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See title.
Insider tips on how to rock your medicine AI service?
- Thread starter Pox in a box
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1. Come Early and Stay late.
2. Carry more patients than they recommend. If they say 2 or 3 patients, ask if you carry 3 or 4 because you feel comfortable. This makes you seek responsibility. Looks great on your evaluation comments.
2. Use MKSAP for Shelf Exams
3. Ask intelligent questions during rounds
4. During Down Time Read a Handbook so it looks like you are studious
5. Ask the attending if you can do a presentation.
6. Finally as BigFrank sez. Make them like you without brown nosing.
2. Carry more patients than they recommend. If they say 2 or 3 patients, ask if you carry 3 or 4 because you feel comfortable. This makes you seek responsibility. Looks great on your evaluation comments.
2. Use MKSAP for Shelf Exams
3. Ask intelligent questions during rounds
4. During Down Time Read a Handbook so it looks like you are studious
5. Ask the attending if you can do a presentation.
6. Finally as BigFrank sez. Make them like you without brown nosing.
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p53 said:
LOL. Yes, this is the best advice anyone will give you!
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With Point 4, spend half your time looking studious. Spend the other half chitchatting with residents (providing that they too are free). If you spend every waking moment with your nose in a book, some residents will frown upon it. (A stupid stereotype, I know, but one that exists nonetheless)
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here's a post on a related topic that i posted on another thread - some if it is more like advice for 3rd years, so you should know most already...
i recom. getting very famaliar with what's in your pocket, so you can look up and anticipate questions while you are pre-rounding on patients - that being said, here's what i carried with me:
-pocket medicine (i think it's the single most valuable thing you can have)
-sanford guide (you don't have to memorize it - although i would learn 1st line abx for common infections - but definitely learn the format so you can look up things quickly)
-epocrates on your PDA (in addition to rx info - if you get the whole suite, you can look up ddx for lab values, and it has tools for calculating crcl, a-a gradient, etc). make sure to carry a maxwell and pocket small rx book like tarascon in case your PDA de-charges or you forget it.
-eponyms on your PDA (free program that is very helpful)
-stedmans on your PDA (just in case you forget what a term means - you should not have to use it that often, but i think it's beed well worth the $30 i paid for the program).
i also used the scutmonkey handbook at home and on call nights (good for ddx and procedures, but a little to heavy for the pocket), as well as IM on call. ferri is a good book too - it covers more topics than pocket medicine.
i would also recom a board-prep book like NMS, first aid, etc - which you should try to read cover-to-cover to get ready for the shelf. my school aslo bought us the IM q-bank. you can buy this and/or do all the "pretest" and MKSAP for students questions. make this reading/questions a certain amount per day and don't get behind.
and of course, harrisons, uptodate, and clinical guidelines / articles for referance. try to read as much detail as possible on your patients the evening after you admit them. search specialty organization websites for guidelines (like the american college of cardiology) - and you can see the ref. articles in pocket medicine
try to make lists of common clincial problems and your approach to them. it's is better and more high-yield for you to know common stuff very very well. practice reading EKGs (get dubin or another similar book), ABGs, and reading CXRs - be systematic. don't just read about how to do these - practice, practice, practice.
make a lits of drugs commonly used in the inpatient IM setting - and know their mechanism, adverse SE, contra, etc.
practice writing orders, especially admission orders. get a systeatic way of conducting and writing H&P and progress notes. get a systematic way ofkeeping track of your patients (cards, sheets, etc), and umake sure they are fully updated before you go home every day. know how to write / dictate a discharge summary.
make sure you do a good job presenting - have a good 1st sentence, and be systematic (don't talk about CT results in S section). try to sound clear and confident, but not cocky. anticipate being interrupted, and know that different attending will want different ways of presenting.
make sure you are crystal clear the first day on how your resident / attending wants things done, and what their expectation are, and that you know the schedule.
and (the most important thing), work hard, know your patient, show up early/stay late, get along well, have a good attitude, etc.
be "resourceful" - i.e. if lab or CT results are not coming back - call radiology / lab - don't be afraid of the phone as a student (you will see interns/residents calling constantly to follow up on things).
