I don't know enough

[JustPass]

As I'm approaching the last 6 months of IM residency, I'm beginning to feel terrified.
I feel like I don't know enough. Actually, the only thing I know is that I don't know.
I feel like I still miss things, sometimes my interns know more than I do, and just do not think I'm a good doctor.
When I'm on floor and listen to how my attendings reason through things, I wonder why I can't do that myself.
I know I need to study more and I try but I turn around and forget the info.
There are things I should have learned by now that I still don't know.

I'm not posting to get some sympathy or words of encouragement.
I just needed to vent a little.

When I study, it makes sense. No one has told me that I'm terrible either.
I just need to study more I guess. It never stops.

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[NITRAS]

What kind of job are you going to get in 6 months? Figure that out and train for your job. Is it clinic, or Hospitalist. Try and focus.

I thought the jump from PGY3 to attending was the hardest jump (not MS4 to PGY1, or PGY1 to PGY2)). No one talks about it. Patients are not questions tha fit a in a 6 line paragraph With 5 multiple choice answers.

 

[chessknt]

Do you have a few concrete examples to demonstrate your concerns? You might be blowing this out of proportion but if you aren't you would benefit from staying away from under-resources areas until you have learned more since there are less safety nets there.

 

[rokshana]

You are fine… I would be more worried if you weren’t concerned… they fact that you do t know what you don’t know is the best thing… the most dangerous resident is the one that thinks they are done and know everything…

 

[Chemist0157]

If you are getting good reviews and feedback during training, you should be fine. You should know a lot of the things but also know when you have reached your limit and know how to find the answer. Believe it or not, your education does not stop at residency. I'd like to think I am a better doctor now compared to the end of residency/fellowship.

 

[DrSnips]

Remember the following:

1) You can still ask your colleagues questions once you've graduated (this is easier if you're not planning on a solo practice)
2) You live in the digital age, if there is something you know you don't know, then look it up (I get worried if people aren't regularly looking up the answers to questions that arise)
3) Medicine has lots of gray areas. If there's no compelling evidence basis to go with one plan, then it's likely that several possible plans could be "right". Have some logical basis for what you are doing and you'll be fine.

 

[WhiteCoatWonder]

2) You live in the digital age, if there is something you know you don't know, then look it up (I get worried if people aren't regularly looking up the answers to questions that arise)

yeah! a few of my friends who started hospitalist jobs last year spend A LOT of time looking stuff up before coming to round with their team. i always thought it was so mysterious what some of the attendings did before rounds/after seeing patients. some of the time is definitely spent looking up stuff. your residents will help jog your memory, too. remember, you are the teams' final decision maker, not the keeper of all the answers.

i actually appreciated when my attendings on service would re-learn obscure things in order to help teach us better. the transparency made for a better relationship.