New group of residents and grades

Sunday I was on long call and it was my last day / night with my residents. Today we got a new group who I will be with for the next 4 weeks. It is always interesting and challenging to figure out how he different residents work, what they like and what they hate. They are my boss so until I figure them out it can be a little tense. For example, you may have 1 resident who wants you to write up a patient and present a patient in a specific way and you get used to doing it their way, then another resident may be completely annoyed by this method and get all over your case for the  charting / presenting method that the other resident wants you to do. You have to be flexible and able to adapt to keep both residents happy. I am working with 3 residents and I am sure they want things done in their own special way. Once I figure their individual likes and dislikes I am pretty good and keep everyone happy. 

My main job is to make my residents look good and do their job better. So many medical students are completely clueless with how to go about doing this and furthermore they are annoyed and feel that they are above this task. They are forced to learn the hard way when they get poor reviews despite their good clinical knowledge. It is just like life where it is about keeping those around you happy, whether it is your spouse or your boss or the cop that pulls you over for speeding. If you can keep these people genuinely happy you do well and your life ends up being being happy and you have less problems.

The grades from 3rd year are arguably the most important aspect of getting you a good residency. The grades are based largely upon your evaluations that you get from the residents and attending physicians that you work with. Many med students who do very well (all A's) during their first 2 years of basic science are frustrated with their poor performance during 3rd year. The grading is subjective unlike the objective grading of the first 2 years. I have always been a fan of the subjective grading and tend to do well where you are graded based on how people like you. When you are applying for residency the resident directors realize that they are going to have to deal with you for the next 3 - 6 years and they want someone that is easy to get along with and someone who works hard. Many residency directors have said that they would take a student with stellar 3rd year grades / evaluations and poor to mediocre clinical science grades over someone who has mediocre 3rd year evaluations but straight A's and great grades test scores from their clinical science years. The perfect candidate would excel in both areas but interestingly enough those that do really well the first 2 years do not do as well during their 3rd and 4th years and often a mediocre student in the clinical sciences will excel 3rd and 4th year.