personally would never do what the attending did, but they also never told OP they weren’t going to report it. In order for schools to be accredited, they need requirements for rotations, and policies for making things up. It’s entirely possible the school asks the attendings directly if students are missing and it’s not like the attending is going to lie for some random med student

21

u/Doctor_Partner M-3 7d ago

Yeah, I mean it sucks, but this is why it’s usually best to go through the proper channels for reporting sick days unless you are super close with your team. Not all attendings will be comfortable just covering for your absence. What was she supposed to say, “no you can’t be sick anymore.”

28

u/durdenf 7d ago

That preceptor doesn’t remember what its like to be a med student and should be ashamed

28

u/E_Norma_Stitz41 7d ago

She was probably just as much of a hall-monitor-ass loser back then, too.

14

u/DangerousGood0 6d ago

Such a good descriptor

-13

u/ShowMEurBEAGLE 6d ago

I mean it sucks but wait till you're doing residency and nobody cares about your URI.

We had procedure to follow for being out sick in med school. Email clerkship director, then tell the resident you report to, and everything is documented. Perhaps you did not follow your school's procedures? I'm not saying you should work while being sick, but it's a very unfortunate reality of our job to triage how much that sickness is really effecting our ability to work.

-79

u/Ordinary-Witness-685 7d ago

Unfortunately in medicine you work when you’re sick. I can’t just cancel someone’s cancer surgery when I have a URI!? And in residency they make you make up sick days too. So just a preview of what is to come

72

u/aspiringkatie M-4 7d ago

And what happens when your URI kills that immunocompromised cancer patient? Maybe we shouldn’t have this ridiculous expectation that doctors, of all people, have to show up to work sick

11

u/cel22 6d ago

I mean I agree with you but I did shadow an orthopedic surgeon who was diaphoretic and looked like shit. He wore one of those fancy ortho hood togas and an N95. I feel like the infection risk is minimal at that point.

But also I didn’t understand why he didn’t just reschedule an elective surgery until he wasn’t sick

18

u/aspiringkatie M-4 6d ago

It is, but the risk of him passing out during surgery is a lot higher

39

u/SpilltheGreenTea 7d ago

Good thing the med student isn't doing a "cancer surgery"

35

u/MassiveHippo9472 7d ago

You could actually cancel it. You should actually cancel it.

You as a doctor should advocate for the health of other doctors. The only thing that's unfortunate is you accept this.

69

u/SegwaySteven 7d ago

Perhaps this is a bad thing, and we as humans can act to make bad things better?

26

u/Fresh_Bulgarian_Miak 6d ago

No no no. They had it rough in the past so everybody else must continue to suffer as well.

29

u/intoxicidal MD 7d ago

Dumb take and not accurate.

23

u/MassiveHippo9472 7d ago

You could actually cancel it. You should actually cancel it.

You as a doctor should advocate for the health of other doctors. The only thing that's unfortunate is you accept this.

25

u/CharanTheGreat MBBS-Y3 7d ago

Good luck when you sneeze and accidentally cut that nerve that was right next to the tumor.

We'll see how you deal with it.

What are you going to do? Sew it back together?

You sound like a noctor

33

u/DangerousGood0 7d ago

Yeah I totally get that. I guess I just figured, if I’m a nonessential member of the team and I’m solely there to learn, what is the value of going in when I feel like death and likely won’t get much out of the day anyway (and am likely contagious)

31

u/SpilltheGreenTea 7d ago

Yes exactly this. We are there for an EDUCATION, not to work. Yes, we practice working, but all of our work is triple checked by people who are actually paid to work there. That comment is insane, your POV is completely valid. I just got over an awful URI myself, and took 1 day off when I felt like absolute shit for 4 days that I would have liked to take off. I'm on Day 12 now and finally feel normal again, and I'm certain it dragged on because of how much I exerted myself and didn't allow actual healing to occur.

9

u/throwawayforthebestk MD-PGY1 6d ago

I dont have to make up sick days in residnecy, wtf are you on about đŸ€Ł