Advice for incoming PGY-1 starting on medicine?

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sunshower

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Hi everyone! I'm an M4 who's starting intern year in July. I just got my schedule and saw I'm starting off-service on medicine wards at an insanely busy hospital with 28 hour call q4-5 days. I know that a big part of the beginning of intern year is just learning the ropes/getting comfortable with putting in orders and stuff and everyone has told me to just pick up things as I go along but I'm a little worried. I haven't had a medicine rotation since my M3 rotation which was >1 year ago, so I'm worried that I'm going to look terrible compared to the medicine interns and even the med students :(

Aside from relaxing/sleeping (which I have been doing plenty of since February), does anyone have any tips or resources/books I should use?

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I’m planning on watching all the online med ed videos a week or two before intern year starts. There’s some intern specific content. I’ve also realized that fresh interns are expected to know basically nothing, and really just be able to take an okay history & physical and be teachable.
 
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Fresh interns are expected to know basically nothing, and really just be able to take an okay history & physical and be teachable.

This is basically the best advice you can get about starting internship. All anyone expects is that you show up willing to learn, and that you not think too much of your own knowledge/expertise. 10000 times better to ask for advice when you don't know something then to do something stupid and potentially dangerous. (I literally asked my senior if I could give someone ibuprofen on my first day. It's fine!)
 
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MGH Pocket Medicine was super helpful for medicine months. Pocket Neurology was helpful for neuro months as well, but I didn’t use it nearly as much.
 
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Another thing to help quell your worries, consider it good fortune that you're starting on IM. The new IM residents will be just as terrified as you and you'll all be fresh into residency. Imo it's more stressful if your first IM rotation is 5 months in when all the IM folks have gotten their feet under them and you're basically still a July intern.

Agree with all the above advice as well.
 
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I'm worried that I'm going to look terrible compared to the medicine interns and even the med students :(

Stop worrying that you are going to make an ass of yourself and embrace the fact that you will. Be curious, humble, hardworking, kind, and willing to take intellectual risks while not giving any f**ks about what other people think of you. You’ll learn a lot and everyone will love working with you.
 
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