Internship & Residency - Tips & Strategies for New Doctors

Many people reach a point in their internship where they begin to burnout. Some even begin to question whether or not to continue on with their training. Usually that feeling is a passing one, a few weeks... maybe even a couple of months.

During that time, your support systems become pretty important... family, friends, etc. But even more important, usually, is a mentor... someone's who's "been there, done that" and can walk you through it.

Well, I was very fortunate. I had a mentor. And a single piece of advice turned my career around completely. Not only did that advice save me from burnout, but it started me on a path that would soon lead to being Resident-of-the-Year and then Chief Resident. Well, I posted a video about that advice.

If you're in your 3rd or 4th year of medical school or early in your internship, you should check it out:

==> # 1 Tip for Your Internship Success <==

Don't blow this off. This is a tried and true way of quickly choosing which patients to see first.

1 - See the sickest patients first.
2 - Next, see the patients possibly going home.
3 - Finally, see everyone else.

Of course, this requires knowing what "sick" looks like and what "going home" looks like.

If you don't have a smart phone, you should get one general pocket reference, one on-call pocket reference, and one drug pocket reference. Avoid having too many sources - too distracting.

Money Saver Tip - If you don't have a handheld device (iPhone, Palm, Pocket PC, Blackberry, iPad, etc), you should probably wait until your stipend kicks in from your internship or residency program. (Make sure they cover it)

Until I bought my smart phone, I had...

Mass General Pocket Medicine - I scrapped the Washington Manual after about a week. I like Ferri's better. But nowadays, I'd recommend this one... The full title is Pocket Medicine: The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine

Tarascon Pocket Pharmacopoeia - I kept this one in my pocket even after getting a PDA.

The Sanford Guide - I pretty much only used 6 pages (the charts in the middle), but I used them almost everyday.

It's too good to be true. It's too simple to have such a far reach... That's what a lot of people think, anyway.

But having an excellent bedside manner is ultra important. It has a super far reach. If you master having a good bedside manner, you stand to make your patient feel better, potentially heal quicker, and certainly complain less. Your patient will trust you more, and therefore, offer a better history.

If you have a good bedside manner, your patient will tell other people. Your patient's nurse will tell other people. And guess what? It will absolutely impact how your attending evaluates you.

You will be sued less, get paged less, and be respected more.

And it is so simple to start. Here are three quick tips:

1 - While sitting a patient up to listen to their lungs, just say, "Hey. While I have you up, let me flip your pillow to the cool side."

2 - When you plan to order some medications, don't just tell them you're ordering them. Explain that it will take a little while for them to come up from the pharmacy.

3 - When you're all done in the room, put things back the way you found them. Put the call bell in reach, move the phone closer, and, if their allowed to eat/drink, move their tray closer to them.

So try sweatin' the small things when it comes to bedside manner. It'll serve you, your patient, and your patient's nurse well.

No one really teaches medical students about money management. Earning more money doesn't mean that you are inherently better than anyone else at managing your money. So, I posted some money management tips for med students on YouTube. And if you like that video, you should check out this video advice about residency burnout.