being shy myself, i know what youre going through, the danger of being shy is that some of my evals would say that "green started as kind of shy and quiet but as the rotation went green was alot more open,friendly and got along great with the team and was very efficient on rounds.blah blah". turn a "character flaw" into improvement. why? because extroverts take it all, and introverts are the losers. you may have a quiet personality but that doesn't mean you dont want to learn or are not interested in a topic...but to housestaff, quiet demeanor are shyness are "bad signs" and mistaken for just those things.
i usually would smile as much as possible, especially in the morning when i saw the interns rounding, that usually seemed to make them smile too, try to be as friendly with the interns as possible, they are not that far removed from you, having just graduated from med school and they actually can influence your residents' evaluation which will eventually trickle down to the attending.. if there are imaging/studies that need to be followed up, take the initiative to find out the results and once you know them, let the intern know. if your teams asks you if you want to eat lunch,get a soda with them,whatever, go go go! those little things help build up the relationship.
and keep track of things taht go on with your patients, like on medicine, if my patient had lyme dz and complete heart block and my intern forgot about that relationship,i did some searching online and found a paper that described and gave it to them. they usually found those helpful.
but i think they best way from a shy person's perspective, is try to find ways to help. and dont do with any intention of getting Honors,do it b'c you really want to help. if you do it for the latter region, you will come across as insincere, which is something i could smell when i was 3rd and see it know in some 3rd years. personally ,i hated just standing around, if the intern is about to do a procedure in a sterile fashion, askthem what they need fromt he stockroom and then go find those things
anyway, good luck and enjoy 3rd year as much as possible
). Ask even though your heart is pounding, questions are generally welcomed so your confidence should build as time goes on. If you don't understand - say so, and if you do rephrase to confirm you understand. This is good for both showing interest and learning. Eye contact is also critical.
