Can you avoid certain preceptors in clerkship?

[takasugi]

Hi,

I am a pre-clerk and I have had a bad experience with a physician during one of my small group sessions. Nothing too horrible but we just didn't really click. This physician works with clerks in Family Medicine rotations. If I get assigned this preceptor during my FM rotation, is there a way to make my school assign me to someone else? I would rather avoid working with this person in the future if possible.

[JohnGrisham]

1 hour ago, takasugi said:

Hi,

I am a pre-clerk and I have had a bad experience with a physician during one of my small group sessions. Nothing too horrible but we just didn't really click. This physician works with clerks in Family Medicine rotations. If I get assigned this preceptor during my FM rotation, is there a way to make my school assign me to someone else? I would rather avoid working with this person in the future if possible.

If there was a very negative interaction, then sure, you can request it - but if its simply just "didn't click"  versus "they verbally abused me, and harrassed me", you might not get much traction. Best to develop thicker skin, as you will run into a lot of tough preceptors (and many more very nice ones!), and you shouldnt let it dictate your experiences and pathways. 

[Butterfly_]

10 hours ago, takasugi said:

Hi,

I am a pre-clerk and I have had a bad experience with a physician during one of my small group sessions. Nothing too horrible but we just didn't really click. This physician works with clerks in Family Medicine rotations. If I get assigned this preceptor during my FM rotation, is there a way to make my school assign me to someone else? I would rather avoid working with this person in the future if possible.

You're at Mac, right? The FM clerkship coordinators are quite rigid unfortunately. They will not take requests or switches for preceptors unless you have specific pre-approved accommodations. With that said, there's many, many FM preceptors in Hamilton, you'd be quite unlucky to match with the one you didn't click with. 

[lovemedicinesomuch]

On 5/3/2021 at 9:47 AM, takasugi said:

Hi,

I am a pre-clerk and I have had a bad experience with a physician during one of my small group sessions. Nothing too horrible but we just didn't really click. This physician works with clerks in Family Medicine rotations. If I get assigned this preceptor during my FM rotation, is there a way to make my school assign me to someone else? I would rather avoid working with this person in the future if possible.

You can request to work with certain preceptors - they usually try to honor your request if there is space/availability.

[robclem21]

To be honest this problem sounds a bit immature and whiney....

Like others have said, unless this person was verbally abusive or blatantly targeting you during a small group session, you need to develop thicker skin and learn to work with people who you don't "click" with. That is part of being a mature professional (in any career). There are many times in medicine that we encounter preceptors, admin staff, patients we don't click with and you can't simply avoid these people and run to work somewhere else because it's slightly uncomfortable. Learn to work with them in a professional environment or else residency and the rest of your career will be a big challenge.

[Hanmari]

On 5/5/2021 at 6:10 AM, robclem21 said:

To be honest this problem sounds a bit immature and whiney....

Like others have said, unless this person was verbally abusive or blatantly targeting you during a small group session, you need to develop thicker skin and learn to work with people who you don't "click" with. That is part of being a mature professional (in any career). There are many times in medicine that we encounter preceptors, admin staff, patients we don't click with and you can't simply avoid these people and run to work somewhere else because it's slightly uncomfortable. Learn to work with them in a professional environment or else residency and the rest of your career will be a big challenge.

Weeeeell... I mean, clerks are trying to make good impressions so they can get ref letters and match, so if they didn't mesh so well with a preceptor then I say it's reasonable to consider avoiding them if possible to maximize one's chances. I agree learning to work with incompatible personalities is a valuable skill to have, but I wouldn't have put it above maximizing the chance of match. We all know there are no shortages of difficult people we can learn to work with in residency, at an arguably lesser cost. 

 

On 5/4/2021 at 2:51 PM, lovemedicinesomuch said:

You can request to work with certain preceptors - they usually try to honor your request if there is space/availability.

I like this approach, OP. Package things as maximizing the positives instead of avoiding the negatives, and the system will frown less upon you.

[stayblessed]

If family medicine is what you want (or on your speciality shortlist), then do whatever you can to maximize positive interactions with faculty you look up to, share interests with, and frankly, click with.

Obtaining strong reference letters unfortunately (or fortunately) comes down to both knowledge and likeability. Common interests outside of medicine, similar cultural backgrounds, etc. all factor into a strong letter. The same set of characteristics may turn one preceptor on yet turn a preceptor completely off. That's just human nature.

Program administrators are people. If you send a polite email acknowledging that you are asking a for a favour, you'd be surprised what could come of this. 

With COVID making the state of electives quite uncertain, I would definitely maximize any chance of solid preceptor pairings and equally avoid the opposite.

Good luck.

[GH0ST]

On 5/5/2021 at 6:10 AM, robclem21 said:

To be honest this problem sounds a bit immature and whiney....

