how do you interact with your senior?

[pgyinternyear]

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hey guys, new intern here, I wonder if anyone else has the same problem: the senior seems to like to function on themselves, instead of me going to the senior, they do their own thing, putting in orders, talking to the attending. I find it bothersome since I am supposed to be the one taking care of the patients. Does anyone have the same problem?

 

[gutonc]

hey guys, new intern here, I wonder if anyone else has the same problem: the senior seems to like to function on themselves, instead of me going to the senior, they do their own thing, putting in orders, talking to the attending. I find it bothersome since I am supposed to be the one taking care of the patients. Does anyone have the same problem?

Is this every single senior you've worked with? Or just one dude?

If the former, the problem is you. Figure out what the problem is and fix it.

If the latter, the problem is him/her. Look forward to next month with a different senior.

 

[pgyinternyear]

Is this every single senior you've worked with? Or just one dude?

If the former, the problem is you. Figure out what the problem is and fix it.

If the latter, the problem is him/her. Look forward to next month with a different senior.

3 out of 6 seniors I worked with. I have heard from other interns who are treated like MS5. Wondering if this is a program specific thing or nationwide.

 

[gutonc]

3 out of 6 seniors I worked with. I have heard from other interns who are treated like MS5. Wondering if this is a program specific thing or nationwide.

Likely program-specific. But impossible to say really.

 

[URHere]

I think that many seniors try to help early in intern year by taking some of the workload away from the new PGY-1s. Others may still be adjusting to their new role as seniors and may fall back on intern-level tasks out of habit. Either way, this behavior usually means that you are both trying to put in the same orders, call the same consults, etc, and it becomes a real problem for your sanity (and patient care). I've had several seniors do this for the first 1-2 days we worked together, but it has always resolved if I just talked to them about the situation.

It isn't rude to let your senior know that you feel confused about which tasks you are responsible for when they are doing part of your job. If you want to avoid that conversation, you could also just end rounds every day by saying something like: "OK, I'm going to put in the orders for X and call consult Y now" so that you avoid the overlap. In general, once they trust you to be competent, things should get better. If your senior doesn't seem to trust you, give them the chance to look over any major orders before you sign them, and run through your plans with them before rounds so that you make sure you're both on the same page.

 

[AdmiralChz]

It may be because the seniors are feeling some heat from the attendings to get things done quickly, potentially because of past problems. At my program, there were a series of sub-par prelim residents a few years ago who routinely were unable to do basic tasks in the electronic record so the more senior residents had to carry more the load. That culture stick around for a bit until the interns starting proving themselves capable a couple years later. Fair or not, their behavior was based on previous bad experiences.

That was not a very happy time in the surgery department.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

Depending on how your program does things, they may just be falling into being a senior. I have one senior who I think is trying to help, but he is struggling to step into his senior role at the same time I am stepping into the intern role. He can't let go and let me do my job, so it makes me look like I can't do my job and need the senior to do it. Frustrating.