ASK for feedback from your interns, residents, attendings once a week if you don't get it - just say "how do you think i'm doing so far - are there things i need to work on next week?"
if you attending / resident asks you do look something up - make sure you do so ASAP (by the next day) - and do additional reading so you can anticipate follow up questions.
don't dig yourself into a hole if you don't know the answer - it's ok to make an educated guess - but if get floow up questions that you can't answer - bail out, and just say, "i don't know, but i will do some reading on that and can tell you tommorow"
even if you get lots of questions wrong (i certainly did)- if you do this, you should do well. don't forget if you want to ask for a letter of rec - bring your cv and a letter highlighting your background and outlining your career goals.
a lot of this stuff i learned the 'hard way', and i still did fine.
good luck!!!
i recom. getting very famaliar with what's in your pocket, so you can look up and anticipate questions while you are pre-rounding on patients - that being said, here's what i carried with me:
-pocket medicine (i think it's the single most valuable thing you can have)
-sanford guide (you don't have to memorize it - although i would learn 1st line abx for common infections - but definitely learn the format so you can look up things quickly)
-epocrates on your PDA (in addition to rx info - if you get the whole suite, you can look up ddx for lab values, and it has tools for calculating crcl, a-a gradient, etc). make sure to carry a maxwell and pocket small rx book like tarascon in case your PDA de-charges or you forget it.
-eponyms on your PDA (free program that is very helpful)
-stedmans on your PDA (just in case you forget what a term means - you should not have to use it that often, but i think it's beed well worth the $30 i paid for the program).
i also used the scutmonkey handbook at home and on call nights (good for ddx and procedures, but a little to heavy for the pocket), as well as IM on call. ferri is a good book too - it covers more topics than pocket medicine.
i would also recom a board-prep book like NMS, first aid, etc - which you should try to read cover-to-cover to get ready for the shelf. my school aslo bought us the IM q-bank. you can buy this and/or do all the "pretest" and MKSAP for students questions. make this reading/questions a certain amount per day and don't get behind.
and of course, harrisons, uptodate, and clinical guidelines / articles for referance. try to read as much detail as possible on your patients the evening after you admit them. search specialty organization websites for guidelines (like the american college of cardiology) - and you can see the ref. articles in pocket medicine
try to make lists of common clincial problems and your approach to them. it's is better and more high-yield for you to know common stuff very very well. practice reading EKGs (get dubin or another similar book), ABGs, and reading CXRs - be systematic. don't just read about how to do these - practice, practice, practice.
make a lits of drugs commonly used in the inpatient IM setting - and know their mechanism, adverse SE, contra, etc.
practice writing orders, especially admission orders. get a systeatic way of conducting and writing H&P and progress notes. get a systematic way ofkeeping track of your patients (cards, sheets, etc), and umake sure they are fully updated before you go home every day. know how to write / dictate a discharge summary.
make sure you do a good job presenting - have a good 1st sentence, and be systematic (don't talk about CT results in S section). try to sound clear and confident, but not cocky. anticipate being interrupted, and know that different attending will want different ways of presenting.
make sure you are crystal clear the first day on how your resident / attending wants things done, and what their expectation are, and that you know the schedule.
and (the most important thing), work hard, know your patient, show up early/stay late, get along well, have a good attitude, etc.
be "resourceful" - i.e. if lab or CT results are not coming back - call radiology / lab - don't be afraid of the phone as a student (you will see interns/residents calling constantly to follow up on things).
ASK for feedback from your interns, residents, attendings once a week if you don't get it - just say "how do you think i'm doing so far - are there things i need to work on next week?"
if you attending / resident asks you do look something up - make sure you do so ASAP (by the next day) - and do additional reading so you can anticipate follow up questions.
don't dig yourself into a hole if you don't know the answer - it's ok to make an educated guess - but if get floow up questions that you can't answer - bail out, and just say, "i don't know, but i will do some reading on that and can tell you tommorow"
even if you get lots of questions wrong (i certainly did)- if you do this, you should do well. don't forget if you want to ask for a letter of rec - bring your cv and a letter highlighting your background and outlining your career goals.
a lot of this stuff i learned the 'hard way', and i still did fine.
good luck!!!
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