Internship is busy and stressful with a very steep clinical learning curve. Here are some first year residency tips to help to set you up for a successful medical internship year.
- Try to live close to the hospital to minimize the time/stress related to commuting.
- Build an emotional support system for yourself.
- Use your fourth year of medical school to build basic clinical and procedural skills.
- Review the internal medicine milestones before you start and every couple of months to monitor your growth and pick skills to work on and draft learning objectives for yourself.
- Set realistic expectations for family and friends about your availability for the year.
- Make sleep and wellness a top priority.
- Set aside time to read and study around the patients you are seeing.
- Ask for EMR navigation tips from your residents.
- Register for, take and pass your USMLE step 3 exam.
- Be sure to learn at least one new thing from EVERY patient you see.
- Follow up on all night float admissions you do and reflect on the care you provided, look for potential areas to improve the quality of your care.
- Identify residents and faculty that you admire and figure out what specifically makes them great and try to nurture those skills within yourself.
- Be kind and respectful to all hospital staff, especially the nurses.
- When you are unsure what to do ask the nurse or colleagues, "What does one usually do in this situation?"
- When in doubt, ask for help early and often.
- No question is too stupid, ask as many as possible.