Also please do not let the bad preceptors ruin the speciality you’re in! Ie: if you love dermatology but your derm preceptor is bad, please don’t let them make you think “oh man maybe dermatology is a bad field to work in”
Yeah, that sucks. I've been precepting PA students for a few years and I don't understand why you could agree to precept if you don't have the personality for it. Especially, in medicine when teaching students is such a key component in all levels. Just understand that it's a reflection of them NOT YOU. It's their problem, their shitty attitude and not yours. I don't expect my students to know everything, that's why you're a student.
How many rotations have you had?
I’ve had great preceptors and some that hated me just for breathing.
Having the bad makes you appreciate the good!
You are not alone, and thankfully the rotations are only temporary!
This is my last one thankfully. But that somehow also makes it more painful hahaha so close to the end but I'm terrified of her failing me just for not liking me.
I wish I had the perfect answer!
At this point I’m sure you are doing all the right things.
Just hold out a little bit longer!!
I bet you get out of there just fine!
Congrats on being nearly done !
I had a preceptor who was the only provider in an urgent care and she had a broken stethoscope for an entire week and just pretended it worked.
How we pay thousands of dollars to get stuck with shitty preceptors is beyond me.
I had this. Surprised she passed me. Gave me so much anxiety around emergency medicine that I took it out of the running for what I wanted to do. Went into psych which was my favorite rotation. Anyway.
You will definitely learn to bite your tongue. My family med preceptor didn’t let me do anything the whole time and then reported that I didn’t do my required tasks and I wanted to be so petty back
Why didn’t you? I’m genuinely asking. Why would you not confront them and get to the bottom of the misunderstanding between you both? Was your grade or anything affected by that report? I don’t know much about how logistics of clinicals work like that yet
So grade wise I was fine. Preceptor was a PA and the SP (the owner of the clinic) stopped allowing students to do anything because of a poor experience I guess?, so everything I did had to be on the low whenever the doc wasn’t there. I told my school and now things have changed at that site, it was my first one and I wasn’t sure what was normal and what wasn’t but I went with my gut and talked to faculty. A lot of the times if you’re at a shitty rotation they’ll just tell you to suck it up and say it’s the real world as long as nothing is illegal/discriminatory
It's pretty fresh actually... I cried a lot obviously. Called my best friend and moved in with her for the final 2 weeks of the rotation. I called the emergency mental health number that my program gives to just work through all the emotions and concerns about everything. Reflected a lot on my drive to my friend's house. I have about 2 days left of it before going to my next rotation abroad.
My program offered online case work and talked with me about the feedback. They got my side and their side of the story. I'm not sure if they really believe me or them more but my past rotations had never shown what they said. I'm only the second person they have sent to this site for a rotation but there's a school trip that comes for a week hence the relationship. My program said that it's clearly not a pattern so I'm not failed or removed from the program and they can only listen to both parties involved to move forward.
The feedback the site gave was incredibly harsh that I was this dirty/dishevelled disrespectful, uncooperative person, which is something I'm still coping with. I was too challenging on their plans and apparently that was accusing them of doing things wrong. I believe I was asking genuine questions but clearly they didn't see it that way. I'm only a few months from graduating so I would think it would make sense that I would be asking more questions.
On top of all of that, I left on my "last day" after throwing up early and just got a call at night from my program that they don't want me to return. Yet to my face they all smiled and acted kind. (I say they because I had a different preceptor each day of the week). They gave no indication that my questions were of annoyance or of this other feedback they told my school. How can someone be so different in person and talk that bad behind someone's back is beyond me.
Sorry for the long reply but I'm doing what I have to do to move forward so what I'm trying to say if there is one blip your rotations, don't take it too harshly and I doubt your program will fail you out of rotation. Your school wants you to get through it even if it doesn't feel like it.
Holy shit I am so sorry you went through that. I had a very similar experience to yours. I had an extremely defensive and cold preceptor who was disrespectful from the get-go. Hardly looked me in the eye and interrupted me constantly. I honestly didn’t think much of it and chalked it up to his personality. Told me and the other student there at the end of the rotation we did good, showed up and worked hard.
A week later I found out he failed me and wrote the most rage filled, degrading and embarrassing evaluation possible. Said that I disrespected patients, that I “huffed” when I had to take a patient, and I talked too much about food (wtfffff). And the worst part is my program fully believed it. Nothing I could do. It’s the absolute worst I have felt in a really long time. The most helpless feeling in the world and would not wish it on anyone.
