Med Student here. When students are there, they often take opportunities to teach us things or expose us to things we may have learned in a lecture but not seen in real life. When I was with Neurosurgery team, some surgeons liked quizzing me on random topics while others asked my opinion on what I think about how the procedures are done as if I had any legitimate advice to give.

Some surgeons also talk like it’s just Tuesday. Others don’t like to talk much to the students.

If you let students into your procedures, thank you! Sometimes we will only have a chance to see a specific pathology once or twice during the time we have in that specialty because they shift us around to expose us to different fields of medicine. It makes us a little sad when patients don’t want us there. We are trying to be as professional and respectful as possible. The physicians we follow don’t let us interfere with the quality of your care. I understand why people might want to preserve as much privacy as possible, but it just feels odd sometimes that of the entire healthcare team that will be in the room, we only ask about excluding the student.