13 Feb The Millennial Med Student Dilemma
Being a medical student in 2019 is a strange predicament. We are the most competitive matriculants to ever apply to medical school, with GPA averages around 3.8 and MCAT scores in the 90th percentile. 60% of medical school applicants were unable to find a seat at ANY medical school in the country.
No shortcuts for us
We know there were easier ways to become “providers”, but we chose this profession, despite it being more difficult. My classmates are incredibly intelligent and caring people. We are (mostly) eager to learn and become excellent physicians. Many of my classmates are also aware of the prevailing issues in medicine: midlevel creep, corporatization, insurance issues, and more. Our job as medical students is to be pushed to work hard, to not be coddled, to be told to stay the extra hour to learn something new, to be overworked and under-slept. I believe my classmates are under the impression that this is the rite of passage to become the physician that will keep the patient from the pathologist.
I know there’s not much that I, as a medical student, can ask of attending physicians. You are overworked, overburdened, and undervalued. I only took my oath to the profession a few short months ago. Please remember that oath, no matter how long ago you recited it.
Make us better future physicians
I want to ask you to be mentors that hold your medical students to the highest standard. Make us feel scared that we will make mistakes; tell us what our deficits are; help us improve our clinical skills. This is something that every physician can do, whether in private practice or academics. Offer to take in a medical student, but also emphasize to the medical student that it will not be easy and you will make them work their butts off.
We want to be better, for the sake of our patients.
Because that is what separates our profession from every other profession in healthcare. Contrary to what seems the common opinion of older physicians, we don’t all buy into the “participation trophy” or “snowflake” culture. We want to be better, for the sake of our patients. My last request of you, the attending physician, is to mentor the medical student in navigating medical politics. Teach them the politics of dealing with nursing staff, dealing with administrators, dealing with program directors, dealing with other physicians, dealing with employment contracts, all the potential pitfalls. This is becoming an essential skill, now more than ever.
Lastly, prioritize medical education over Physician Assistant or Nurse Practitioner education. Realize that doing all of these things will take time and make your day harder, but you will leave a lasting impression on the next generation of physicians.
Taking back medicine and improving patient care requires us, the next generation of physicians, to be as good as the previous generation of physicians. This is not just our responsibility, but your responsibility as well.
Sincerely,
The Millennial Medical Student
Maria Ortez
Posted at 01:32h, 13 MarchThe student was in no way diminishing the value of midlevels. I suppose you were offended by the student writing “Lastly, prioritize medical education over Physician Assistant or Nurse Practitioner education.” Why wouldn’t we prioritize the education of the leaders of healthcare? There is already a profound lack of physicians. Physician assistants will have no one to assist if there are no physicians needing assistance. As a physician, I value PAs tremendously as part of the healthcare team and work with I believe to be some of the best! This student has every. right to identify the massive and systemic problems of our American healthcare system. You say this student has a problem because of identifying problems with our healthcare system (i.e. over reliance on midlevels/midlevels practicing beyond their scope or independently). As a doctor, this is very admirable and it’s clear this student wants our patients to receive the best care possible from the most highly educated, trained, and experienced people. Healthcare is a team sport, however, when it comes to making decisions that determine whether someone lives or dies, most people would agree that the medical professional with significantly more medical education and training is in a better position to make decisions regarding patient care. If you cannot accept that PAs have less education and training, you are too hubris, and healthcare has no room for that. It baffles me how hubris some midlevels can become online; do they suffer from anosognosia, are they blissfully unaware of the medical education they don’t know? In the end, it will be the patients who pay the ultimate price and this is what concerns me the most.