What some doctors really expect

[Bob Eisenman]

What some doctors really expect.

Back around 2000 I was tech'ing for someone with an MD and PhD. Despite what many people think, the research science budgets are really tight and often are graded in relative importance (competitive grant score) by reviewers of who fund them.

My boss was coauthoring a grant which used the now infamous phrase 'high throughput' of sample processing. In the grant I was unusually scripted as grant sub contract labor to others mentioned in the grant. The grant described my sole function to the group as a maker of BAC (bacterial artificial chromosome) DNA for use as FISH (fluorescence in situ hybridization) probes and 'Southern blots' of restriction endonuclease genomic DNA digests from patient cell cultures grown off site by another grant participant.  Sure , the Korenberg method of BAC DNA , was used on occasion in the lab and the two electrophoresis gel boxes existed for making BLOT gels.
The grant mentioned five or so other trainees who would request these services.
Initially the BAC protocol I used was deemed to be much too slow and another grant co-writers modification was adapted for higher throughput of samples. In time this modification of BAC preparation was substituted with a totally different method of genomic DNA preparation based on (viral polymerase) isothermal amplification of micro liter amounts of lysed BAC culture.  Tens to a hundred of BAC like preps (2000 over a long period of time) were done in a week to everyone's satisfaction.
The labs two gel boxes could produce two to four Southern blots per week , a rate which could hardly keep pace with five requestors asking for up to 6 blots each per request with special ordering of restriction endonucleases (RE) required for each investigator ($50 per RE) and a half dozen RE per request.
At one meeting the head grant author asked me directly...'why does it take a month to make a BLOT?' I responded that it takes a week to make a BLOT(when all materials were in place) in the lab but the backorder, RE purchasing and limited facilities caused the delay. Her next question was....'is there any reason why you can't work on weekends?' 
If you have ever been in the Harvard Medical research area on the weekend it's pretty desolate. In addition, at the time, I was paying out $7000 per month (estate funds) as guardian for a family member in a nursing home (deceased 2003).
The multi year experience left me somewhat drained and after the lab where I worked was 'decommissioned' my boss flatly declared that she made the blots (after all she administered the grant while I did the pipetting).

And that is what some doctors expect in the workplace.

[LanghamP]

I've worked in hospitals as an IT person (so I get the dirty scoop on various reports and raw data) and what you're describing is more of a female doctor problem than a doctor problem. We get complaints about female doctors all the time, and I estimate their attendence to be three times worse than male doctors.

Female doctors with children are simply limited in the number of hours they can work, and so they have a strong tendency to take credit for their underlings (like you). We can sorta make them look good by having them sleep over in our hospitals and that way they can meet their hours.

Our records go back for decades (partial data back for 80 years, good data for more than 30) and the data is very clear; for the two years after a female doctor has a child, her attendence is minimal, and forever after she is essentially a part-timer. For male doctors who have a child, they become workaholics; administrators know full well that these doctors are the most motivated and work the hardest of all.

If you want to be cruel to an intern/research assistant, then you

--Assign them to a female doctor.

--Who has a young kid.

--In a half completed project funded by a research grant.

I don't know your situation but I'd guess your doctor falls into this type. New doctor-mothers are absolutely ruthless in taking all credit, so much so it's become a cliche.

[Bob Eisenman]

Pro choice environment....genetic counseling....a dominant South Korean born male with a slew of breakthrough techniques from Max Planck (for all to use) and a daughter attending my alma mater ....a computer savvy male gynecologist with eyes on 'next generation' whole genome sequencing when NGS was a new thought and with a family in the suburbs and interests in trainees from US schools who originate from as far away as South America and Kyrgyzstan and India.

Editor of prestigious journals seems to be one post grant career path.

[Dingfelder]

13 hours ago, LanghamP said:

I've worked in hospitals as an IT person (so I get the dirty scoop on various reports and raw data) and what you're describing is more of a female doctor problem than a doctor problem. We get complaints about female doctors all the time, and I estimate their attendence to be three times worse than male doctors.

Female doctors with children are simply limited in the number of hours they can work, and so they have a strong tendency to take credit for their underlings (like you). We can sorta make them look good by having them sleep over in our hospitals and that way they can meet their hours.

Our records go back for decades (partial data back for 80 years, good data for more than 30) and the data is very clear; for the two years after a female doctor has a child, her attendence is minimal, and forever after she is essentially a part-timer. For male doctors who have a child, they become workaholics; administrators know full well that these doctors are the most motivated and work the hardest of all.

If you want to be cruel to an intern/research assistant, then you

--Assign them to a female doctor.

--Who has a young kid.

--In a half completed project funded by a research grant.

I don't know your situation but I'd guess your doctor falls into this type. New doctor-mothers are absolutely ruthless in taking all credit, so much so it's become a cliche.

LOL nice to see some truth-telling in this truth-phobic world.  Same thing in law and many other fields.