Welcome all "I hate third year medical school-ers"

Yes! I officially hate 3rd year medical school. I don't hate medical school. I just hate 3rd year. Sometimes I say I hate becoming a doctor. Well...I don't, but I really detest the current system of training physicians. People told me how much they loved 3rd year. Either they were talking about 3rd year in high school, or 3rd year in college, or 3rd year surfing in New Zealand, OR they were on crack! Third year SUCKS! Period. When I started 3rd year, I heard of really mean/bitter residents/interns and I wondered why. I wonder no more...yes, going through the medical school system will embitter you and destroy your spirit.

Why do I hate 3rd year so much:

1. I hate it because it is basically legalized bullying. There's an attending (the know-it-all), the resident (who may, may not be nice), the intern, and me (the wide eye, 'yes, sir' 'no, sir') 3rd year who is trying to learn medicine but must somehow know every minutia of detail about any disease that the team admits. You know it's hell when you have to serve so many "masters." Everyone has his/her own way/philosophy of doing things. How is it possible to please so many people at the same time? Like this morning...I never felt more bitter in my life: the attending kept cutting me off during my presentation because he/she was confused...but, really, had it not been for the resident who made me change my presentation, I would have gotten it right!! To add insult to injury, he kept jumping in to provide clarifications. HOWEVER, he never once even said...actually, you know, it's my fault....I made some changes to this presentation last night and that's why....Ah ha! Really, I would have had so much respect for this resident. BUT, the environment of med school and the whole medical institution is such that everyone is afraid of not being PERFECTLY PERFECT. And when shit hits the fan...medical students are in for the shit-fest.

2. I hate my attending. This particular one I really hate. I have loved some attendings dearly. They taught me and encouraged me and mentored me. When I made mistakes, they corrected me. But, they don't talk down on me. OMG. This current attending is someone who...(I can only imagine)...used to be that kid who was the teacher's pet from kingdergarten to 12th grade, who corrected everyone but in such a way that made them feel stupid and unworthy of even breathing oxygen, whose main mission in life is to make others feel inferior.

3. There's a lot of ass-kissing during 3rd year. It's true and it's rampant. And I hate it.

4. Is it just me or sometimes the residents and attendings even will make up things about their patients, the patients' families, and literally provide "quotes" that you know the patients nor their families did not make...because you spent an hour interviewing them, and because the attending provided that quote BEFORE she/he ever, ever met the family! One of the things that really bother me is how quickly residents/attendings will put a label on the patient/family or make a judgment them based on a brief interview. (SCREAM!) How can you pretend to know anyone after only talking to them for an hour! Yes, you know their medical stories (the ones that they choose to share with you) but how can anyone be so deluded and arrogant enough to pass judgments about other people is beyond me. This is why I want to go into the specialty that I will be going into (because I love it! yes) but also because I won't need to make such misguided judgments about the goodness or badness of my patients. I'll provide a diagnosis and that's it.