Handling a failing rotation

[Guest ofienefie]

How does one handle a rotation that you know you have put in your utmost best but is hanging in a balance - Possibility of failing. What are the options that are open to you and how does one put such an experience behind and move on with the rest of the residency. Any experiences in dealing with such a situation is welcome.

[Guest Ian Wong]

I think the major point here would be to figure out why that individual was failing. I don't think failing a rotation in and of itself is going to harpoon your residency, but it would if it happened on a consistent basis. That individual needs to do a lot of introspection, and figure out what is driving this. Is it something intrinsic, like poor motivation, depression, health issues, personal issues at home, etc, or something extrinsic, like a bad working relationship with your preceptor. A meeting with your academic advisor/program director is probably also in order, to help come up with solutions so that this doesn't occur again.

 

It's a tough thing to go through, I'm sure, but in 99% of cases, your program is going to be supportive of you, because it's in everyone's interest to have your residents succeed.

 

Ian