At UCSF, clerkships begin the onset of formal grading. Many of us, reverting to lifelong habit, focused our anxieties in terms of getting good evaluations, which are seen as the key to reaching career goals. While a solid fund of knowledge is usually the first item on the evaluation scorecard, I maintain that emotional intelligence may ultimately play an equal or greater part in your evaluations as your strict competence or knowledge. Some students may be completely oblivious to this reality, to their peril.

By “emotional intelligence,” I mean things like your adaptability, maturity, sense of humor, professionalism, and ability to get along with others. Such factors are also part of your “scorecard” – however, they have a stronger global influence on your evaluators than other single characteristics.

Take, for example, my comments about carrying a peripheral brain. Although I'm not a slouch in the fund of knowledge department, I am usually pretty spazzy when pimped and often come off a little clueless. However, the fact that I carried a peripheral brain showed a professionalism that prejudiced my superiors in my favor. As a result, I think they often “upgraded” my “fund-of-knowledge” score, despite the fact that my knowledge base may have been pretty average. This is an example of how professionalism can positively impact other characteristics of your performance.

The following comments are intended to help you be ready for the environment of the wards and clinics so that you can demonstrate professionalism, even under duress.