Number 1.
You make a lot of the patient care, or outcome determining decisions.
I don’t know why this one surprised me but hear me out.
As a medical student, when you first start clinical rotations you are given a little
bit of responsibility.
At first, you're responsible for maybe one patient.
And as you get more comfortable you're given more patients to take care of.But at the end
of the day, you go home and your residents are still responsible for those patients.
If you wrote something outrageous on your notes or if you suggested something completely
wrong, there are still many layers of protection to make sure that the patients weren’t harmed.
When you make the transition from med student to a resident.
Your responsibility changes OVERNIGHT.
One day you're a med student and the next day you're a resident.
And as a resident you make a million decisions for patients everyday.
Your senior residents and attendings are of course there to catch any big mistakes but
you’ll find that as the year goes on there is less and less micromanaging from their
end.
Treating the patient’s pain or making sure patients have follow up plans- or answering
some questions from concerned family members… and all the other seemingly small things we
do as junior residents make a huge difference in patient’s care and experience.
As residents, even new interns, what we do can really make or break how the patients
experience their illness and healthcare.
So don’t be afraid to ask questions for the smallest things.
Don’t be ashamed.
Also, find some good go-to resources like UpToDate and keep them handy.
Knowing what you don’t know is the first step to learning and eventually teaching.
Number 2: Your Mental Health and Wellness is largely your own responsibility
These days everyone is talking about wellness Residency programs are offering "wellness"
seminars, yoga, meditation sessions and other mental health services.
But most of these sessions will take place while you're working.
So if you want to take full advantage of all these programs, you have to do it during your
free time.
Participating in these wellness programs can be hard because residents work long hours--
8o or more hours a week.
Honestly I think all of us would probably feel more “well” if we worked a little
less and had more free time.
But that’s probably not going to happen any time soon.
At the end of the day, self care and mental health looks different for everyone.
It’s not one size fits all.
We all have limited time, so it’s really important to figure out what wellness means
for you and more importantly what works for you.
Number 3: Hardest part of residency is dealing with different personalities.
I never knew I would have to interact with so many different people in one day.
As an introvert, the most challenging part of residency has been the sheer number of
people I come in contact with and the different personalities I deal with on a daily basis
not just patients but other doctors, coworkers, hospital staff, nurses, family members, the
list goes on and on.
Sometimes I dream of having a job where I don’t talk to anyone.
By the end of my 12-hour day, I don’t want to talk to a single person or be next to anybody.
It’s the truth.
On the bright side, after residency my hours will decrease by as much as a third.
That means I’ll have more time to decompress and reflect between each shift and I’ll
have way more reserve to deal with people.
THAT SAID, Number 4: Your non-physician staff members are your best friends or... the opposite
depending on how well you get along with them
Patient care is teamwork.
Doctors may be the ones to put in the orders but we don't physically carry out the portion
makes the actual difference to the patient.
This could be things like: giving medication, picking up patients for CT scans, lab work,
getting radiology studies done, helping patients go to the bathroom, cleaning their rooms,
making sure patients get their food trays.
Really without all the non-physician staff, nothing would get done and the hospital would
fall apart.
Getting to know the nurses and other support staff has made my day to day easier and more
enjoyable!
Number 5: Doctors need doctors too This also applies to physical health.
A lot of us will be in our late twenties or already in our 30s.
Our bodies will start to age.
We as residents have a limited and sometimes unpredictable schedules.
Making a yearly check up appointment with a primary care doctor can be really frustrating
when you’re working all the time or if you don’t know when you’ll be working because
your schedule hasn’t been released yet.
OR sometimes you literally have one day off and the last thing you want to do on your
day off is go to the doctor’s office and wait for a regular check up.
This was somehow a lot easier in college or even medical school when there was student
health center that more or less catered to student schedules.
But now that we’re actual adults with a real job, it can be really difficult to stay
on top of our physical health.
We’re all getting older, not younger.
And there’s tremendous stress in what we do.
So make those appointments and ask for days off in advance.
You can even lump appointments together in one day to make a “health day” and get
everything out of the way.
So those are the 5 major things I wish I knew before starting residency.
In closing, there are a couple more things I want to share with the new interns:
1.
Life will be hard.
Your support system in and outside of medicine will be your saving grace.
You’ll always need someone who understands what you’re going through, whether that’s
your med school friends or co-residents.
And you’ll also need friends outside of medicine to keep you in check and remind you
that you’re still a human being with interests outside of medicine.
2.
You’re finally making a salary.
So plan how you’ll be paying off loans and start saving for retirement.
It’s not too early.
Read up on what your programs offers in terms of perks and retirement planning
Speaking of loans, If you’re going for public service loan forgiveness (for those of you
in the US) or think you might be going for it even if you’re not sure, stay on top
of the paperwork for that.
It’s not totally intuitive and you’ll have to speak with your residency coordinators
or your GME (graduate medical education) office as well as with FedLoan and other servicers.
But the possibility of getting your loans forgiven can only exist if you do all the
required paperwork.
That’s all I got for today- hope you guys enjoyed the video!
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