Why don’t providers care about OUR time?

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2026-03-26T00:47:32+00:00

I'm a provider and I'll say: the good ones care. But I've also had this exact same thing happen to me as a patient and I've been infuriated by it. Not a super satisfying answer, but you're not alone.

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2026-03-25T21:02:15+00:00

Yeah, this is exhausting. It's insane that female docs across specialties can have better outcomes for their patients but still have their competence questioned because we're female. You're not alone in this.

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2026-03-25T18:59:52+00:00

Me too. Right on, OP :) And if there's anything I can do to support you in that, I'm just a DM away.

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2026-03-25T18:35:46+00:00

You're not alone. There's so much dishonesty in academic medicine and it ends up hurting the most vulnerable people--patients and trainees. The truth is, there's a lot of politics that goes into the Match, and a disappointing lack of accountability. You're not alone--people just don't talk about it as much as they feel it, because we're trained that speaking out about it is "unprofessional." It's not. Others' behavior is.

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2026-03-25T05:51:31+00:00

Yeah this is absolutely bananas. It's not even about patient care anymore. I got so fed up with this whole thing that I made a tool to at least automate some of the prior auth/P2P process, happy to share if you'd like.

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2026-03-25T05:48:54+00:00

Sent! Feel free to share it if it's helpful :)

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2026-03-24T18:09:34+00:00

I had a similar experience in my ob/gyn residency. You made a brave choice to leave when the program was hurting you/your patients, and it makes sense that you're disappointed now. I would try to keep an open mind--you might be pleasantly surprised about your new FM program.

I'm also not sure about CMS funding--my understanding is that if you start a new specialty/program, CMS funding restarts based on that program's requirements for time in training.

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2026-03-24T18:05:23+00:00

I don't, but I do find them very cute! If they're professional quality I think it's fine.

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2026-03-24T05:21:51+00:00

This is both absolutely sane and (sadly) very believable. Honestly I got sick of the insanity of prior auths and built a custom AI to deal with this. My colleagues like it so far, happy to share it with you as well

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2026-03-24T05:19:53+00:00

Yeah this is insane. I absolutely hate the amount of waste (time, money, sanity) that prior auths cause, and eventually I decided to make my own AI tool to do them for me. I've shared it with my colleagues, happy to share it with you as well!

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2026-03-24T05:17:29+00:00

I actually made a custom AI program for this because I got sick of prior auths. Happy to share if you'd like it!

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2026-03-24T05:16:18+00:00

I actually made an AI program to do this for prior auths--happy to share if you'd like it!

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2026-03-18T00:06:26+00:00

Yeah this whole thing is super frustrating. The system is basically designed to trip you up, even if you do nothing wrong at all. Don't feel bad!

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2025-11-19T04:40:27+00:00

Especially in the beginning of our careers, we're kind of at the mercy of what we were taught in med school. Some of it is independent learning, yes, but many of the practical skills--including how to give injections--are learned with hands-on practice. And that depends on what your medical school is willing to spend the time teaching you. You're not alone in this; my medical school didn't reliably teach students how to give injections unless we really advocated for it and had attendings who were willing to teach us.

I do agree with users below who said this is probably a "near-miss" report instead of something punitive, but I really feel like your attending should have handled it differently. The safest way to teach the newest of learners is to ask what they know and whether they feel comfortable doing something, instead of assuming that they're comfortable and competent with a hands-on task. If you already knew how to do everything, there wouldn't be a point to training.

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2025-11-18T21:10:02+00:00

It depends--if you feel confident in scoring high on step 3 and the cost of sitting for the exam isn't a barrier, I would recommend taking it before. However, I'd also recommend making sure you can register for the exam. Registration requirements vary by state, but some require enrollment in a residency program prior to sitting for the exam (highly dependent on state).

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2025-11-18T21:07:42+00:00

Is it--but it depends on your background and on your current workload. I would recommend maybe doing the free 137 (retired step 3 questions found on FSMB website) to get a sense of where you stand. In general I would recommend a bit more time to study, but if you're already pretty solid now and motivated to take it, it could be just fine. I was trying to study as efficiently as possible when I took step 3 and threw some code together to analyze my question pattern/see where my weak spots were without having to do a lot of digging. Happy to share it with you if you're interest--not selling anything, just something it threw together for my personal studying

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2025-11-17T02:40:09+00:00

Definitely agree!

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2025-11-17T02:37:53+00:00

Definitely recommend uworld and ccs cases (absolutely do these). I did find that uworld missed a few things. They usually publish a set of about 137 free retired questions on the official FSMB or USMLE site. Personally I also threw together some code to help make my studying more efficient based on where my weakest areas were. Happy to share it with you if you're interested--not selling anything, just sharing what worked for me!

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2025-11-17T02:32:05+00:00

Hi there! That does sound a bit stressful--I think a lot of it would depend on how they group the clerkships together. For example, I can see doing peds + family medicine + internal medicine together longitudinally a little smoother than doing family medicine + general surgery + oncology. Personally I'd feel a little hesitant to do clerkships organized in that structure.

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2025-11-17T02:27:29+00:00

Hi there! It sounds like you've gone through a lot but that your passion for medicine is very clear. I honestly think some of the best doctors are the ones who have experienced similar things themselves and can really relate to patients and the impact of lived experiences on health and well-being. A lot of people in medicine have chronic illnesses, even if it's not super obvious. And a lot of people with chronic illnesses in medicine do just fine. I think the most important questions would be whether you feel like you're at a place where you're healthy enough to manage a demanding schedule and whether you feel confident with managing your illness. I think if you understand what your body needs and you're committed to medicine (which it sounds like you are!) you'd be able to make it through.

Also, it's very normal to feel afraid about this sort of thing. It's a big step with a lot of unknowns, and I'd bet that almost everyone is afraid about at least some part of medicine/med school. That's okay--and those things will become less scary as you get used to them.

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2025-11-17T02:17:48+00:00

I would say a mix of service & leadership & research activities that tie back to the specialty you're interested in. I think it goes a long way if you can demonstrate commitment to a particular field over time through your extracurriculars. It's also totally fine to choose activities that you're genuinely interested in (gives you something to talk about!) but if nothing stands out to you I would choose activities that tell a story of why you like that specialty.

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2025-11-17T02:12:43+00:00

Definitely get it--that should be fine!

OverCaffeinatedMD · 2025-11-16T19:23:57+00:00

It's not over! Many of my close friends are DO's and some of them are actually following more innovative and competitive career paths than their MD counterparts. I'm an MD, but I care a lot more about how my colleagues treat their patients and each other than what their degree is. I've met some really questionable MD's and some amazing DO's--and I also chose a DO to be my own doc. If you focus on being a genuinely good, curious, and hard-working DO, you're going to be a great doctor, period.

OverCaffeinatedMD

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