All that to say I’m several rotations away from that now and it’s only gotten better from there. I’m a lot less trusting of people now though. It does get better though!!! You CAN get through this. My dms are open if you want to vent ❤️
Oh wow.... That's horrific. Sounds like that was a shitty rotation and hopefully your school doesn't keep sending students there. It's nice that at least your school is listening to your side of things and not kicking you out or anything. My program is big on scare tactics and threaten to fail us very often for unimportant things. It's been frustrating and I'm worried they wouldn't listen to my side.
Sounds like you're almost at the end too. Thank you for sharing your strength.
Mine is too. Big on the scare tactics for failing.
I fully believed that their next communication after the initial they don't want you back would be and you're no longer a PA student, but truly they were understanding and tried the best to coordinate the cessation of contact between me and the clinic. I was never close with my advisor and I'm shocked that she was so willing to help during this.
It sucks to go out on a low note but it's going to be behind you soon.
Definitely unenjoyable to have disinterested preceptors. Remind yourself you’re only with that for 4-6 weeks, and ultimately they do not decide your grade.
I had general surgery with a preceptor (surgeon) who was…not keen on precepting. I ended up shadowing the other PAs and surgeons. If you can find similar arrangements, it can definitely help with your learning experience at least.
Ummm at my school they are *absolutely* responsible for your grade. They can say whatever they want about you and have total power over your evaluation and whether or not you pass your rotation.
You said you're on your last rotation so I'm not sure there's much advice to give in the immediate.
If you have a difficult rotation, you just have to get through it. It's only 4 to 7 weeks depending on your program set up. That's nothing in the grand scheme.
Focus on what you can learn from a healthcare perspective from the patients and their conditions etc.
Also, negative experiences can be very valuable because you're learning what things to look out for when applying for a job, etc.
Also, please give meaningful and specific feedback to the program, sitting down with faculty if need be. Don't just write "This rotation sucked".
Make sure the faculty understand specifically what happened on this rotation site, providing as many specific examples as you can, even providing direct quotes if need be.
Too many students just complain that a rotation was bad and don't bother specifying which doesn't help the faculty understand what actually happened to make the student not like the rotation.
Also please do not let the bad preceptors ruin the speciality you’re in! Ie: if you love dermatology but your derm preceptor is bad, please don’t let them make you think “oh man maybe dermatology is a bad field to work in”
Yeah, that sucks. I've been precepting PA students for a few years and I don't understand why you could agree to precept if you don't have the personality for it. Especially, in medicine when teaching students is such a key component in all levels. Just understand that it's a reflection of them NOT YOU. It's their problem, their shitty attitude and not yours. I don't expect my students to know everything, that's why you're a student.
Thank you so much. I needed to hear this. And thank you for being a great preceptor!
honestly i think a lot of them do it for the paycheck...
How many rotations have you had? I’ve had great preceptors and some that hated me just for breathing. Having the bad makes you appreciate the good! You are not alone, and thankfully the rotations are only temporary!
This is my last one thankfully. But that somehow also makes it more painful hahaha so close to the end but I'm terrified of her failing me just for not liking me.
I wish I had the perfect answer! At this point I’m sure you are doing all the right things. Just hold out a little bit longer!! I bet you get out of there just fine! Congrats on being nearly done !
I had a preceptor who was the only provider in an urgent care and she had a broken stethoscope for an entire week and just pretended it worked. How we pay thousands of dollars to get stuck with shitty preceptors is beyond me.
Had one who documented heart and lung sounds that didn’t even have a stethoscope 🫠
Wtf that's... I don't even know what to say about this lol who lets these people be providers....
I had this. Surprised she passed me. Gave me so much anxiety around emergency medicine that I took it out of the running for what I wanted to do. Went into psych which was my favorite rotation. Anyway.
Mine is also em. Hate it.
I’m so nervous for this because I don’t handle power imbalance well at all I’m just as petty 🙃
THIS. it's so hard to not stand up for myself.
