Will the real slackers please stand up?

My previous post regarding my internship in PGH made me think about other things. When I mentioned how toxicity is so overrated in PGH, I remembered how the issue of "slackers" (the lazy people, those who don't work, those who are often absent, those who don't help around, those who just sit around) always seems to come up. And whenever it comes up, it tends to create this great divide between UP interns and Post graduate interns. I'm glad in our group this seldom becomes an issue, but it is a cause for many arguments in other groups. Knowing how worse conditions were for us as clerks in USTH, I doubt if any of my 13 schoolmates can be accused as being a slacker--- okay, except for one, but as his close friend, I know he has a valid reason. hehe. Okay, and except for another one, but she's been known as a slacker since her first year in med school. How she got accepted in PGH for internship, I'll never figure out.

*shrugs shoulders but with a knowing smile*

anyway, the rest of my schoolmates think life in PGH is like a paid vacation. That's why we often wonder what's with all the complaining, and what's the deal with reshuffling schedules so everyone would have equal toxic and benign shedules, equal holidays, half days, and weekend duties in the end (they never really equalize anyway)? And knowing how those post graduate interns from UE had worse experiences during their clerkship compared to ours, i doubt if they'll be the ones "slacking" around. Stories from PGIs (from now on post graduate intern = PGI, it's getting tedious typing those 3 words)from De La Salle also seem to show that they're having a less toxic time in PGH. That's why I'm always defensive when PGIs are accused of being lazy, when they are called slackers. I agree it's possible for them to slack, we can't generalize after all. Maybe one PGI had suffered from burnout during clerkship, and now chooses to be lazy... or maybe there's a med school where they had an easier time during clerkship compared to their internship in PGH. But I've worked with many PGIs, and I can say I haven't seen any of those so called PGI slackers. if there are any, I can't think of any other explanation for their behavior, besides those two reasons I've stated above--- unless, perhaps, they are lazy to begin with. Their laziness could be an inherent trait, which has nothing to do with being a PGI.

So who has the tendency to slack, then? I hate it when UP interns seem to have this predilection to endorse to those students in lower years that some PGIs have a tendency to be slackers, as if it was some word of caution. For crying out loud, who has the tendency to slack, anyway? Those who have a less toxic time during clerkship compared to internship! And most of them are UP interns! They may take offense, those who feel so superior and intelligent just because they are UP medicine students (I'm not generalizing, but there are a number of them). FYI: Just because one is intelligent, that doesn't mean that person can't be lazy. And based from my personal experience, I have not encountered a slacker PGI. The slackers I've encountered--- those who are often absent, those who don't do much work, those who avoid work, those who rarely help, those who keep on disappearing are--- surprise, surprise!--- UP interns! Again, I'm not saying they are the slackers. Majority of them are very hardworking. And I'm sure there are lazy PGIs out there, I just haven't worked with them. I'm saying we shouldn't generalize. I really hate it when some of UP interns point to PGIs as slackers. Before they do the finger pointing, they should look at their own group first, because based on my experiences during internship, there are more slackers there.

I remember a few weeks after internship started (this was June 2005 if I remember correctly), the PGH administration had a meeting with all interns. When the hospital director asked if there are any complaints, most PGIs were quiet. The UP interns were the ones doing all the complaining! Like this girl with dyed hair, complaining that a resident scolded her. She asked if what actions she can take in retaliation. I looked at the reactions of the PGIs and all were smiling at each other. I know what they were thinking, because i had the same thoughts. We suffered much much worse during our encounters with residents and consultants during clerkship, so what was she complaining about? Residents in PGH are really nice compared to those in some other hospitals. And even if they weren't nice, shouldn't you just accept the scolding, being one of the lowest creatures in the medical hierarchy? If she's feeling all superior, that she can't be scolded, then she's in the wrong profession! Such attitude has no place in a profession based on service. Besides, I don't think a PGH resident would just scold an intern or any student if he or she has no valid reason.

Then another guy, an obnoxious, annoying, attention seeking gay UP intern complained that residents ask interns to follow up labs, he'd rather spend the time observing patients, learning about patients, blah, blah, blah. yadda yadda yadda. What does he think he is, anyway, some paying spectator? An audience in a medical play? An intern is part of the hospital work force, and being one of the lowest in the hierarchy, often the most menial labor is given to them. Learning while doing all those work is his or her own responsibility. He or she should find the time to broaden his or her knowledge. The director's response was a classic. "Even at my old age, I still follow up the laboratory results of my patients. I still monitor them. How can you complain about those things so early in your medical career?". Again I looked at my fellow PGIs. Everyone was shaking their heads in disbelief. These interns studied in UP for crying out loud, they should exude humility, not pride, arrogance, and superiority. And most PGIs looked up to them during the start of internship. How can they behave like spoiled brats?

But you know what sucks the most? It's bad enough that the slacker image is branded on PGIs by some UP interns. It's worse when hospital administrators do this as well. A day after his meeting with all the interns, the hospital director met with the previous president of all interns. The hospital director told him, "The PGIs this year are too much! they do nothing but complain!"

Apparently the hospital director, who happens to be a UP Medicine Alumni, is blinded to the fact that there are a lot of slackers in his own brood.