Help! Did something stupid on medical placement

You aren't going to get excluded over this. Think about it this way: they have spent 5 years of education on you becoming a doctor, and all that money. No one wants to chuck you out at this point unless you've had a lot of priors or other issues

I've twice had the issue of my attendance been brought up and both times med school was more concerned that nothing bad was going on in my life rather than the attendance itself. They had a little chat with me and sent me on my way.

Lying is a little more serious than non attendance so I'm not sure what they'll do, but I would be surprised if there are any long-term or serious consequences

My advice would be to not make excuses (and certainly not lie any more!), and explain that it was a serious lapse in judgement, you are extremely sorry, and it won't happen again

Good luck, let us know how it goes

Hi everyone
This is my first thread so would really appreciate some advice

Im currently a 5th year medical student and on placement. I have passed my finals so really happy about that but whilst on placement recently i did something really stupid and unprofessional.

I was supposed to go in one day but didnt and lied to my supervisor saying i went in. Anyway, he found out i lied about coming in, he now will not sign me off (understandably) and has said he will inform the medical school about my dishonesty.

I know its so silly of me to have lied and of course unprofessional but beyond upset now about having done this and extremely anxious about whats going to happen. If they exclude me for this as my conduct comes into question i dont know what i will do.

Any advice/help is appreciated.

Thanks for reading. 😔

Everyone makes mistakes, IMO it's not a FTP issue as long as you come clean explain that it was just a complete error and won't happen again. You will get a good disapproving stare and stern word for the lying but that's to be expected with probity etc.

Hi everyone
This is my first thread so would really appreciate some advice

Im currently a 5th year medical student and on placement. I have passed my finals so really happy about that but whilst on placement recently i did something really stupid and unprofessional.

I was supposed to go in one day but didnt and lied to my supervisor saying i went in. Anyway, he found out i lied about coming in, he now will not sign me off (understandably) and has said he will inform the medical school about my dishonesty.

I know its so silly of me to have lied and of course unprofessional but beyond upset now about having done this and extremely anxious about whats going to happen. If they exclude me for this as my conduct comes into question i dont know what i will do.

Any advice/help is appreciated.

Thanks for reading. 😔

Disappointing thread.

They'll look at you with a scowl, nothing more.

Disappointing thread.

They'll look at you with a scowl, nothing more.

I gather some medical schools may take longer and more formal looking processes to arrive to similar conclusions compared to our med school.

Everyone makes mistakes, IMO it's not a FTP issue as long as you come clean explain that it was just a complete error and won't happen again. You will get a good disapproving stare and stern word for the lying but that's to be expected with probity etc.

I like to think of it as could anyone have been harmed due to your error of judgement. If yes, then the consequences are more serious. But with you not showing up I seriously doubt anyone could've been harmed. Therefore for them it's just about making sure you aren't going to do it again/there was no problem you were/are having that caused you to do it.

Relax and congrats on finals.

It's quite a bold statement to make that lying to a supervising consultant is not an FTP issue. He/she clearly thinks so as there would otherwise not be any point in contacting the medical school. It could easily be dealt with as an FTP issue, in which case I would have thought the most likely outcome was a warning as there has clearly been misconduct (i.e. dishonesty) but that's unlikely to be enough to impair the OP's fitness to practice.

If this supervisor does contact the medical school then I would suggest coming clean, cooperating fully with whatever process they consider to be appropriate, and showing appropriate remorse/retrospection. It might lead to nothing and a warning will also fade into the background over time. Just don't do anything to make the situation worse, e.g. any further dishonesty to cover your tracks!

Of course you are anxious about the consequences of this - but it's impossible for us to say what action your Medical School may take. If this really is an isolated incident, it's unlikely that they'll write off five years' worth of expensive training, thought the concern they're likely to have is not so much that you didn't turn up when you were expected, but that you lied about it.

I'd suggest that you get in touch with someone from the Students Union at your university for support and advice. You need to be totally honest with yourself and others about why you didn't turn up that day, and why you lied about not turning up. Have you had any further conversations with your Supervisor? Do you know for sure what action he proposes to take, and what has he told you about what will happen next?

Disappointing thread.

They'll look at you with a scowl, nothing more.

The best thing you can do is sincerely apologise to the person you lied to so they understand you know what you did was wrong and might be more lenient and less mad, and then just get through the scolding. It's going to suck but I imagine it will probably just be a warning since you haven't done anything like this before.

The sooner it's over the sooner you will be able to move on and prove yourself again. Just hang in there! x

I would also say that the medical school could take a pretty dim view on lying to a consultant about attendance.

I certainly certainly don't think you'd get kicked out for that, but there may be some sort of disciplinary consequences? Or perhaps they'll let you off. Obviously I have no way of knowing.

Saying sorry, showing remorse etc, is the right approach to take, in my view.

Hi minerva
Ive not had any incidents around conduct just attendance issues this year on one placement but im making time up for that in june before graduation, i took your advice and have an appointment to see a counsellor at student union this week for further support/guidance, i spoke to my supervisor twice now and apologised profusely about the lying, he said hopefully the medical school won't be too severe but also that he doesnt know how they will respond, but i know for definite he will inform them, i think he probably told them last week so just waiting to hear from med school now

Thanks for your input