How to be a good med student

As a resident, I worked with med students a fair amount. Some of them I really liked. There was one med student I worked with who I liked so much that I wrote a very effusive letter to our program director in her favor because she expressed concern that her grades weren't good enough.

I didn't have any lofty expectations of med students. These are a few qualities I looked for in a med student:

1) If teaching is offered to you, you accept teaching happily. Groaning because you were hoping to leave early or sit on ass is not an acceptable response when a resident offers to teach you something.

2) When you say you will be somewhere at a certain time, you show up on time. If you can't show up, you give an excuse in advance.

3) You talk to patients but don't interrupt the resident. Especially if you're interrupting to ask the patient about the slogan on their T-shirt.

4) You're nice, get along with everyone, and smile sometimes. Being funny is not required, but helps.

5) When you notice the resident needs something, you volunteer to get it before they have to ask, so they don't have to feel like a jerk ordering you around.

6) You're enthusiastic, even if fake.

7) Doing after-hours activities are a major bonus. The med student I really liked worked a Saturday race, which impressed me a lot.

8) When you're leaving for the day, you let the resident know by saying, "Is there anything else I can do?" That's optimal, but at the very least, say, "I'm outta here, seeya." It looks really bad when you leave without telling anyone and we're all looking around, saying, "Where'd the med student go?"

I can imagine all sorts of angry responses to this list from med students:

So if a med student's car breaks down and they're late, they have to let you know in advance?? I'm so sorry we can't be psychic and predict every emergency that could come up!

Obviously, that's not what I mean. I've been in many, many situations where a med student had some planned meeting or appointment, and instead of letting me know they'd be late, they decided to just not show up. Or if you're sick and can't come in, don't tell me the next day.

So the med student has to know what you're thinking at all times and predict what you want them to get before you ask for it?? I'm so sorry we can't be psychic and know what you want at all times!

Again, not looking for psychic abilities. But say I need to know a med the patient is on, and the patient says, "My wife, who's in the waiting room, has my list of medications." A good med student might volunteer to quickly retrieve the list.

Truthfully, #4 is the most important thing to me though. Oh, and that you're not annoying.