Advice from a prior year unmatched student

[NLengr]

Anyway, I will say again that MUN clerks continually impress me. I'm sure my classmates would have studied more if we'd had to write NBMEs for everything, and we'd probably work more independently if we were expected to. (Of course it would help if my former centre had some semblance of efficiency on its wards.)

 

They're well regarded country wide. I busted my ass on clerkship between studying and ward/clinic work when I was at MUN.

 

My current center's clerks are in general much weaker than the MUN clerks. The university expects very little from them and it shows.

[aaronjw]

I'm being paid a very generous $80 for an overnight in-house call, or a bit more than $4/hour.

 

So... may I ask what exactly you're doing on this forum at this point? Are you actually in med school yet? I'm growing weary of your smug snark. Anyway, if I don't have any skill I probably shouldn't be on cardiology call Monday but... I am. I'll make sure to thank my staff for allowing me to stay in hospital overnight and helping him bill $150 per consult.

 

Saying there was no skill wasn't exactly the right wording so I'll happily apologize for that. It was rude and inconsiderate so apologies for those who felt offended by the comment. However, the fact is that every business/industry pays dirt cheap for people in training simply because they don't, yet, have the skills that would require them to what an "experienced" person would earn.

 

Residents are paid pretty low, which seems wrong, I'll grant you that but for the most part you're earning FULL wages when done your training. Most other types of industries have a pay scale commiserate with years of work or experience (same concept really) to hit the top end of their pay range which isn't 6x what their "training" wage was.

 

Anyway, I'm done. Feel free to bash away

 

 

One last thing though: LMAO @you are all people calling another smug. Pot or kettle. Which are you?

[goleafsgochris]

Of course they won't agree with me for they have an inherent bias just like my friends who loathed unions prior to becoming teachers and who now think they're the cat's meow

 

I don't require agreement from people who can't recognize or at least marginally acknowledge the faults that exist with investing exorbitant training costs without some measure of guarantee that those investments will be used to serve the needs of the country which provided them in the first place.

 

I'll stop with this line of thought here as further mention really doesn't serve much purpose.

 

Ok Im not gonna lie the unions comparison is not outrageous lol.

 

There are other reasons the government gives $$ to subsidize med school tho, probably most important being that it would be VERY bad optics from an equal opportunity point of view to see ppl need to pay $1mil for med school--Canada subsidizes all education down to BAs for that reason.

[A-Stark]

@aaronjw: Fair enough.

 

In any case, I am not and have never been a fair-weather unionist, and I am displeased by what I (and others) perceive to be a less-than robust bargaining stance taken by my resident association. We need a better dental plan! (And Parity with PARI-MP!)

[NLengr]

@aaronjw: Fair enough.

 

In any case, I am not and have never been a fair-weather unionist, and I am displeased by what I (and others) perceive to be a less-than robust bargaining stance taken by my resident association. We need a better dental plan! (And Parity with PARI-MP!)

 

Dental Plan! Lisa needs braces. Dental Plan! Lisa needs braces.

 

\carry on with your normal conversations.

[Tonto]

I don't know your story, but you sound like a premed talking over his head. For now ill continue to enjoy the fact that Im a resident and Ill go wherever the **** I please. I guarantee no resident or staff will agree with you. Also residents save money by doing grunt work in the hospital.

 

Agreed brah. Not sure what this aaron dude is sayin. i'm a resident and future

physician, not slave to society.

 

Even though i shouldn't continue this argument with this kid, bc its futile and insane, how bout this buddy? 'Society' and 'Tax's' pay all this money for us to become physicians. Well guess what? If they didn't, people would have insanely lower life expectancies and our society would generally be horribly unhealthy - how do you think that would factor into a succesful economy? It would be catastrophic. So don't give me this 'taxes pay for our training so we should be at the will of the tax payers'. I have a hard time believing you are a physician or even med student considering your naivety and idealism. Go back to the high school forum, buddy.

[A-Stark]

Dental Plan! Lisa needs braces. Dental Plan! Lisa needs braces.

 

\carry on with your normal conversations.

 

:

 

So we'll march day and night,

By the big cooling tower,

They have the plant, but we have the power

[5th time the charm]

Remember that sometimes you could match into a 5th year specialty and possibly switch programs. What is important are: if a program has space and that your funding goes with you, it would not stay with the program if you leave from what I understand.

 

so even if you aren't sure of a 5th year specialty position in the 2nd round, it may make sense to take it, complete your internship year, and see about making a switch if that is even possible and what opportunities this may present for you over taking a 2 year FM position for example

 

I did not switch specialties but I switched schools after 3.5 years of residency and was able to do it because of funding going with me to a program that had space, and of course the blessing of the dean of medicine didn't hurt either.....I ended up graduating from the program I had ranked first and didn't get initially but 3.5 years later I was a senior resident in their program.

 

When I had in mind to do this I was well aware that it may improve my "trade value" if you will to work really hard and show the school that didn't accept me that I was a capable resident and would be an asset to their program. Remember that some programs will have space for various reasons so its worth a try. The important point is having 5 years of funding attached to you. I am speaking about this experience of being within the Ontario system but one of my resident colleagues did transfer from Ontario to a school out west I think without any difficulty.

[spontaneouscombustion]

Suggesting your training was more than paid back is to make a claim that your skills were comparable to that of fully paid staff during your training years. You were being paid for time -not skill because you didn't have any yet.

 

I recommend the book "You're Not As Good As You Think You Are" by Chris Gudgeon, 1997 lol

 

Spoken like someone who has never spent time in the medical system. You'd probably be surprised who does most of the work taking care of you if you ever end up sick in the hospital.

[NLengr]

Spoken like someone who has never spent time in the medical system. You'd probably be surprised who does most of the work taking care of you if you ever end up sick in the hospital.

 

One of my staff once got lost in the ER of our hospital because he/she had hardly ever been there. And we're a specialty that sees multiple people in the ER daily.

[bloh]

Most memorable experience for me was when the OnG staff who is older than the universe spent most of his time in the corner on a stool scrubbed in, while the residents and students completed all his operations from start to close.

 

Or the GIM staff who prided himself on not having used a stethoscope in the last 5 years....

[ER scrub]

most awesome was being asked by a Derm attending what to wear to a consult in the ER "I've never been there, is there a dress code? I hope I don't have to wear those scrubs".

 

but it was derm so I guess it's understandable

[burrb]

^ lmao classic dermatology.

 

what was the consult for? I can't imagine there are many emergency consults for derm. SJS/TENS is more ICU/plastics and most other things probably medicine admissions?

[rogerroger]

Suggesting your training was more than paid back is to make a claim that your skills were comparable to that of fully paid staff during your training years. You were being paid for time -not skill because you didn't have any yet.

 

 

FYI:

 

You are so mistaken it is embarrassing. Sure a resident is not staff. But they still have an enormous impact on the direction of care. They probably have the largest role in many cases. To anyone who actually looks after patients between the hours of 2400-0700 it is ridiculously obvious that you have no familiarity with the reality of the topic which you write about. Just sayin...

 

Also I wish I was paid for my time, because the amount of "overtime" I do adds up to an extra day of work every week. If I could only punch in and punch out... Or better yet, get actually compensated for staying an extra 1-2 hrs everyday, this would add up to some decent extra coin at the end of the month. Hell the guy selling GAP jeans probably gets better compensation for their "time".... The difference is if the resident screws up 1 of the 100 independent decisions that need to be made in caring for you we may kill you. Meh, but hey, what skillz do we have after all?