Island Med Student

Clinical medical students are always discussing which clerkships are “the best.” Which hospital has the best surgery clerkship? Which nephrology elective has attendings who teach well? For us fourth-year students, we’ve been focusing on which residency programs are “the best.” Where will I learn the most and be fully prepared to be a competent doctor upon graduation?

Now that I’m only four weeks away from graduation, I believe that I can say with some confidence that my knowledge and skill base is partially attributable to all the wonderful professors, attendings, and residents who have taught me over the past four years. My medical school has prepared me well, as have the hospitals at which I’ve rotated.

However, there is one important fact that I’ve gleaned from paying attention to all the other med students around me over the past four years:

Your medical education is what you make of it.

This simple fact is frequently ignored by many. It’s equally applicable to just about anything else in life: you get out what you put in.

To provide two extreme examples, a very motivated and hard-working student could become a very talented doctor, even in a less-than-perfect learning environment. Similarly, a very unmotivated student who attempts to get by with the least amount of effort in a “perfect” learning environment will likely turn out a mediocre doctor at best.

(Obviously, there are a million shades of gray in between these two examples.)

I believe that I’ve received a very good medical education, and I’m lucky to have learned from and worked with some amazing doctors, who have taught me well.

But I also believe that my motivation to learn has had a huge impact on the “almost-doctor” that I’ve become.

One example that stands out in my mind is my surgery core clerkship. It was an incredibly intense, unforgettable 12-week experience. I volunteered to stay late on many occasions. I volunteered to scrub in when no one else wanted to. And I tried to go out of my way to learn. Not surprisingly, I learned a lot.

There were other students who put in minimal effort, literally “hid” at times, and tried to just “get by.” Not surprisingly, they learned very little.

So, when I hear these same people complain that the clerkship was horrible and they learned nothing, it understandably makes me what to throw my hands into the air in exasperation!

Sir Wiliam Osler really summed it up for me when he said, “The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today’s work superbly well.”

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