Things You Wish You Knew Before Starting Clinical Year

An edited list written by a final year medical student from university somewhere in UK.

In related to our kuliyyah, some are true, some are being exaggerated, and some are totally bogus.

But, some are so true that the editor still considering to share. The original list of 100 things is being cut short so that almost non of it will be able to hurt or scared anyone.

Do read and enjoy...

1. You’ll study more than you ever have in your life.

2. Third year rotations will trouble the life out of you.

3. Your social life may suffer some.

4. Most of your time on rotations will be wasted. Thrown away. Down the drain.

5. You’ll work with at least one attending physician who you’ll sick out of.

6. You’ll work with at least three residents who you’ll sick out of.

7. You’ll ask a stranger about the quality of their stools.

8. You’ll ask post-op patients if they’ve farted within the last 24 hours.

9. At some point during your stay, a stranger’s bodily fluids will most likely come into contact with your exposed skin.

10. You’ll work 14 days straight without a single day off. Probably multiple times.

11. You’ll be sleep deprived.

12. There will be times on certain rotations where you won’t be allowed to eat.

13. You’ll wake up one day and ask yourself is this really what you want out of life.

14. You’ll probably change your specialty of choice at least 4 times.

15. You’ll spend a good deal of your time playing social worker.

16. You’ll learn that medical insurance reimbursement is a huge problem, particularly for primary care physicians.

17. Nurses will treat you badly, simply because you are a medical student.

18. There will be times when you’ll be ignored by your attending or resident.

19. You will develop a thick skin. If you fail to do this, you’ll cry often.

20. Public humiliation is very common place in medical training.

21. It’s always the medical student’s fault.

22. You’ll look forward to the weekend, not so you can relax and have a good time but so you can catch up on studying for the week.

23. Your house might go uncleaned for two weeks during an intensive exam block.

24. As a medical student on rotations, you don’t matter. In fact, you get in the way and impede productivity.

25. There’s a fair chance that you will be physically struck by a nurse, resident, or attending physician. This may include slapped on the hand or kicked on the shin in order to instruct you to “move” or “get out of the way.”

26. Any really bad procedures will be done by you. The residents don’t want to do them, and you’re the low man on the totem pole. This includes rectal examinations and digital disimpactions.

27. You’ll be competing against the best of the best, the cream of the crop. This isn’t college where half of your classmates are idiots. Everybody in medical school is smart.

28. Don’t think that you own the world because you just got accepted into medical school. That kind of attitude will humble you faster than anything else.

29. If you’re in it for the money, there are much better, more efficient ways to make a living. Medicine is not one of them.

30. Anatomy sucks. All of the bone names sound the same.

31. The competition doesn’t end after getting accepted to medical school. You’ll have to compete for class rank, awards, and residency. If you want to do a fellowship, you’ll have to compete for that too.

32. You’ll never look at weekends the same again.

33. Your fourth year in medical school will be like a vacation compared to the first three years. It’s a good thing too, because you’ll need one.

34. Rumors surrounding members of your class will spread faster than they did in high school.

35. You’ll meet a lot of cool people, many new friends, and maybe your husband or wife.

36. No matter how bad your medical school experience was at times, you’ll still be able to think about the good times.

37. Gunners (scorer) always sit in the front row. This rule never fails. However, not everyone who sits in the front row is a gunner.

38. Students who start medical school wanting to do primary care end up in dermatology. Those students who start medical school wanting to do dermatology end up in family medicine.

39. Telling local girls at the cafe that you’re a medical student doesn’t mean at all. They’ve been hearing that for years. Be more unique.

40. The money isn’t really that good in medicine. Not if you look at it in terms of hours worked.

41. Don’t wear your white coat into the gas station, or any other business that has nothing to do with you wearing a white coat. You look stupid, and people do make fun of you.

42. If you piss off anybody, he or she can make your life like hell.

43. Your family members will ask you for medical advice, even after your first week of first year.

44. Many of your friends will go onto great jobs and fantastic lifestyles. You’ll be faced with 4 more years of debt and then at least 3 years of residency before you’ll see any real earning potential.

45. It’s amazing how fast time flies on your days off. It’s equally amazing at how slow the days are on a rotation you hate.

46. You’ll learn to be scared of asking for time off.

47. Find new ways to study. The methods you used in college may or may not work. If something doesn’t work, adapt.

48. Hospitals smell bad.

49. The best time of your entire medical school career is between the times when you first get your acceptance letter and when you start meds school.

50. The residents and faculty in O&G will be some of the most malignant personalities you’ve ever come into contact with.

51. Medicine is better than being a janitor, but there were times when you’ll envy the people cleaning the hospital trash cans.

52. After the first two years are over, your summer breaks will no longer exist. Enjoy them as much as you can.

53. During the holiday before 3rd year medical school starts, do not attempt to study or read anything remotely related to medicine. Take this time to travel and do things for you.

54. You’ll party a lot during the first two years, but then that pretty much ends at the beginning of your clinical year.