Psych/ Step 2 CK rant

Ya know in my last post where I said Nick had always said he'd never want to do OB or Psych? Well, while OB may have been interesting and enjoyable and impressed him... Psych is NOT having that same effect. He hates it. He doesn't necessarily mind working with the patients, but he doesn't have the temperament or interest to do it long term. He finds it mostly to be busy work and doesn't feel respected as a member of the medical team.

Since he wants to specialize in EM- the experience is definitely a useful one and I think he's definitely picked up a few new skills (however, he's spent a lot of his time with the Social Worker and not with the Attending or Resident, so really, I could have taught him how to do a Bio-psycho-social interview... but I digress).

Only 2 weeks left and then he's got a break (ish- still has to study for Step 2 CK) before 4th year rotations begin in September.

Speaking of Step 2 CK... lets just say SGU has put Nick and students in his same term between a rock and a hard place. True to form with the lack of informing students accurately- Nick signed up to write his CK on Aug 12 a couple of months ago. He decided to do it in mid-August due to having his Psych rotation all the way up until Aug 1st.. thinking he could get a couple weeks to JUST study for CK which would be helpful. However, he got an email 3 weeks ago saying he needed to take his exam BEFORE July 28th if he wanted his scores back in time to send out Residency applications on September 15. He's gone back and forth stressing over whether to bump up his test drastically with little notice and have the score back to submit "on time" or take it when he had planned, probably get a better score, but get his "completed" application in late. Really there is no easy decision and pros and cons for both.

After meeting with the Residency director at St. John's he has decided to take it as planned and hope that have a delay in his applications being complete doesn't screw him over for interviews. I'm confident he will do well, but it's so disappointing to see my hubs, and other students, who work their butts off and excel but then don't have the University put them in a position to thrive. US students who are in Nick's year finish their rotations in late June/early July in order to have time to prepare and still get their scores back in time... so it's unfortunate SGU students are given the same courtesy and opportunity.

Just another hurdle for foreign grads to overcome right? At least 3 years into medical school, we're pretty used to it by now.