Should Carter ever have a med student again? His record with med students isn't that good. Henry didn't give a crap about the patients and just wanted Carter to pass him. I forgot the name of the his next student who got sick all the time from seeing blood. I'm guessing he ended up leaving med school because we never heard anything about him again. And then there was Lucy. He did a very good job with her IMO even though he was mean to her at times and we all know what happened from that. I think he should be given a chance to have another med student. I think he will learn from the past and be a better teacher. Plus he takes things more seriously than Dave does. I don't think that he should have a med student this season because of all he's been through lately. But eventually he should. What do you think?

-- Cammie (rmaelhorn@home.com), August 09, 2000

Answers

As a fourth year resident (and possibly Chief if he doesn't totally blow it) he probably won't be directly supervising a student. And as an attending, he certainly won't. That's a residents job. I think it's part of the training. Remember: "See one, do one, teach one."

-- S. Trelles (trelles@ix.netcom.com), August 09, 2000.

Carter is a senior resident. Not only will he have med students he supervises, but also residents/intern who are junior to him to supervise.He has done a good job for the most part with the people he has been given. Carter should be in his final year of residency. As such he will and should continue to supervise students/residents as he has in the past. I thought Carter did a good job with abby this past season. Carter has done a good job overall with students given the ones he has been given .I thought Carter has shown that he his very capable of running things. I'm sure Carter once he has recovered enough will learn from his past actions and become a better dr. and teacher. I think it could be detrimental in the long run if he was not allowed to do things that other senior residents were required to do. It could make him lose confidence in his abilities. Carter is a very serious, hard working , competent Doctor. They should do everything they can to encourage carter to be that way. I think once he has been back a few weeks or months and shown that he is ready , he should be able and encoraged to perform his duties that all DRs in their final year of residency do. Treating Carter like a baby or an inferior dr. is not the way to do so. Quite framkly , not letting him do thinks like supervising medical student/ interns/junior resident or treating patients on his own will hinder Carter's recovery. I think they should be supportive and help Carter in any way they can, but treating him differently from other senior residents job wise is not the answer. Carter will have no future at county if he his not doing the job required of him next season. He won't become either and attending or fellow for season eight.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), August 09, 2000.

Brenda, I totally agree with you but I thought Abby was Dave's student. Remember in SSS kerri tells Dave to keep an eye on his student and then asks where she (Abby) is?

-- Cammie (rmaelhorn@home.com), August 09, 2000.

Abby may have been Dave's student for that one day. We have seen Abby be supervised by Mark, Kerry, Carter, Luka, and Dave. We have seen Abby be supervised more by Carter than Dave. Carter has done a better job of it too. It really has not been clear who is Abby's assigned resident. It does not really matter. When Benton was Carter's assigned resident we saw other residents/attendings such as Mark, Susan, Doug supervise Carter. This is a teaching hospital. As long as Abby is assigned or working down in the ER she can taught/supervised by any resident/attending regardless of whether they are her assigned resident or not. I have no idea whether Carter was her assigned resident. It does not change the fact that he has supervised her and done a good job teaching/mentoring her.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), August 09, 2000.

Brenda, I didn't say that Carter *shouldn't* supervise students. I said, because of seniority, he probably would not, directly, supervise them. To the contrary, I think he is a excellent teacher when he wants to be. (Not as good as Susan Lewis, but no one else has come close to her - except Mark, at times. Benton was pretty good too, come to think of it. JHMO) And I don't think that being in rehab will have anything to do with it.

I know that we've seen Mark teach students, but have we seen him be given any particular student to train and supervise, like Benton/Carter, Carter/Lucy, or Dave/Abby? He is more like boss's boss. And as an attending, his job is to supervise the residents.

So yeah, I'd like to see him teaching again. But to specifically address Cammie's question, I don't think he'll be getting another student of his very own. Unless it's a 4th year ER sub-i, maybe.

-- S. Trelles (trelles@ix.netcom.com), August 10, 2000.

I was responding more to Cammie post. I agree that Carter as a fourth year and in future years won't be a direct supervisoer to medical student. A junior resident is the most likly candidate. Carter will be the direct superviser to interns and junior residents as a senior resident much like we saw him in that capacity this season. Carter will supervise medical student much like other senior residents, attendings , and fellows do and have in the past. They will be someone elses medical student, but he will supervise them when it calls for it. I was responding more to Cammies notion that Carter would not supervise anyone next season even though she more specifically mentioned medical students. I was explaining why Carter would continue to supervise and why he should continue to supervise anyone junior to him as the situation dictates.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), August 10, 2000.

I forgot to add. When I originally responded to Cammies post , I had not seen your reply. I did not see it until after I sent my own repy. We must have submited ours around the same time. My second response was awnswering Cammies reply to my post. I was not responding to your post because I agreed that Carter should not have a medical student assigned to him next year because of his seniority. Whether the show follows that next season is another thing because they have no interns or second year to be the assigned resident to Abby

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), August 10, 2000.