Like others have said, unless this person was verbally abusive or blatantly targeting you during a small group session, you need to develop thicker skin and learn to work with people who you don't "click" with. That is part of being a mature professional (in any career). There are many times in medicine that we encounter preceptors, admin staff, patients we don't click with and you can't simply avoid these people and run to work somewhere else because it's slightly uncomfortable. Learn to work with them in a professional environment or else residency and the rest of your career will be a big challenge.

I cannot fervently disagree more with this point. 

There's a difference between having zero choice to work with someone or a group of people vs taking a chance to ask if you could work with someone else or having a preference. Yes if this student had already been assigned this preceptor, and just before they start working with them they had a poor experience... unfortunately they'll have to bite the bullet (unless the experience is something heinous like physical abuse). That said there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting a preference for preceptors and that doesn't mean the student lacks professionalism or can't work with difficult people when push comes to shove. 

Not sure why you feel the need to judge the OP for asking a fair question but it's really uncalled for. 

- G

[Understandable]

 

On 5/20/2021 at 12:43 AM, GH0ST said:

I cannot fervently disagree more with this point. 

There's a difference between having zero choice to work with someone or a group of people vs taking a chance to ask if you could work with someone else or having a preference. Yes if this student had already been assigned this preceptor, and just before they start working with them they had a poor experience... unfortunately they'll have to bite the bullet (unless the experience is something heinous like physical abuse). That said there's absolutely nothing wrong with wanting a preference for preceptors and that doesn't mean the student lacks professionalism or can't work with difficult people when push comes to shove. 

Not sure why you feel the need to judge the OP for asking a fair question but it's really uncalled for. 

- G

"Didn't really Click" is not a sufficient reason IMO to request NOT to work with a preceptor. I agree with Hanmari you should just request TO work with someone else if you can find someone you'd prefer, and that the Carms process should be gamed as much as possible. OP, be wary that this attitude can come across as entitled and could show an intolerance of discomfort, not saying that's actually your character but that may be how it's read rom your admin etc. should you request this. If you manage your environment to best suit you at all times, you won't grow and likely won't be ready for independent practice when there will be discomfort. Broad generalizations, but that's the advice I'm giving to people that are reading - robclem expressed an extremely important point that needs to be said for lurkers as well, don't think they're particularly concerned with the OP specifically. Not sure why Ghost feel the need to judge them for this fair feedback. 

[GH0ST]

On 5/28/2021 at 10:21 AM, Understandable said:

 

"Didn't really Click" is not a sufficient reason IMO to request NOT to work with a preceptor. I agree with Hanmari you should just request TO work with someone else if you can find someone you'd prefer, and that the Carms process should be gamed as much as possible. OP, be wary that this attitude can come across as entitled and could show an intolerance of discomfort, not saying that's actually your character but that may be how it's read rom your admin etc. should you request this. If you manage your environment to best suit you at all times, you won't grow and likely won't be ready for independent practice when there will be discomfort. Broad generalizations, but that's the advice I'm giving to people that are reading - robclem expressed an extremely important point that needs to be said for lurkers as well, don't think they're particularly concerned with the OP specifically. Not sure why Ghost feel the need to judge them for this fair feedback. 

Talk about making generalizations... 

Anyways it's clear we won't see eye to eye but the fact remains that it's completely fair for this student to look for another option and doing so isn't the OP being entitled. 

Good day,

- G

[medisforme]

A related point is the importance of knowing how to read preceptors when you get into clerkship.  Expectations (unfairly), communication styles and interactions will always be different from preceptor to preceptor.  It is incredibly important to pick up on nuances of your preceptor starting on the first day to maximize your chances of a successful rotation.  Unfortunately, clerkship is a bit of a game, that you have to know how to play.  I have seen above average medical students (and residents) have poor rotations because they don't have a good grasp with how to change their approach depending on a preceptor.  I agree with the person who stated that you have to have a bit of a thick skin in medical training or you will have a difficult time.

 

[Artier]

7 hours ago, medisforme said:

A related point is the importance of knowing how to read preceptors when you get into clerkship.  Expectations (unfairly), communication styles and interactions will always be different from preceptor to preceptor.  It is incredibly important to pick up on nuances of your preceptor starting on the first day to maximize your chances of a successful rotation.  Unfortunately, clerkship is a bit of a game, that you have to know how to play.  I have seen above average medical students (and residents) have poor rotations because they don't have a good grasp with how to change their approach depending on a preceptor.  I agree with the person who stated that you have to have a bit of a thick skin in medical training or you will have a difficult time.

 

100% agree. "Reading the room" is an important skill set in the clerkship/residency hidden curriculum, and there have been instances where I didn't "click" with a preceptor initially, but was able to mesh well with them by the end of the rotation by identifying their preferences and expectations of medical students and adjusting accordingly. Preceptors notice when you take their feedback positively and apply it and respond well in turn in my experience. Of course if they are belittling you, treating you differently than other students, etc. then that's completely different and should be escalated as a concern to your clerkship director or undergraduate medical education office.