Starting as a doctor, scared shtless :-(

[studentdoc]

So instead of celebrating completion of medical school, I have this black cloud over me that is driving me ING insane. The next phase of my training consists of residency where I will be deprived of sleep for 30 hours, and then placed in front of a panel of medical students, residents, and physicians who are grading us on a presentation of an "interesting patient" the previous night that we worked at the hospital. This is after 30 hours of straight work. And being analyzed by physicians. And you don't just present. They ask questions left and right, interrupt you and ask "why did you do that?" .. "Why did you order that lab"... and you gotta maintain fluency during this? I would have problems if I didn't stutter, this is going to in kill. I hate, hate, hate what's coming... sorry I had to vent :(

[grantM]

What a great challenge you know face to help you with your dream career. Keep focused and i am sure you will do fine.

[Thecoherentman]

Studentdoc, I suggest that at your presentation you pretend that you are a sever stutterer and do not relent, e.g stutter on every word and do not use any instantaneous fluency to rush a few words out. Use the stuttering delays to think carefully on the questions and provide clear answers.
This is like a stutterer who pretend to be a potentially fluent guys to his friends and acquaintances and further plays the role of a sever stutterer at the official meetings. There was a movie that a woman was pretending to be a man and acting as a woman in a play. I forgot what was the name of the movie

[Thecoherentman]

One more thing, When you stutter on every word make sure that all see your lips and mouth and if they are lip readers they must be able to read the stutterning words from your lips without using their ears. You will be surprise that after 2-3 minutes of speaking like this you feel the ability to speak without any block. Yet, do not relent and continue stutter, however in an easy way and put your audience at ease. DO NOT USE The FLUENCY THAT YOU GAIN.

[nik037]

So instead of celebrating completion of medical school, I have this black cloud over me that is driving me ING insane. The next phase of my training consists of residency where I will be deprived of sleep for 30 hours, and then placed in front of a panel of medical students, residents, and physicians who are grading us on a presentation of an "interesting patient" the previous night that we worked at the hospital. This is after 30 hours of straight work. And being analyzed by physicians. And you don't just present. They ask questions left and right, interrupt you and ask "why did you do that?" .. "Why did you order that lab"... and you gotta maintain fluency during this? I would have problems if I didn't stutter, this is going to in kill. I hate, hate, hate what's coming... sorry I had to vent :(

congrats on an amazing accomplish. I totally know how you feel...All my life I tried very hard to achieve a lot in order to take focus off of my stutter. I went to business school, where I was judged/compared against my peers. I have found though that in the real world once I know I have to do something- u just do it. The more you get used to your new career, the easier it will be bc you will get more confident with every fluency period that you have. Try not to focus 100% on stuttering and instead be PROUD of what you have done!!! GREAT JOB!

[Jaykon]

So instead of celebrating completion of medical school, I have this black cloud over me that is driving me ING insane. The next phase of my training consists of residency where I will be deprived of sleep for 30 hours, and then placed in front of a panel of medical students, residents, and physicians who are grading us on a presentation of an "interesting patient" the previous night that we worked at the hospital. This is after 30 hours of straight work. And being analyzed by physicians. And you don't just present. They ask questions left and right, interrupt you and ask "why did you do that?" .. "Why did you order that lab"... and you gotta maintain fluency during this? I would have problems if I didn't stutter, this is going to in kill. I hate, hate, hate what's coming... sorry I had to vent :(

hang in there man. when its all said and done you'll come out stronger~

[emily445455]

Just do your best...that's all you can do. Make your knowledge on the topics shine through your stuttering...if they are smart, they will see it.

[JohanZombie]

I think we all can understand the anxiety in your situation, and I think you have the most of ours fully support.

So you have a hard situation in front of you. Is there anyway you could make this situation a little less hard for yourself? I think there are, and know you just have to find out how you could reduce the anxiety of all this. Maybe not eliminate it but reduce it, if not much then maybe just a little bit.

I study law and I know the anxiety before an oral presentation. For me its like the last 24 hours before, I'm kind of stressed out and think very narrowminded. I really think that some true mental training could help you out here. I dont know what works for you (I barely know what works for myself) but maybe you should just take some time for yourself before the presentation to relax and just feel very proud of all the good things you have acomplished so far. Try do dig and find the feeling that says that you are allright, no matter what. I've recently start trying to meditate regelary and I've noticed some good stuff with that. Maybe that would help you out a little do feel more calm.

