NY Times: Are Med School Grads Prepared to Practice Medicine?

[MrsK]

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/0...ype=blogs&_r=0

This was posted on the New York Times blog a couple days ago. What are your thoughts? Did your SO's feel "ready" when they started intern year? Is there anything that their medical school could have done to prepare them better?

[SuzySunshine]

My husband would say yes - but he thinks that he was lucky to go to a med school and residency that believed the only way you learned was by doing. Was he prepared to be a NSG? No, but he was ready to be an intern - you have to learn on the job, how else are you going to learn?

[MrsC]

DH felt ready. Although he does feel like he got a lot more hands on experience than most med students.

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[MAPPLEBUM]

i asked dh, his response: "dude i was terrified!" followed up with "but i did fine so i guess i was." hows that for logic? i thought that article was a dramatic piece. im sure that happens and thats horrible but everyone has a horrible day in their job, especially new jobs. the only difference is theirs deals directly with physical well being.


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[metroguy]

the example they gave is bad.. it's a nurse's job to draw blood-- not a doctor. if one nurse can't do, another one should try.

[SoonerTexan]

^agreed

[alotofyarn]

I agree that's a terrible example. Hubby was terrified, but I think he was prepared. He had a lot of hands on experience in med school, but I also don't feel like he was really left alone super early on. His upper levels did a good job of teaching too, although he was fortunate and started off in urology and not on night float or something crazy.

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[ladymoreta]

DH was also terrified but prepared, I think. Their internship was a little different because it was at a different hospital than the other residents, so they were on their own a lot. The nurses were really helpful, and I think the independence helped a lot when they came over to the main hospital for the rest of residency.

[diggitydot]

That's a pretty terrible example. Nurses don't even do peripheral sticks at my hospital, phlebotomists do. If two of them can't get it, the physician can try but instead of poking around for an hour they'd probably order a PICC or CVC instead after multiple failed attempts. Exactly one doctor has EVER shown interest in drawing a patient's blood, and that's because he was a phlebotomist in early med school. Our residents seem about as well-prepared as possible. Most of the learning is on the job. Different story for the ones who start on night float -- it super sucks to be them.

My dude was a phlebotomist in undergrad and he occasionally still does his own draws if they're REALLY understaffed. It's pretty rare, though, for him to do them.

[SoonerTexan]

Randomly DH took the phlebotomy course in college but never really used it. He said it did help though!