Hello! In honor of the recent match. what do you wish you knew when starting residency?
Advice you wish you knew for your first year of residency?
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Just how tragically and irrevocably I had wasted my life and that there was no possibility of redemption. None! I would spend my miserable existence as an empty wraith haunting the halls of the lab.
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#1 Take care of your physical and mental health over the next 5-6 years. Hopefully you enjoy the program you are at. That’s why I stress being at a program with people you like is MOST important.
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That it isn't too late. Your chance of switching to a different field with 1 year of pathology residency is good. The chance of switching to a different field with a completed pathology residency is much lower.
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Not so much me, but recent trainees that we've hired: understand that the relatively new rules for residency do not reflect the real world. Our new hires have good skills for the most part but sometimes shockingly little hesitation to start opining about operations or complaining that the work is too difficult.
Work hard in residency so that you are prepared to sign out independently, and don't be swayed by the comfortable culture you might encounter in your training. The real world of medicine is actually pretty tough. Even after many years of training at a good institution, there is so much that you will still have no clue about. Don't be that guy/gal who comes out with an entitled attitude. It will be highly annoying to your future partners who also had kids, families, financial insecurities, stress, etc. Welcome to the real world.
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Nurture good relationships and don´t burn bridges. They are difficult to create, but surprisingly easy to destroy.
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Start good ergonomic habits early in your career
take at least 2 stretch breaks a day now even if you think youre too young to need it & keep doing this your entire career. You probably can’t get an elevator desk as a resident but when you get your first job insist on one
I know so many who have life altering osteoarthritic changes in their back and neck. Some of these are still relatively young.
Related to this - try to find a job with a good mix of CP (assuming your are AP/CP). Lab medicine is quite interesting and can help get you out from behind the scope a couple of hours / day. So don’t blow off CP services.
take at least 2 stretch breaks a day now even if you think youre too young to need it & keep doing this your entire career. You probably can’t get an elevator desk as a resident but when you get your first job insist on one
I know so many who have life altering osteoarthritic changes in their back and neck. Some of these are still relatively young.
Related to this - try to find a job with a good mix of CP (assuming your are AP/CP). Lab medicine is quite interesting and can help get you out from behind the scope a couple of hours / day. So don’t blow off CP services.
This is the truth. I've had intermittent low back pain even since 20's from too much sitting and poor posture. Now in my mid 30's I can tell it's getting close to a crossroads. Woke up hobbling the other day because I slept in a bad position without realizing it. Use a sit/stand desk (maybe not possible in residency, but demand it for your job), work on core strength and flexibility. General strength and cardio are good too, of course, but for postural and joint health the first two are key.
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1.) Get to know your fellow residents, they will be pathologists FAR longer than the faculty and will be in a better position to help you later on.
2.) Be social, go out for every happy hour, meet up etc. Get to know residents in other fields. Today's urology intern is tomorrow's urology practice head willing to send you a huge book of business.
3.) Start taking notes on what groups senior fellows migrate to, get all the information you can on what groups are good and which are bad.
4.) Do everything you can to impress senior residents NOT faculty. Senior residents will be partners in groups when you apply, early faculty recommendations will be forgotten by the time you get to your fellowship and are applying for jobs.
5.) Spend time to understand CPT and ICD 10 coding. Familiarize yourself with medical economics like specimen X turns into dollar value Y.
6.) BE SOCIAL period. This is the singular biggest determinant of success I have seen. The "head down no eye contact" trainees from my journey didnt make it.
I actually knew all of the above when I was an intern but figured I would list it out for folks..
2.) Be social, go out for every happy hour, meet up etc. Get to know residents in other fields. Today's urology intern is tomorrow's urology practice head willing to send you a huge book of business.
3.) Start taking notes on what groups senior fellows migrate to, get all the information you can on what groups are good and which are bad.
4.) Do everything you can to impress senior residents NOT faculty. Senior residents will be partners in groups when you apply, early faculty recommendations will be forgotten by the time you get to your fellowship and are applying for jobs.
5.) Spend time to understand CPT and ICD 10 coding. Familiarize yourself with medical economics like specimen X turns into dollar value Y.
6.) BE SOCIAL period. This is the singular biggest determinant of success I have seen. The "head down no eye contact" trainees from my journey didnt make it.
I actually knew all of the above when I was an intern but figured I would list it out for folks..
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Appreciate your posts LA. You are by far the most valuable resource here on SDN in the past 10-15 years or however long you’ve been on here lol.
Whatever happened to deschutes, CameronFrye, AndyBiesterfield, Raider, PathOne, Pathwrath btw?
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Don't forget about eye ergonomics! Look up and away, out windows, down halls. Not just at a computer and a scope. Take care of you're eyes.
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Yup and don’t be that bad apple resident/person.
Word will get around between other residents as to the type of person you are. I’ve trained with good decent people who I wouldn’t mind working with.
I’ve also trained with people who developed a bad rep amongst the residents because they were lazy or crazy (yelling at other residents, interpersonal issues with attendings, disrespecting other residents, bad mouthing other residents behind their backs, drama queens).
I once asked a resident when applying for residency what type of person they are looking for. She responded to me with an answer that I still remember to this day.
She told me “just be a normal person.”