I think that you are gonna do really well on your presentation no matter what though. You know we often dread stuff and when its all said and done we find ourself pretty happy and feel "Hey, that turned out pretty good after all".

Good luck man, and remember to try to feel calm and proud of everything you have done and all the things that have turned out allright in your life.

[takinyede]

May I suggest you tell them you stutter before answering the first question. That way you relax and they don't think you are mentally ill if your answers seems uncoordinated.

[grantM]

Hey I know from research that there are many people with mental illnesses in this world who can speak very fluently and coherently. I do not think stuttering will allude to that fact. You have obviously earnt the right to be where you are now and I am sure the panel will be aware of that also and most likely would have met a stutterer before. I doubt you stutter will be of minor if any concern to them.

[Penelope]

First of all, congratulations on successfully finishing medical school. It's an achievement many will be dreaming of and it is important that you give yourself the credit you deserve for getting this far.

Giving feedback at the end of your shift will be an important focus of your new job, but it is just one part, and what you have done over the course of the shift is ultimately more important. During the presentation itself, it is what you say that counts more than how you say it.

I suggest that you let the people assessing you know that you do stutter and so if you take a bit longer to say what needs to be said, it's not because you are stalling or being indecisive. It seems most people , stutter more than normal when they are tired, so if you are the same, make sure you communicate that as well. I agree with the recommendation of some voluntary stuttering, and if you throw a bit in of it towards the beginning of your presentation when you know exactly what you want to say, and before anyone tries to ask you the nasty questions, you are under less pressure to answer them instantly.

I would also suggest that during the course of your shifts you talk about stuttering to other members of staff to increase their general awareness whenever you think it is appropriate. Your new job will be stressful regardless, but don't forget that you will be working with health-care professionals who I would hope would be understanding of your situation if they get the right information.

[FreetoSpeak]

Hey! I am in my late 40s and have tried all sorts of things to get through interviews and presentations. I just went through some interviewing for a job. What I did was:

A) get into the room beforehand and see what the acoustics were like, to see how my sound would reverberate (to get used to the room). Also practiced how I might move around the room/where I might stand/etc.

B) Then in the interview I did 3 things:

1) at the very start, very directly stated "As you can see, I have a stutter. If there is anything you do not understand, please stop me and ask me to repeat. I'll do my best. I have absolutely no shame around this as I have stuttered my whole life and understand that people sometimes are not able to understand me" (this seemed to put my interviewers at ease, so it levelled the field)

2) a trick I heard from other presenters who don't stutter. Imagine the people you are talking to are sitting there stark ! lol. Now, you may laugh, but it was very hard to be anxious about the two people who were interviewing me.

3) Rather than presenting directly to them, I had access to a whiteboard, so began making diagrams to help explain. This helped create a three-point dialogue between you the questioners and the whiteboard (a problem-solving session), rather than a two-point (them-vs-you) dynamic. Note: I practiced using the whiteboard when I was able to get in the room beforehand.

Hope these suggestions help!

Cheers!

[Corinkie]

First off, I must say congrats on not letting your stutter hold you back from med school. I want to go to Law school but just can't picture a stuttering lawyer. Anyway, I don't know how severe your stutter is, but you might want to level with them at to beginning just to make them aware. Also, what I do before an interview is talk alot. Make lots of phone call and just talk so your confidence can build before u get there. Good luck! By the way, we both live in Miami :)

[Yelena]

Dear doctor in making,

I was in your shoes just 9 years ago. Now I am teaching other medical students and interns and residents on how to present cases and how to talk to patients.

Just a few words of advise. Do not get defensive about your stutter. Be nice and friendly and helpful to you collegues. Try to think of your residency as the most challenging and at the same time life altering experience for you (same goes for your non-stuttering co-interns as well). Have fun with it, does not matter how difficult or frustrating it will become at times.

