One more day until July 1. Anyone (PGY-1 or PGY-2) nervous about starting? I am! I am starting in the CCU. I have been thinking that July is a bad month to have a heart attack! :scared:

Good luck to all!

One more day until July 1. Anyone (PGY-1 or PGY-2) nervous about starting? I am! I am starting in the CCU. I have been thinking that July is a bad month to have a heart attack! :scared:

Good luck to all!

Goodluck!

Ahhh, memories. It seems like it was only yesterday that I was scared about starting my pgy-1 year. It didn't turn out to be as "scary" as my worst fears. It is a pretty rough first month or so because everything is different, but unless the residents above you are jerks, they all remember what it was like to be you and your co-interns won't know much either.

I have the first day of my pgy-2 orientation tomorrow so I'm actually pretty excited to get started. I suppose I should go to bed soon....

Ahh... relax. Remember the golden rules of residency:

Never lose your temper.
Always be apologetic / cordial.
Admit you are wrong.
When in doubt, call the attending.
Never lie.
Always document to cover your butt.

I started off in the intensive care unit also. I am a better man because of it, but I would have smacked you if you had told me that at the time. Everything else my intern year was cake compared to the first month.

Ahh... relax. Remember the golden rules of residency:

Never lose your temper.
Always be apologetic / cordial.
Admit you are wrong.
When in doubt, call the attending.
Never lie.
Always document to cover your butt.

I started off in the intensive care unit also. I am a better man because of it, but I would have smacked you if you had told me that at the time. Everything else my intern year was cake compared to the first month.
Good advice. ALWAYS be nice to the nurses, even if they aren't in the best of moods.

Also if you don't know what's going on, "load the boat" as one attending told me. In other words, get more people involved so you won't be the only person going down with the ship. :)

Good advice. ALWAYS be nice to the nurses, even if they aren't in the best of moods.

Also if you don't know what's going on, "load the boat" as one attending told me. In other words, get more people involved so you won't be the only person going down with the ship. :)


Redhawk,
Good to see that you still check the board from time to time. And for all of the T-15hrs interns out there, it's not going to be as bad as you think. If you're going into ophthalmology statistically you will be one of the best interns. Remember, you were probably near the top of your class in med school and you'll thrive in internship as well. I am currently on my last overnight call ever (neurology :( ), and then it's all home call for ophth. I had a really fun year, and met a lot of reallly nice and interesting people. The only advice I have is this.
1. Be nice to the nurses. Their job sucks worse than yours does, and there is no reason to be mean to them.
2. Don't call yourself Dr. ______ when calling other doctors, especially as an intern. You're colleagues, so go by first or first and last name.
3. Remember, as an intern you don't really need to know much of anything. You are the work-horse of the hospital, not the brain. You need to be efficient and get the work done that is outlined by people in the know. Now you do need to be able to handle cross cover calls, etc. but you're upper level can help out with advice if needed.
4. Buy Current clinical concepts for internal medicine. This book is a life-saver, both figuratively and literally. It has full admission order sets for almost every medical diagnosis. Pocket sized and worth its weight in gold.
5. Read Up-to-date if you encounter a diagnosis that you don't know how to treat. It is the best resource you can have.

I am pretty nervous as well because after 4th yr of med school (i.e.vacation) I forgot just about everything I learned. I really hope they don't expect us to know anything but the basics (extremely basic)! :confused:

Redhawk,
3. Remember, as an intern you don't really need to know much of anything. You are the work-horse of the hospital, not the brain. You need to be efficient and get the work done that is outlined by people in the know. Now you do need to be able to handle cross cover calls, etc. but you're upper level can help out with advice if needed.
I completely agree with this, unless you're in a really crappy program where you don't have adequate backup by senior residents. Efficiency, efficiency, efficiency... A shorter patient list means you get more sleep because you don't have to get in as early to pre-round, and you may get to go home sooner.

thanks guys. i got my sign-out a few hours ago. tomorrow will be an experience. i don't think i've been more scared to walk into that hospital with that long white coat and be called "doctor." your advice, i'm sure will be very helpful.

thanks guys. i got my sign-out a few hours ago. tomorrow will be an experience. i don't think i've been more scared to walk into that hospital with that long white coat and be called "doctor." your advice, i'm sure will be very helpful.

Good luck Ruben and all... but think, in 1 year (which will probably fly) you will starting what you want to do w/ the rest of your life. How exciting is that?!

I am pretty nervous as well because after 4th yr of med school (i.e.vacation) I forgot just about everything I learned. I really hope they don't expect us to know anything but the basics (extremely basic)! :confused:


I know how you feel. Its been about a year and a half since I've done any real medicine, since I took a year to do research. It'll take a while for the rust to come off. On the upside, during orientation we found out that two of our floor medicine months have been replaced with ambulatory months, with weekends off!! Best news I've ever had.