Rebuttal: Toil and trouble?: Should residents be allowed to moonlight?

As a 4th year medical student at the University of Ottawa, I find that the argument of Dr Meterissian unconvincing.

If moonlighting is not supervised, does that mean it is not educational? I strongly believe that students and residents learn a lot just by having a chance to experience and learn from their mistakes and by being alone. Then, when they return to their books, they are aware of what knowledge they need to be able to treat their patients properly, rather than simply relying on feedback from preceptors.

What does it mean to say that a certain percentage of residents would not get treated by a fellow colleague? Not much. Why? Because they would have worked together in the first year of residency. They have seen each other at the point where their knowledge was probably the lowest in their careers regarding this area of study. Surely, this must play a role when answering such a question.

I wonder what year of residents were asked this question. If in the first year, well, I guess we would all answer no, but later as our knowledge expanded and we had the proper training, I would say that most of us would let our colleague treat us.

Bottom line, our generation of medical students and residents are self-learners. Feedback from our preceptors is not needed, but acts as a bonus to our learning.