Ask an IM intern anything

[CarlosDanger]

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haha, what? so its like The Order for doctors...great.

 

[235009]

haha, what? so its like The Order for doctors...great.

He's obviously messing with you

 

[CarlosDanger]

I'm bad at internet sarcasm.

 

[studentp0x]

What's your typical day like?

How do your hours vary weekly (minimum, average, maximum) ?

 

[Mr Avante]

Are you free next sunday?

 

[am9451]

I see some people saying that same thing about AOA, but I also see others saying that AOA is redundant. If you have the grades, the step 1, the research, etc to be eligible for AOA, then having it or not is pointless. Everything that AOA is based on is already in your ERAS, so a lot of residencies don't even really care because they can already judge a person based off the same achievements.

This logic never made sense to me. If you "have the grades, the step 1, the research" to be AOA, then you'd be AOA. Period.

Trust me when I say this matters to top programs. They like saying they have X% of their residents in AOA. I had it mentioned numerous times at numerous interviews.

 

[am9451]

What's your typical day like?

How do your hours vary weekly (minimum, average, maximum) ?

My typical day varies a little depending on the rotation I'm on.

If I'm on ambulatory (outpatient clinic), it's pretty much 9-5.
If I'm on a general medicine inpatient block, my typical day looks like the following:
6:45-7:00am arrive and get sign-out (i.e. find out what happened with my patients overnight)
7-9isham pre-round (i.e. check morning labs, vitals, talk to the nurses, talk to and examine my patients, get what other work done that I can before rounds that would otherwise need to occur during the day)
9am-noon-ish round (the amount of time it takes to round varies from service to service and attending to attending)
noon-1 conference and lunch
1 to from anywhere between 3 and 7pm get **** done
Most of our gen med blocks are q4 call (i.e. you admit every 4th day); these tend to be later days.

For the ICU, it's similar, but signout usually occurs at 6.

Nightfloat is also a different ballgame; usually you arrive at 7pm, get signout from the day teams, then admit and cross cover til the morning.

On inpatient months, we average 1 day off in 7. We get the occasional golden weekend on outpatient blocks.

 

[am9451]

Are you free next sunday?

Sadly, I will be deep in the throes of night shift.

 

[KindofBlue]

This logic never made sense to me. If you "have the grades, the step 1, the research" to be AOA, then you'd be AOA. Period.

Trust me when I say this matters to top programs. They like saying they have X% of their residents in AOA. I had it mentioned numerous times at numerous interviews.

Really appreciate all the input.

I don't know if you read books like "House of God," but has the intern year been pretty cruel, or make you become more jaded/cynical in anyway compared to your pre-med or MS years, as depicted in the more pessimistic books/blogs/posts?

I guess this depends on the residency or each person, but just wanted to hear what you thought seeing that you're in one of the more competitive academic residencies.

Also, did you feel quite prepared to take on the responsibilities of an intern right when you started your internship? i.e., do you feel your med school and rotations prepared you well enough to take on clinical duties and more, or were you scared sh**less anyway?

Thanks again!

 

[am9451]

Really appreciate all the input.

I don't know if you read books like "House of God," but has the intern year been pretty cruel, or make you become more jaded/cynical in anyway compared to your pre-med or MS years, as depicted in the more pessimistic books/blogs/posts?

I guess this depends on the residency or each person, but just wanted to hear what you thought seeing that you're in one of the more competitive academic residencies.

Also, did you feel quite prepared to take on the responsibilities of an intern right when you started your internship? i.e., do you feel your med school and rotations prepared you well enough to take on clinical duties and more, or were you scared sh**less anyway?

Thanks again!

Firstly, I should say that intern year has not been bad at all. I've never broken duty hours, nor have I ever felt pressured to. My colleagues and my superiors have all been incredibly supportive, and if I've had tough attendings, it's only been because they've been demanding about what they expect from me and it's only made me want to be a better doctor. For the most part, everything has been quite laidback, and once you get used to the healthcare system you're working in and you learn the system, it starts to feel more like just another day at work rather than a grueling test to expose all of your deficits.

With that said, everyone starts out intern year feeling like they're on the verge of ****ting their pants from nerves. However, I do feel that my medical school prepared me damn well. I'm very grateful for that. I was encouraged to take ownership of my patients from early on in M3 year, and my Sub-Is during M4 year approximated internship fairly well.

As far as feeling jaded, I think there might be some element of that. But quite frankly, I view it more as developing a more realistic view of your profession and what you can do as well as what limitations and barriers you'll encounter. You learn what it means to truly be a doctor, what your day to day will really look like, rather than what you dreamed it to be as a premed.

 

[Mr Avante]

Sadly, I will be deep in the throes of night shift.

;-(

 

[Lya]

Forgot to mention one other actually INCREDIBLY important thing, and that's being AOA.

If you go to a middle tier school and you want to go to a top tier IM program, you better bust your ass to be AOA (usually a combo of Step 1 scores and clinical rotations).

****, even coming from a top tier med school, being AOA opened a lot of doors for me.

What if you are from a mid-tier school but without AOA? Does it make that much difference, besides having less networking opportunities?

 

[235009]

What if you are from a mid-tier school but without AOA? Does it make that much difference, besides having less networking opportunities?

AOA is even more important if you don't have your med school's name to fall back on

 

[am9451]

What if you are from a mid-tier school but without AOA? Does it make that much difference, besides having less networking opportunities?

Mm I think the answer to that q can be found in the response you quoted, unless I'm misunderstanding your question.