Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Why I don't have a resident

Currently, I don't work with a resident. I know a lot of attendings love working with residents and I do believe in teaching and how important it is. But I just don't want a resident. I've made the decision to work alone for several reasons:

1) I care too damn much

Don't laugh, but it's true. It's so important to me that the resident I work with has a great experience, that I end up spending massive amounts of time teaching them, which is time that I don't really have to spend. And I feel guilty giving them any scutwork. So having a resident always resulted in my being way behind.

2) I like to know my patients

Whenever I have a resident, they end up knowing their patients better than I know them. And that makes me uncomfortable.

3) I don't trust them

This may be something specific to PM&R, but I seriously don't trust the residents. Sometimes I would get a good one that I could trust, but I can't tell you how many times I have asked them to do something and they never did it. Something important.

4) I need my space

If I am feeling stressed out or sick, I can't deal with having a little shadow. I want to murder the little shadow.

5 comments:

  1. I am getting my first intern next year (not PGY1, I'm a non-clinical RN). We'll see how it goes.

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  2. I can relate to the first 3 items, although in my PM&R program all the residents were fantastic. I'd have trusted any of them with my favorite family member. But I just can't see signing off on someone else's work after the fact, when I have no control over what was done but still have to assume any potential liability.

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  3. Hi Dr Fizzy
    I am in a real muddle as to what residency to take up. I am torn between choosibg IM vs PMR. Could you kindly give me some insight into what residency and life as a PMR physician would be like? Thank you so much!

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