CASE

“You idiot! What are you doing in medical school?”

Five of us were working together dissecting a cadaver in anatomy lab. It was day three of the course and there were two hours left to complete the day's assignment. The student who self-appointed herself as the group leader was assertive and eager to dissect but had botched up one dissection already, making it difficult to identify certain parts of the anatomy. Another student decided to confront her and said, “You idiot! You've completely destroyed this cadaver! What are you doing in medical school?”

I was very worried about not getting the assignments done on time and debated with myself about involving the preceptor, but I didn't know how to proceed.

CASE

“I would knock you to the floor”

I was a third year medical student on a largely surgical obstetrics and gynecology rotation. We rounded on patients at 7: 00 a.m. and I was responsible for one of the four patients on the postsurgical floor. My responsibility required getting up early, checking out her vital signs, talking to her about what was going on with her, asking about any pain she might be experiencing, going over her medications and her history. I had to make sure I knew everything.