medical student rule #6: beware if you decide to take someone else's word for it. for best results, look at it yourself.

PGY3-GEN SURG: this guy has abdominal pain. you didn't do a rectal exam?

MS3: the ER resident already did it. it's negative.

PGY3-GEN SURG: you actually trust these ER guys? hurry up and get the lube.

(no offense intended towards ER physicians. i'm only repeating what i overheard.)

(as an aside, remember that abdominal pain equals finger in the butt, especially in surgery. still, an ENT might look at you a little funny if you decide to rectalize their patients. but as an attending surgeon once said, there are only two contraindications for the rectal exam€€if the patient has no anus or if the examiner has no fingers. internists are less likely to distrust other people's exams. pediatricians have good reason to be against routinely sticking fingers up their patients' butts. i have no idea how psychiatrists feel. i think it would be amusing to find out.)

there was another rule that i wanted to expound, but i've forgotten it. i promise that someday i will stop talking about rectal exams. but probably not anytime soon.

oh. how about this one. medical student rule #7: while there may be long term consequences, answering "i don't know" will always get you out of a bind in the short term.