Day 381 In trouble with the Program Director

It was around 7:40 in the morning and we had just finished sign out when the program director approached me and said "I need to talk to you." I wasn't sure what I had done, but I was a bit nervous. I told her "Am I in trouble?" She smiled and said "no." We walked into her office and she closed the door and said "what is going on with Dr.ONC ? When we do rounds it seems like he is never prepared. Why is it that you know more about the patient than he does. Also...He is also always joking around, its like he is not taking it seriously. I wanted to tell you because you have a way with people and I wanted you to tell him to be a bit more serious and to talk to him about it." I told her "I have spoken to him about it. he is a great guy. We are trying to work with him, to take things more seriously. A lot of the interns are being spoiled by us, but we are trying to get them to learn to be more independent and confident." It was a short conversation and I left her office in search of Dr.ONC.

He was in one of the floors and in a patients room when I went up to him and told him "Listen I have to talk to you its important" He saw the look on my face and knew that it was serious. We went into a private room in the floor. I sat down and told him "I wanted to talk to you because I wanted you to know what was going on. Someone in the top office called me in to talk to you about certain things. They just wanted me to talk to you about how you are with the patients. Remember that you are in care of about 10 patients daily, but the way our attendings know how we are with patients is during the times when we round on our patients and how we manage them." At this point he cut me off and said "you know then I'm leaving that's it. If they don't like the way I am, then I'm leaving." I told him, "hold on, its not like that. Remember, part of this is about adapting to people and situations. Nobody knows how to be a resident in 4 weeks. I had the same issues when I started. I didn't know how to do a lot of things, but in time I learned, and so will you. And this will happen anyplace you go. Wherever you go , you will have to adapt to people and situations. Its about adjusting. You are a good resident. We tell you these things to help you, not to harm you.This is good advice, its not judgmental." He kind of relaxed a little bit. He seemed a bit upset. I told him "when it comes to the teaching patients just remember to always have a plan. always have an idea about what we are doing for this patient. When the attending comes to round tell him what is today's plan and what we are going to do." He shook he head and said ok, but I think he was still hurt.

I tried to tell him in a nice way of what was told to me. The program director is not the first person that has told me about him. There have been other residents complaining about him. they say that he fools around a lot. He ask a lot of stupid questions and comments. I think its pretty judgmental of some residents, but then again,its always been like that. A lot of times you have to be more serious and hold back the stupid questions you might have, and ask a person privately that you trust will not make fun of you. Some residents have told me that they remind them of the resident that was kicked out before.(http://thankyougodforresidency.blogspot.com/2009/04/day-resident-with-usmle-scores-98-99.html) I don't Think Dr.Onc is on the same level as the other intern that got kicked out. I'm going to be working with him closely. I'll let you guys know what happens.

On the other hand, the other interns are coming along. Some of them are still trying to adapt and get use to the system. We have been criticized by some of the 3rd years, because we are doing a lot of the admissions for them. A lot of times we do all the orders and they are simply just doing the physical and none of the planning. I started to give the interns more time by themselves during the admissions. I'm letting them talk to the patients by themselves and get the history and physical. Overall its been a good rotation. I'm having a lot of fun. I will let you guys know what happens.

God bless

Dr.Mike