ENT rotation

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I would recommend the following (without really know much about your specific rotation set up)

- review the anatomy (sounds obvious but if you have a general sense of the anatomy the cases will make a lot more sense)

- read at least a little bit the night before on the cases you will be participating with. It makes things soooo much better for your learning and helps if any pimping comes out

- be on time and enthusiastic (but not annoying).

- be good to the residents. We talk about you (at least informally) with the attendings over coffee or in the OR so you want us as your ally.

- all in all, have a good time. ENT is a great field for a lot of reasons. However, keep an open mind about all this. If things don't seem to work for you then dont force it, consider another field (it's still early to be sorting career choices out and there are a lot of other great fields too)
 
it's always really helpful to carry some basic supplies in your white coat on rounds.

- tongue blades (always have several)
- tape
- gauze
- syringes 5cc or better yet 10cc, maybe some flushes too
- suture removal kit
- trauma shears (you get a gold star for those)
- surgi-lube
- kerlix (bulky but will be a big help if you have some)

offer to get vitals in the morning to help out the interns/juniors; offer to write notes (get them done before rounds if you can); carry some blank scripts around with you for discharge or same-day surgery patients; always put on gloves/gown/etc when you go into patients' rooms with the team and seem interested (especially if it's your patient); offer to do pre-op H&P's; help set the patient up in the OR (SCD's, arm boards, maybe place the foley or prep the pt if the resident is cool with that); write post-op notes... things like that are what will make you look like a hard-working student who is interested in ENT.

just don't be annoying or get in the way... no one likes that student who shoves everyone out of the way so that he/she can be the first to offer the tongue blade to the senior resident... that stuff kills me!

good luck and have fun! 👍
 
I'm looking for two things from med students: preparedness and enthusiasm.

You can never over prepare, but you can over annoy. The only way I was ever annoyed was by upstaging. NEVER try to make someone else look bad. You should always look to make the jr residents look good and their job is to make the sr residents look good and their job is to make the attendings look good. I know it sounds counter-intuitive, but if you make the juniors look good, you will ultimately shine. For knowledge, all a student needs to know is the anatomy. You HAVE to know the anatomy. If you can know the indications for surgery and maybe a bit about the complications, you're golden. All else is just icing.
 
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