Thinking Outside of the Circle
For those of you who didn’t read my latest Medscape post (yes, I know it sucks that it requires a login…I’m talking to you, TOM) I can tell you that it involved me practicing for the USMLE Step 3.
You see, the USMLE Step 3 is a two day exam. The first day involves a standard long day of answering multiple choice questions, which happens to be the format of most of my exams in medical school. But the second day involves something called “Clinical Case Scenarios.” It’s basically a “virtual patient” setup, where you are presented with a patient, and you have to make all of the same decisions that you’d have to make in real life. You have to place orders, run diagnostic tests, and even counsel your patients.
But the problem is that with the “CCS,” you don’t have any multiple choice options. Just like in real life, you are presented with a real patient, and you have to make real choices, without a nice, neat list presented in front of you.
What I’m finding incredibly terrifying and disturbing is that I’m not as good at these “real life” scenarios, as I am with multiple choice questions. Yes, I can still remember to do the basic things, but I find myself forgetting to do things that I “know” to do, but forget to do, because I’m not prompted with a list.
In three short weeks, I will be a “real doctor” at a “real hospital.” My patients will not be nicely packaged questions, with a wonderful multiple choice list of options of how to treat. They will be complex, complicated humans. And I will have to diagnose and treat them like a doctor is supposed to. And that scares the crap out of me!
This is what goes through the mind of an intern. And an intern, soon I will be…
Photos: From my recent med school graduation day.