all right how are you feeling today hi
guys dr. Rashid aside here from osmosis
I want to talk to you today about top
three tips and navigate your way in the
hospital so many of you may be starting
your clinical rotations and don't know
kind of how to be in a hospital setting
and and what is kind of expected of you
and what you should expect in return and
so I want to talk about kind of my top
three tips to survive and thrive in
those first few weeks and months and and
hopefully beyond that as well tip number
one spend time getting to know people so
this is again how to navigate when the
hospital is you start your rotations
take extra time to get to know people
that means showing up early staying late
take lunch with people if possible I
remember in my first few weeks and
months I actually went out and very
old-fashioned when shook everyone's
hands you know and said hey my name is
Rishi tell me your name what you do and
I got to meet you know the nursing staff
I got to meet the head nurse I got to
meet the Chargers I got to meet the
pharmacists I got to meet you know PT ot
the folks that are actually part of the
cleaning crew you know I actually tried
to meet every face in the hospital at
least on the floor that I was on and
over time I became the hospital so you
get to know people and it takes time to
do that but these become your allies now
that part might be intuitive and you'll
say ok no big deal that's intuitive
here's the part that I would extend this
to I would say get to know your patients
really really really well
not even just their medical history get
to know kind of what they're doing on
weekends how they spend their free time
they're usually pretty bored so they're
always welcoming you know someone that's
gonna sit and talk to them so get to
know your patients really well also get
to know your fellow med students really
well you know I'm rotated with different
med students from from my friends I
didn't know all of them very well get to
know them really well you know asking
questions maybe spend your lunches with
them you try to really form a friendship
because you're going through something
that's new and hard and the only person
that's gonna know it the way you know it
is your your colleague right
and in the long term that person that
that colleague of yours that at the
moment is maybe just a med student is
gonna be someone that you're gonna trust
is gonna have expertise in something
that you're gonna need to know about so
you're gonna probably pick up the phone
one day and call them up and so you're
forging those strong alliances now so
again number one to spend time getting
to know people it's so important okay
tip number two be humble be really
really humble say I don't know I would
practice saying that at least once or
twice a day just say I don't know I
don't know if someone asks you something
you don't know the full answer maybe you
have a part answer just say you know
what I don't really know the full answer
but this is a little bit that I do know
remember that you're there to learn and
don't be too scared or too proud to
mention a mistake I remember very
vividly I was an intern so it's kind of
past my my third year and I was getting
paged number of times for a certain
patient and I kept answering the nurse
and saying hey I think it's okay I think
it's okay turn out the station in the in
the morning had a pleural effusion
basically fluid on the lung that went
all the way up you know kind of to here
and my attending said you know I can't
believe the nurse didn't call you that
it seems so inappropriate that nurse had
left by the way you know I can't believe
the nurse didn't call you and in that
moment I felt you know totally beat
faced and embarrassed because they had
called me they had called me a number of
times and I was the one that said no I
don't think we need a chest x-ray and I
wish we had gotten one I wish we gotten
three in the night we would have
captured this pleural effusion before he
got so big and so I felt very
embarrassed but you know I said you know
what I made a mistake last night I
should have gotten a chest x-ray and I
didn't so don't be too proud to say you
don't know because I learned a lesson
we had a big conversation about when you
should and shouldn't get chest x-rays
and it was actually a very valuable
conversation to me so again tip number
one spend time getting to know people
number two be humble be especially
around mistakes tip number three take
moments to yourself I remember my time
navigating the wards initially felt like
chaos you know every moment there was a
fire that had to be put out
this patient over here was excavating
that patient over there was was dying
this station over here was in a lot of
pain so you know I'm running around
oftentimes just trying to figure things
out and trying to keep you know these
fires at bay and there are also quiet
moments when you want to kind of gather
yourself and so you know sometimes
that's just walk a little slower on your
way to the o.r if you're if you're not
needed there spend an extra minute in
the bathroom and and take a moment just
to kind of quiet yourself if you have
time go down to the cafeteria grab grab
a drink of water or grab some food you
know these little moments that you get
throughout the day are precious and
they're gonna kind of fill up your cup
again the hospital can be a crazy
chaotic place and it for me was so
valuable navigating hospital especially
the first few weeks when I felt so out
of my element to have those moments of
calm and quiet and so I had a routine
every time I had a big busy shift every
single time I would bike home I would go
to get I would there was a taqueria so
go get tacos and I would just kind of go
home and watch Star Trek for an hour -
that was my other chance to kind of have
a moment to myself I never ever spent
those moments with people I I always had
that kind of Zen time to myself
and it was you know bike ride tacos Star
Trek kind of a nut order and it's truly
the time that I recuperated and I needed
that time before I could kind of
interact with people again so take those
moments to yourself that you need to
kind of recoup from the chaos that can't
happen to the hospital so again tip
number one spend time getting to know
people tip number two be humble and be
okay with kind of admitting mistakes and
tip number three take moments to
yourself I think it's great to start on
the wars but it can be chaotic so good
luck if you're just starting out take
care bye bye
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