How to Make the Most of It

The clinical training part of medical school means you finally get to put all the book learning, lectures, laboratories, and other preliminary lessons into practice. But it’s more than just the application of recently acquired knowledge.

Rotations not only give you a chance to develop skills and care directly for patients but also offer a look into your future.

“This time is important because you need to understand what the day-to-day life of a physician is actually like,” said Michelle Sweet, MD, assistant dean of M4 Year Curriculum at Rush Medical College in Chicago. “There are many career options, and each one looks different depending on the specialty. Clinical training allows students to see what daily life is like for different physicians across various specialties. This experience is essential in helping them decide what they want their future careers to look like.”

For this article, we talked with a mix of medical school instructors, deans, and students about how to make the most of your clinical time so that you’re positioned well for Match Day and what comes after.

It’s About to Get Real

The move from classroom to clinic can be a profound journey that offers you a new and meaningful perspective on the work you’ve done to get here and on what lies ahead.

“The power of clinical training for medical students not only shapes and reaffirms their belief in the practice of medicine but also provides a psychological shift where students start to see themselves as clinicians in training,” said Jeremy Laukka, PhD, senior associate dean for Undergraduate Medical Education at the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, Toledo, Ohio. “A robust clinical training experience is where medicine stops being theoretical and starts being real. It’s the crucible where future physicians are forged, and their purpose matures.”

An illness or injury described in a textbook can suddenly become more complicated to understand when it is experienced by a real patient, said Bill Cutrer, MD, associate vice president for Educational Affairs at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.

“One critical, though sometimes challenging, connection for learners is the ability to apply knowledge acquired in the classroom setting to an actual patient’s clinical condition,” he said. “This connection is essential for the learner to move from a collector of disconnected facts and ideas to a deep network of conceptual understanding that is useful for understanding patient problems and seeking solutions.”

Attitude Is Everything

Your mental approach to clinical training can make as much of a difference in what you get out of it as the skills you acquire in diagnosing and treating patients, said Julia Cormano, MD, assistant dean for Clinical Curriculum at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

“Students who approach clinical training with curiosity, resilience, preparation, humility, and self-reflection are the most likely to thrive,” Cormano said. “The learning curve is steep — just as students start to feel comfortable on a given service, they rotate off and must start over again on a new service. Students who put patient care at the core of their training will excel.”

Abigail Hardy, a fourth-year student at Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, agreed that staying curious is key.

“Third-year rotations can feel hectic at times when the subject you are learning varies so widely from month to month,” she said. “I tried to go into every rotation with an open mind and sense of excitement as to how this part of medicine could apply to my future career. I found that I learned things much more effectively when I was able to do this. If nothing else, your rotation that month may be the only time you get to interact with that field so closely. Try to keep this in mind if you’re having a difficult block.”

Hardy’s classmate Jordanna Payne added that she started her clinical time with specific goals in mind.

“Initially I wanted to focus on getting comfortable in the hospital and thinking about how the data I was seeing every day on rounds correlated to the patients I was taking care of,” she said. “I initially really focused on developing my physical exam skills. I think third year is such a good time to just get as much exposure to things like lung and heart sounds as you can on a real patient, and then when things are abnormal, you’ll have a broader base to begin to compare to.”

You Can Learn From Everyone

Some of the most valuable lessons you’ll learn during this time will come from individuals other than physicians. This includes nurses and other members of the patient care team, as well as the patients themselves.

“Patients provide information that’s both relevant and irrelevant, and it’s the student’s responsibility to sift through the noise to make a diagnosis and a subsequent treatment plan,” Sweet explained. “Students can get the most out of clinical training by viewing each patient as a teacher. There’s a lot to be learned from every patient on the team.”

She recommended students continue to reflect on what they’re learning. “Ask: ‘What would I do in this situation?’ Learning isn’t just about acquiring knowledge. It’s about learning how to communicate with teams and patients, how to lead, how to educate, and how to advocate,” Sweet said.

Andrea Wendling, MD, senior associate dean for Academic Affairs at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Grand Rapids, Michigan, advised students to consider this phase of medical school a privilege and an opportunity to learn valuable life lessons, not just clinical skills.

“In my office, patients routinely invite students to witness and participate in very meaningful encounters, during which they share their stories and patiently allow students to critically think through diagnoses and treatment plans,” she said.

“Students will get the most from these experiences if they value the human aspect of the opportunity — pay attention to the patient’s story, acknowledge and honor the privilege of being a learner in such a situation, and actively practice decision-making with every encounter, so that when you are responsible for a person’s care, you will be ready.”

Cutrer reminded students that they will usually remember encounters with patients long after they’ve crammed to memorize facts for a test.

Own Your Mistakes, Admit When You’re Stumped

Part of learning to be a professional and developing a reputation as a leader also means admitting when you’re wrong or when you don’t know something. Faking it won’t get you very far, and it could lead to serious problems for you and your patients.

“Students should remember that everyone on the team is always learning,” Sweet said. “Being honest and open about mistakes and using them as opportunities for growth is far more important than trying to impress the team.”

Payne added that asking questions shouldn’t be viewed as a gap in knowledge, but rather as a desire to learn more.

“Don’t be afraid to say, ‘I don’t know,’” she advised. “Be honest and show up willing to learn. Most people choose to be at teaching hospital because they want to teach. This is such an exciting time where you’ll get to see what so many different specialties are like, and it might be both the first and the last time you do something.”