I don’t know when it happens, but at some point during residency, many residents begin to forget about the well-being of their medical students. As a resident, I hope this does not happen to me. Medical students are typically very helpful, and take some of the workload off of the residents. They are also usually up for doing tasks many residents do not have time for. What many residents forget is that these students also need to be studying for their shelf exams and USMLE. Many times the students will be found standing around for hours at the end of the day while the residents are entering orders. This isn’t because the residents are purposely being negligent, they just have so much on their plates that they simply forget to send the students home. This should never happen.
As a resident, I am going to make a conscious effort to release my students at a reasonable time or send them to the library to study versus standing around. Medical students should be around to learn, but when the educational portion of the day is over, they should relax before the real work begins.
