Originally posted by supercut
Determine your institution's culture as soon as possible. Some places encourage early autonomy by interns, others don't. If you are at a place where they don't want interns ordering a CT without talking to an upper level, make sure you conform. Otherwise you will get a rep for "acting too independently"
Yes the nurses can be very helpful. However be careful...they don't always know as much as they act like they know. I saw an intern get burned for doing what the nurse wanted when it wasn't indicated. When the nurses tell you the pt needs "X", evaluate carefully before you proceede.
When cross covering for pts who are not on your service, make sure to write a note detailing what you were called for, PE, vitals and actions.
When writing your pt's orders, make sure you cover prn stuff (tylenol, phenergan, ambien, etc) Also don't forget to include colace and a suppository for any pt that you put on narcotics. This will save the on call person many calls and they will love you. If your upper level scrubbed a case and wrote admission orders, you get bonus points if you check and make sure these things are included, as since the upper levels no longer get called for these things, they often forget to write them.
Realize you will feel like a total idiot for the first several months. (espeically if you're not staying at your med school program). Keep a small notebook to write down all the logistics issues as you learn them (phone numbers, common forumlary meds, etc)
Utilize the pharmacists as a great resource for assistance with medication dosing. Learn early on which common med categories are formulary (PPI, abx, etc) also learn which abx require ID approval
Call consultants early in the day (even though no one hesitates to call a surgery consult at 5pm for a pt who has been in the hospital and had a surgical issue for days.) Be polite to folks who call you for consults. Yelling at the peon who is designated to call you won't help.