Refreshers for residency

[eburnation]

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Currently perusing through extern manuals and class notes trying to figure out what topics to brush up on for residency, so I thought who better to ask than the DPM community.

Signed,
A (very nervous) intern who hasn’t touched a book in weeks.

 

[Homo sapien]

Nothing. Enjoy your time off

 

[Feli]

I agree ... have fun.
Free time and vaca will be hard to come by pretty soon.

First year most places is half or more off service (and rest of time on podiatry is mostly inpatients/call), so bugs and drugs are good review).

 

[Adam Smasher]

You probably know this already, but know the osteomyelitis workup by heart--it's the same for everyone, and you'll do it a ton as a PGY-1. Everyone gets vancomycin and zosyn, everyone gets xr, esr/crp, procalcitonin if you want to brown nose. Your pt may not need MRI but your attending may not know they don't need MRI so ask your seniors what to do. Pay attention to GLP-1 agonists, anticoagulants, and dialysis days, these are the things that result in surgery delays and therefore you getting yelled at.

For elective cases, you study 1-3 days ahead of schedule. Probably a pgy2 doing these and you start out watching.

For IM, forget it. I was never more furious with my podiatry school than on my IM rotation. I paid them $$$$$ and they taught me jack nothing about medicine. You can't make up for that with self study either. I felt like such a clown on that rotation.

 

[MalleableMan]

Currently perusing through extern manuals and class notes trying to figure out what topics to brush up on for residency, so I thought who better to ask than the DPM community.

Signed,
A (very nervous) intern who hasn’t touched a book in weeks.

The best person to ask if a current intern at your program. Ask them what they wish they reviewed before starting. You only have 2 weeks before starting so you should probably relax.

I agree with above that infection work up is probably the best at this point. One other thing that I wish incoming residents reviewed more before starting is advanced imaging (MRI, CT). Knowing where to find specific anatomy, knowing which view to pull up based on pathology. That comes with experience and it’s painfully obvious when someone hasn’t taken the time to look at images during clinical school years.

 

[heybrother]

1. If you haven't done so already look back at what your PD/relevant faculty have published.
2. Your second year will probably be your most helpful source of information.
3. Money is usually tight but look into those things you may not have time for in the beginning - like an oil change or what not. My suspicion is most people expect you to show up ready to work and its problematic if you show up and demonstrate your personal life is a mess and that its interfering with working. It really can be a tough time period because unless your family helps you - you may have potentially been wearing the same clothes and driving the same car since college. Fix what can be fixed.
4. Look into your relationships ie. spouse, family, visiting people. etc. Those things may be neglected in the future and there's something to be said for taking this last opportunity to reinforce them.
5. Show up planning on success. Week 1 is often a flurry of meeting new people and faces, new phone numbers etc. Try and make a plan for learning people's names, who to call. If people are showing you resources, decision trees - take notes. Take pictures. Have it readily accessible on your phone or in your notes. Don't be the person 6 months in who can't remember how to order an angiogram in Epic. When people share order sets and note templates and what not - start looking through them and learning them and making sure you can access them. Make it a point to learn your EHR and how patients are shared and accessed and transfered. You are possibly going to be sent to some sort of EHR/Epic training course - and it may seem very boring, but you are going to need to develop those skills to be successful over the next 3 years. Its also entirely possible your attendings have somehow never learn your EHR and are entirely dependent on residents which means they'll be counting on you.

 

[Feli]

... Look into your relationships ie. spouse, family, visiting people. etc. Those things may be neglected in the future and there's something to be said for taking this last opportunity to reinforce them....

Yep, this part can't be underestimated.

If you're going to nearly any good program, your personal relationships will be fairly neglected. It's good to water those plants while you can. 👍

Easier than ever to connect with text or social media or other basic means, but do an actual good video chat or voice call or visit with some key people while you can.