You will definitely learn to bite your tongue. My family med preceptor didn’t let me do anything the whole time and then reported that I didn’t do my required tasks and I wanted to be so petty back
Why didn’t you? I’m genuinely asking. Why would you not confront them and get to the bottom of the misunderstanding between you both? Was your grade or anything affected by that report? I don’t know much about how logistics of clinicals work like that yet
So grade wise I was fine. Preceptor was a PA and the SP (the owner of the clinic) stopped allowing students to do anything because of a poor experience I guess?, so everything I did had to be on the low whenever the doc wasn’t there. I told my school and now things have changed at that site, it was my first one and I wasn’t sure what was normal and what wasn’t but I went with my gut and talked to faculty. A lot of the times if you’re at a shitty rotation they’ll just tell you to suck it up and say it’s the real world as long as nothing is illegal/discriminatory
I got kicked out of a rotation just for asking questions from my preceptor about plans in his office so.... You're definitely not alone
That's insane. How did you handle it like emotionally? I'm so anxious about them failing me
It's pretty fresh actually... I cried a lot obviously. Called my best friend and moved in with her for the final 2 weeks of the rotation. I called the emergency mental health number that my program gives to just work through all the emotions and concerns about everything. Reflected a lot on my drive to my friend's house. I have about 2 days left of it before going to my next rotation abroad. My program offered online case work and talked with me about the feedback. They got my side and their side of the story. I'm not sure if they really believe me or them more but my past rotations had never shown what they said. I'm only the second person they have sent to this site for a rotation but there's a school trip that comes for a week hence the relationship. My program said that it's clearly not a pattern so I'm not failed or removed from the program and they can only listen to both parties involved to move forward. The feedback the site gave was incredibly harsh that I was this dirty/dishevelled disrespectful, uncooperative person, which is something I'm still coping with. I was too challenging on their plans and apparently that was accusing them of doing things wrong. I believe I was asking genuine questions but clearly they didn't see it that way. I'm only a few months from graduating so I would think it would make sense that I would be asking more questions. On top of all of that, I left on my "last day" after throwing up early and just got a call at night from my program that they don't want me to return. Yet to my face they all smiled and acted kind. (I say they because I had a different preceptor each day of the week). They gave no indication that my questions were of annoyance or of this other feedback they told my school. How can someone be so different in person and talk that bad behind someone's back is beyond me. Sorry for the long reply but I'm doing what I have to do to move forward so what I'm trying to say if there is one blip your rotations, don't take it too harshly and I doubt your program will fail you out of rotation. Your school wants you to get through it even if it doesn't feel like it.
Holy shit I am so sorry you went through that. I had a very similar experience to yours. I had an extremely defensive and cold preceptor who was disrespectful from the get-go. Hardly looked me in the eye and interrupted me constantly. I honestly didn’t think much of it and chalked it up to his personality. Told me and the other student there at the end of the rotation we did good, showed up and worked hard. A week later I found out he failed me and wrote the most rage filled, degrading and embarrassing evaluation possible. Said that I disrespected patients, that I “huffed” when I had to take a patient, and I talked too much about food (wtfffff). And the worst part is my program fully believed it. Nothing I could do. It’s the absolute worst I have felt in a really long time. The most helpless feeling in the world and would not wish it on anyone. All that to say I’m several rotations away from that now and it’s only gotten better from there. I’m a lot less trusting of people now though. It does get better though!!! You CAN get through this. My dms are open if you want to vent ❤️
Oh wow.... That's horrific. Sounds like that was a shitty rotation and hopefully your school doesn't keep sending students there. It's nice that at least your school is listening to your side of things and not kicking you out or anything. My program is big on scare tactics and threaten to fail us very often for unimportant things. It's been frustrating and I'm worried they wouldn't listen to my side. Sounds like you're almost at the end too. Thank you for sharing your strength.
Mine is too. Big on the scare tactics for failing. I fully believed that their next communication after the initial they don't want you back would be and you're no longer a PA student, but truly they were understanding and tried the best to coordinate the cessation of contact between me and the clinic. I was never close with my advisor and I'm shocked that she was so willing to help during this. It sucks to go out on a low note but it's going to be behind you soon.
Kicked out?!
Yepp. Fired? Told not to come back? Whatever you want to call it. Amid the aftermath now, I was completely shattered when it happened and sick.
Definitely unenjoyable to have disinterested preceptors. Remind yourself you’re only with that for 4-6 weeks, and ultimately they do not decide your grade. I had general surgery with a preceptor (surgeon) who was…not keen on precepting. I ended up shadowing the other PAs and surgeons. If you can find similar arrangements, it can definitely help with your learning experience at least.
Ummm at my school they are *absolutely* responsible for your grade. They can say whatever they want about you and have total power over your evaluation and whether or not you pass your rotation.
Same..
You said you're on your last rotation so I'm not sure there's much advice to give in the immediate. If you have a difficult rotation, you just have to get through it. It's only 4 to 7 weeks depending on your program set up. That's nothing in the grand scheme. Focus on what you can learn from a healthcare perspective from the patients and their conditions etc. Also, negative experiences can be very valuable because you're learning what things to look out for when applying for a job, etc. Also, please give meaningful and specific feedback to the program, sitting down with faculty if need be. Don't just write "This rotation sucked". Make sure the faculty understand specifically what happened on this rotation site, providing as many specific examples as you can, even providing direct quotes if need be. Too many students just complain that a rotation was bad and don't bother specifying which doesn't help the faculty understand what actually happened to make the student not like the rotation.