Third-Year Reflections on Clerkship: A Letter to Second-Years
by Peety Kaur, MS3
Peety Kaur, current third-year medical student, wrote the following letter to our second-year medical students as they begin their clerkship year. Reflecting on her clerkship year, Peety shares advice, encouragement, and the reminder that “time spent with patients is never time wasted. This year is a trial run at being a doctor, and a doctor’s number one priority is patients.”
Dear Second-Years,
You’re officially clerkship students, congratulations! This is an exciting and uniquely privileged journey on which you are about embark, and I am so excited to hear about your experiences over the next year. As I reflect on my own clerkship year—my achievements and my mistakes—I realize there are certain things that I want to communicate to you. Some advice I received from students before me, and some that I never heard but wish I had.
I want to preface what I am about to write with this statement: I am not sharing this advice because I think you’re going to mess up or because I don’t believe in you. I am sharing these things because I expect excellence from you because you are excellent. I believe and expect that you will be better clerkship students than my class, than the class before mine, and the class before that.
Some of you are going into this year knowing what you want to do with the rest of your lives. To you, I am so impressed with your passion and commitment. Some of you are going into this year completely undecided. To you, I admire your open-mindedness and sense of adventure. Ultimately, by the end of medical school, you will pursue a single residency, or will choose to not pursue residency at all. This means that this year will be both the first and last time you will experience certain specialties. Whether or not you ultimately jive with certain rotations, remind yourself that you will not have the privilege of pursuing most of these opportunities ever again. I encourage you to embrace this reality.
Additionally, you may hear certain rhetoric that X rotation is good practice for Y rotation, or take X first so you do better on subsequent shelf exams. It’s true that in many ways this next year will be a series of trial runs, where you are trying on different specialties to see what fits you best. But I want to explicitly say this: your patients are real, their problems are real, and they are not just there for your practice and your education. Never prioritize your educational needs before the needs of your patients. You will learn. I promise, you will learn more than you ever imagined. There will be times, however, where you may feel like you aren’t learning something concrete or tangible. You aren’t always going to be getting a resident chalk talk or seeing a new surgical technique or working with a patient with some “high yield” pathology. But time spent with patients is never time wasted. Like I said, this year is a trial run at being a doctor, and a doctor’s number one priority is patients.
Human-ness comes with an innate and equitable dignity, and I cannot think of a more dignified line of work than helping and serving other humans. I’m not just talking about physicians, but I’m talking about the nurses, social workers, scrub techs, and environmental services workers. Each person in this hospital has equal dignity, and should be treated as such. This includes you, the students. I’m not going to say there isn’t a hierarchy of experience and priority, because there absolutely is, but that doesn’t mean that you should be treated with any less respect or dignity than the others around you. And if you find that you or someone around you is being mistreated, you must speak up. Send a VERITAS, reach out to your clerkship director, or reach out to Dean Fleming. Things can only change if you say something. If you’re ever unsure on how to proceed, you can always reach out to someone, including third- and fourth-years.
The last thing I want to say is that this year is going to be both amazing and exhausting. I had some high highs and some low lows. No matter how exhausted or worn down you feel, prioritize honesty and meeting the expectations set out by your clerkship and course directors. Exhaustion is no excuse for missing assignments, skipping mandatory lectures, or not working on weekends when you are expected to work. It’s not about getting caught or getting in trouble, it’s about developing good professional habits. Because remember, this year is a trial run for the rest of your career. This doesn’t mean that you should ignore your bodies and minds. If you feel like you are too exhausted or too sick, or have personal circumstances that are impeding your ability to put your best foot forward, reach out to your clerkship directors. They choose to be in these roles because they want to help students achieve success and make the most of this year.
Thank you so much for reading my ruminations and musings. I hope you take away at least one snippet of advice from it that is helpful to you. Of course, I am just one student amongst so many who have gone through this process, so I ask you to please make sure to reach out to others and listen to their advice. Of course, if you need anything, shoot me a text or email. I know you all will do amazing things, and I’m so excited to hear about your journeys. Remember, you are so important and we are all proud of you!