Grace , I like your strategy of having the externs write down their questions for a time away from patients, so you can answer them thoughtfully and thoroughly without interrupting the work flow.
Michele Deck
I have externs in my office constantly and I teach, so I see both sides of the experience. I dod not think anyone should take on externs if their office is too busy. Students will be your coworkers tomorrow so you need to teach as much as you can. They are more than file clerks. I always tell my externs to follow me first, and write down their questions as we go along. That way I can address their questons without interrupting patient flow. When the time is right, I can then address the questions and give the student my undivided attention.
thanks michelle.... i really enjoy your ideas!
kristine, keep up the good work here.
Michele Deck
i also encourage my students to be grateful for their experiences. I often hear how The medical profession "eats their young', this os often true... I encourage my students to find a positive lesson out of the poor behavior
Yes a clinical site is a privledge for the students. I encourage the students to stay with the staff member that is assigned to the room the student is in and make your self present by asking questions and seem very interested.
I agree to some extent. I think sites should be very truthful and honest about their workload and be able to say "NO" to accepting interns/externs. Although, I agree, that most sites are somewhat doing our students a favor by accepting them and showing them a real world experience of what they can expect as a part of the workforce, but accepting a student and not being able to properly teach them because the staff is "too busy" to teach does not serve our students the purpose of sending them to those facilities. I would rather have a facility deny us and say no to accepting new students than to accept every student and not be able to handle it because of lack of staffing or heavy workload.
This a very true for them to remember to be thankful and learn all that they can.
Michele, I love that you stress this outlook with your students. Keep up the good work!
This served as a great reminder of something I tell my students every quarter.......the site is doing YOU the favor, you aren't doing them a favor by being there. It is important to thank them for the opportunity to be there and to participate in everything they can.
I always try and remind the students that they will not always have a positive rotation in clinicals. I tell the students to always walk away learning something. If they have a bad experience they need to remember that when they (students) have the same job and have students to be a more positve influence.
I think this is a great point. Most of us that have worked in the field and have been preceptors know that it is very time consuming to have a student. Not many people have the patience and the willingness to do this. We need to remind our students to be appreciative and patient as well.
That is a wonderful reminder, and I hope it spurs the students to remember that others care enough to train them. Thanks for sharing.
