Now that Iâm back on rotation Iâve been hanging out with some third years on their first clerkship whoâve asked me for some advice for succeeding this year. There are a couple tips that get repeated over and over again because they are REALLY IMPORTANT â so Iâm not adding anything to the conversation except to reiterate:
Take care of yourself. This, of course, is really important, and yet I think each of us goes through a time or rotation where we just donât make it work and suffer for it. Learn from our mistakes and really do your best to be well. There arenât enough hours in a week on most clerkships to have time every day after you get home to exercise, cook an elaborate healthy meal, dedicate time to a hobby, see loved ones, study, sleep enough, AND catch up on your dash. But every day there will be time to do one or two of these things. Do that!!
Be absurdly nice to nurses. They are amazing. They can help you save face by telling you where to find the staple remover kit your senior asked for, and they might let you put in an IV, and they probably know how to use the ancient fax machine. I canât emphasize this enough.
The best way to learn is by reading up on what you see. Sure, I did UWorld for every rotation, and I generally had at least one resource I tried to get through to study for the shelf. But I promise most of my success on exams this year came from trying to be an expert on the kinds of things I was seeing every day because I wanted to know what patients were going through and understand the best possible treatment plan.
Here are some things that really worked for me that I donât hear as often:
Be a yes person. Maybe draining an abscess sounds really gross to you and your call ended half an hour ago. Maybe you find the menstrual cycle kind of tedious so youâre tempted to decline the internâs offer to do a teaching session. Maybe youâre secretly terrified of suturing and you never expected to be asked to do it on your first day. Try saying yes anyway. Iâm really glad I have experience draining abscesses. That intern was an excellent teacher and I understand the menstrual cycle way better now. Because I said yes on my first day, that senior took me under her wing, and I learned SO MUCH from her â and it wasnât nearly as scary as I expected. You donât have to say yes every time, but try to say yes more than you feel like it. Not only will it make your third year experience a helluva lot more enriching and exciting, it makes you look really good. Try to say yes. Itâs good for you.
âWhat can I help you with?â I know youâre still a student that has to pay to be there, and I know the school owes you an education, but think of yourself as a member of the medical team. Students can be so valuable to the function of a team if they are willing, and this really does benefit the patient. It can be frustrating to feel like all you do is scut work, and sometimes residents really do take advantage of you, but if everyone works together to get the tedious work done, thereâs more time both for patient-centered care and for teaching. I started every rotation telling the team (truthfully) that I hated being bored and I would much rather do tasks they considered mundane than sit around doing nothing, or being expected to study at the hospital (which is a waste of time for me). The bonus, of course, is that your team will love you and itâll show on evals.
And finally, but maybe most importantly, third year can be the first step in a road to burnout or it can be the place where you start to hone your skills of resilience. Please please please, for your own happiness and for the benefit of all future patients:
Give people the benefit of the doubt.
Reflect often and honestly.
Be a critical thinker about whatâs going on around you. Pay attention. Speak up when you can.
Third year is amazing and hard and both the shortest and longest year of your life and I promise youâll get through it and then look back and be amazed at how far youâve come. Youâve got this!
