Happy Sunday!🌞
This week during rounds, I wanted to share some important advice for all the recently matched medical students.
If you're currently doing clinical rotations or are starting rotations soon, keep reading because this is important for you also!👀
Matching into residency is an incredible feeling and accomplishment that most of us remember for the rest of our lives. It feels like the destination of a long journey🛣️, like finally reaching the mountaintop🏔️.
But it's not.
Matching into residency is a stepping stone into the amazing world of practicing medicine🪜, but at the end of the day it doesn't even signify the end of medical school!
This is critical to keep in mind over the next several months prior to graduating.
While locking in a coveted residency spot is absolutely something to be celebrated🔒, it's still important to finish your clinical rotations and medical school on a high note.
Every year students match into their desired specialty and then right after...they completely check out. They're suddenly disinterested in any other medical specialty. They do the bare minimum, stop being curious, and stop trying to learn because it seems like the work is done🤷🏼♀️.
This can be a huge problem because students are still being evaluated on these rotations🔎. I have had medical students who recently matched into other specialties (dermatology, vascular surgery, internal medicine, etc.) rotate through the Emergency Department, and it's readily apparent when they aren't trying or simply don't care🙄.
Negative behavior like that is sometimes included in the feedback that medical schools receive. If problematic enough, it may even be forwarded to a student's future program and (in extreme cases) can result in that student losing their residency spot😕.
If you're reading this and it sounds ridiculous, that's a good thing! That means you are aware and care enough to prevent it from happening😸. But it happens every year.
So save yourself the trouble and don't become complacent.
Medicine is a field that requires lifelong learning and whether you like it or not, there's a high chance you will be working alongside these other specialties you are currently rotating with in the future🫱🏽🫲🏽.
Be a team player, work hard, and ask good questions. You may even find some useful pearls that influence your practice for the future⭐.
📨 Subscribe to Sunday Morning Rounds: My weekly newsletter is filled with tips and resources to you learn, grow, and become a better doctor. Click here to subscribe.
📱 Social media: Find me at @MedSchoolMoose on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube to enjoy more of my content!