On ER it seems to be the pattern that a med student and a resident stay together for the duration. (Carter/Benton, Lucy/Carter) I don't know if thats the way it is in reality.

With that in mind, it stands to reason that if Abby was Dave's student this year, she'll be his student next year. But with dramatic license and all, that could be poppycock. I guess we'll have to wait to next year.

Another note: They seem to give the 3rd year students to the 2nd year residents. Has anyone noticed that?

-- S. Trelles (trelles@ix.netcom.com), August 10, 2000.

I think the TPTB do what they want to and there is no clear pattern. Anna and Carter both as ER interns were the supervising resident over several third year medical students in season one. Benton was in his sixth and final year of residency in season five when he appeared to be the supervising resident of Lucy when she did her surgical rotation. Dr. Meyers was Lucy's supervising resident when she she did her psych rotation and he was a senior resident. We have seen Dr. Meyers as an psych resident since season two I think. He was at least a third year resident in season five. In real life ,medical students rotate through a bunch of different departments and have many different supervising residents. Abby supervising resident next season in the ER will be whoever TPTB want it to be for plot purposes. They are not going to follow real life protocol if they don't want to. ER while trying to maintain much realism has taken dramatic license to provide entertainment to viewers.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), August 11, 2000.

Oops. I meant Anna and Carter were supervising residents as interns over several third year medical students during season four. Also, Lucy was not assigned to Carter for all of season five or six. We saw her do rotations in other deparmentw where someone else was her superviser. During season six , Carter did not appear to be her supervising resident for most of the season. We saw other residents etc supervise Lucy during season six. Carter only participated in a few cases with Lucy. They were back together in BSMY for dramatic licenses and to provide a serious , angst ridden storyline for Carter.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), August 11, 2000.

At the beginning of season 6, when Lucy was back in the ER, someone mentioned that Carter would be supervising her again. I think. I do remember someone saying (Lucy?) "Together again!" I distinctly remember that.

But of course, you're right. TPTB will do whatever they darn well please. (Suspend reality and continuity here.)

-- S. Trelles (trelles@ix.netcom.com), August 11, 2000.

You're right S. Trelles! It was Lucy. It was the episode where Jerry was playing April Fools jokes on people and someone got him back good. And Carter was in charge for the day. I think the episode was "Point of Origin" in the 5th season, not the 6th. Unless she said it twice or something. I don't recall that though.

-- Cammie (rmaelhorn@home.com), August 11, 2000.

Whoops! I totally screwed that up. The episode wasn't "Point Of Origin". It was "Power". Well they both start with the letters po. Yeah I remeber Carter telling her that it takes guts to do another ER rotation and Mark tells him that he gets another chance to supervise her. Sorry about that. I was close though. Just two episodes off.

-- Cammie (rmaelhorn@home.com), August 11, 2000.

That was season five when Carter was her assigned resident. At no time during season six was Carter mentioned to be Lucy's assigned resident. In the second episode of season six, Dave was supervising Lucy. Benton was clearly Lucy supervising resident during the two or three episode arc in season six where Lucy helped that girl that needed a new heart. We saw Luct assist Dave numerous times during season six. Carter was Lucy's supervising resident twice during season five. However, it was never established that Carter was Lucy supervising resident during season six. We saw Lucy be supervised by many different people in season six. we only saw Carter supervise Lucy a couple times during season six. We saw Benton and Dave interact with her more over patients.

-- Brenda (jckwfan@aol.com), August 11, 2000.

Well, they suspend belief everytime they have a medical student spend 90% of their time down in the ER. In reality we would only see med students such as Lucy, Abby etc . only do one ER rotation. If they do another ER rotation elective later on , then most likley a different resident would be her superving resident. So, ER will be realistic next season if someone other than Dave is her supervising resident id she does an ER elective. Aslo, Carter was only Lucy supervising resident during season five. Her rotation would have ended during the end odf season five because medical students do not typically do rotations for much of the summer. When she returned from her break and did her fourth year and for some reason did a third ER rotation(suspend belief), she could have been assigned any ER resident. I think Dave was Lucy assigned Resident during the early part of season six. Carter was a superviser over Dave since he was more senior. Around Christmas it appeared that Benton might be Lucy supervising resident again.

-- Deb (johncarterfan@aol.com), August 11, 2000.

I think he should when ever he feels ready, i dont think he'll rush into it though. It wasn't his fault that Henry was an arse hole and allergic to latex. Or that whaterver his name was, was squeemish. then there was lucy. I can understand why he got anoyed at her sometimes but 'THE GOOD FIGHT'! He comforts her, challanges her, has a go at her and puts his arm arround her. Yeah it erratic but very, pep talk sweet! + he's very good with abby.

-- sarah (sarah.j.pawley@barclays.net), December 30, 2000.