You will do great,

Yelena

[fearfactory]

So instead of celebrating completion of medical school, I have this black cloud over me that is driving me ING insane. The next phase of my training consists of residency where I will be deprived of sleep for 30 hours, and then placed in front of a panel of medical students, residents, and physicians who are grading us on a presentation of an "interesting patient" the previous night that we worked at the hospital. This is after 30 hours of straight work. And being analyzed by physicians. And you don't just present. They ask questions left and right, interrupt you and ask "why did you do that?" .. "Why did you order that lab"... and you gotta maintain fluency during this? I would have problems if I didn't stutter, this is going to in kill. I hate, hate, hate what's coming... sorry I had to vent :(

i exactly know what you feel..ive just finished nursing this year..ive been into a lot of presentations, reporting, recitations and obviously.. these are all stressful and what we stutterers dread.. so what i did.. i just anticipate all the questions and memorize the answers..becoz i observe..when i do memorize things that am gonna say.. am atleast 90% fluent..promise.. and am always successful doing that..thnk God..

though am done with nursing..iknow this isnt the end.. but rather just the beginning..becoz we need to have a good communication skill towards our colleague and patients..anyway.. i know tons of effort are needed just to overcome those strssful sit in the future..but life goes on.. though am from Asia.. am hoping for this wonder drug Pagoclone..i know its a big help..goodluck to you mate.. you can do it..as long as you are able to express and say what you wanna say in shorts words..that would be fine.. just make your explanation concise..

[kanon]

First of all congratulations on being a doctor. For certain the road to finishing med school is a very rugged one and I applaud that you finished it. Finishing that hurdle even with your stuttering is something to be very proud of. There are tons of non stuttering individuals out there who cant finish medicine, let alone try it because of fear. But you, finished it. Congratulations.

As long as you are able to deliver the job well, it's ok right? Hawkins has a very terrible disease yet universities are very eager to hire him. Why? Because he contains more substance that everyone else. You are a doctor and your job will be to treat people. As long as you are able to do that, which I am quite sure you can, people will be happy and when people are happy I dont think your peers have anything to say :)

[studentdoc]

You are ALL so wonderful and I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for the nice support and your advice. I appreciate it all and will implement everything you've all said and get through this. Thank you again.

Yelena, do you think you can share some of the things you've shared with your interns/residents? You can PM me if it's medicine specific; I'm sure it'll help!

[FreetoSpeak]

Studentdoc...let me tell you another story. I do whitewater kayaking, and once got an opportunity to teach Level 1. Even with a stutter.

One weekend I was teaching alongside buddies who were members of our National/Olympic team. We had one kid who had a disorder that made his limbs contorted. NONE of the fully "able" bodied people were successful, but I taught him to roll the kayak. Me! I was so happy to see the smile on that kid's face. I believe I was successful because I could read this young man's body language AND show immense patience. I could get 'in his shoes.' My Chief Instructor trusted me to teach well.

studentdoc, I am so happy your future patients will have you as their physician. You, of all people, will know the value of patience to diagnosis. Blessings and best wishes.

FreetoSpeak

[jakester]

studentdoc you've made it through med school. Clearly you're a very intelligent, capable and hard working person. You will do well in this stage of life just as you have done well in the past. Keep confident--there's a great many folk who would give about anything to trade places with you!

[dkroner]

Dear doctor in making,

I was in your shoes just 9 years ago. Now I am teaching other medical students and interns and residents on how to present cases and how to talk to patients.

Just a few words of advise. Do not get defensive about your stutter. Be nice and friendly and helpful to you collegues. Try to think of your residency as the most challenging and at the same time life altering experience for you (same goes for your non-stuttering co-interns as well). Have fun with it, does not matter how difficult or frustrating it will become at times.

You will do great,

Yelena


That is a pretty amazing feat Yelena. I have a lot of respect for your ability to mentally overcome your stutter, which I believe is the hardest part. I think once you dissociate stuttering from shame, the anxiety will decrease and the stutter along with it.

I'm currently in my 2nd year of dental school, and have noticed there's an assistant professor with a stutter (which he controls very well) in one of my lab classes that occasionally gives lectures. I have a presentation coming up very soon, and am obviously very anxious. Even to the point of starting a regimen of clonazepam. I am thinking about going to him and asking for speaking advice, I just hope that I don't come off offensive or cause him any embarrassment.

Good luck with your teaching career,
David

[Nemo]

Another doctor who stutters or stuttered is Dr Grady L. Carter. He co-wrote a book about how he manages his stutter, you may find it of value. If you google him I'm sure you'll find the details. Good luck!