scared for next year!

[kat82]

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hello interns! i am an ms4, starting to get very nervous about next year. i am applying in EM right now. just wanted to post and get feedback on how you all felt going into residency and what you went through 4th year dealing with the idea that you were going to be a doctor. right now i cant even believe that i will be an MD in like 9 months, aaaah!!

 

[Tired]

hello interns! i am an ms4, starting to get very nervous about next year. i am applying in EM right now. just wanted to post and get feedback on how you all felt going into residency and what you went through 4th year dealing with the idea that you were going to be a doctor. right now i cant even believe that i will be an MD in like 9 months, aaaah!!

You'll get over it by your third day of internship. Just relax and enjoy the year.

 

[elwademd]

You'll get over it by your third day of internship. Just relax and enjoy the year.

+1

enjoy your 4th year.

 

[nutmegs]

seriously, 4th year is the best year of ever. have fun this year. do not spend it worrying about intern year because it'll be what it is no matter what. there's no way to prepare for it, really- just gotta dive in then.

 

[Dr JPH]

You'll get over it by your third day of internship. Just relax and enjoy the year.

Agreed.

By the second night of call you have overcome most of your fears.

 

[dralex]

What everyone above said....
Enjoy your fourth year. Starting your internship is like having a child, you really don't know what it feels like until it happens to you.
Your internship year will be great. You might be miserable at times, you may hate it at other times but it is one of the most awesome times. You now get to play doctor for the first time!
Enjoy it! Memories of a lifetime will come out of it.

 

[Adcadet]

You'll get over it by your third day of internship. Just relax and enjoy the year.

Yeah, but for me the fourth day brought a whole new set of things to freak out about.

Just try to learn as much as you can while on rotations. While not on rotations try to have as much fun as you can.

 

[Reaganite]

A lot of people say enjoy your 4th year, slack off, etc. You also hear a lot of "nothing can prepare you for residency." I'm not entirely convinced that this is true. While I certainly recommend you enjoy your 4th year (definitely take some easy, chill electives), I do believe that you can make your life easier when an intern by working hard on your sub-I, taking an EXTRA medicine month, etc. I took a few harder rotations my fourth year (the key word is a few 🙂 ), and I can definitely say they have made my life in residency a whole hell of a lot easier. A lot of the things my colleagues are learning now under much more intense scrutiny, I learned while a responsibility-free 4th year medical student. You'd be surprised at how little you really know after 3rd year of medical school. Use your 4th year to selectively refine your ward skills so that your internship can be as painless as possible.

 

[Dr JPH]

Yeah, but for me the fourth day brought a whole new set of things to freak out about.

Absolutely...there will be ongoing occurrences to scare the hell out of you, but after the first few days I think you develop some confidence in knowing who to call to get the answers...at least this month. 😉

 

[EaglesPA]

A lot of people say enjoy your 4th year, slack off, etc. You also hear a lot of "nothing can prepare you for residency." I'm not entirely convinced that this is true. While I certainly recommend you enjoy your 4th year (definitely take some easy, chill electives), I do believe that you can make your life easier when an intern by working hard on your sub-I, taking an EXTRA medicine month, etc. I took a few harder rotations my fourth year (the key word is a few 🙂 ), and I can definitely say they have made my life in residency a whole hell of a lot easier. A lot of the things my colleagues are learning now under much more intense scrutiny, I learned while a responsibility-free 4th year medical student. You'd be surprised at how little you really know after 3rd year of medical school. Use your 4th year to selectively refine your ward skills so that your internship can be as painless as possible.

I agree with you on this one. I wish I had done a bit more learning and less slacking off during 4th as it would have made my 1st month much less stressful than it was. So I would say try to fit in some reading while partying it up during 4th year....

 

[sophiejane]

Absolutely...there will be ongoing occurrences to scare the hell out of you, but after the first few days I think you develop some confidence in knowing who to call to get the answers...at least this month. 😉

This is very true. So far for me, internship has been more about learning how to get stuff done in the hospital than anything. Assessment is key as well, but if you pay attention in 3rd and 4th year, you should have pretty decent assessment skills (just being able to describe heart sounds, lung sounds, do a complete neuro exam and know why you are doing it, examine the belly well, etc. goes a really long way).

Having a good system for interviewing examining patients and having good resources at hand for looking stuff up fast is also key. You don't have to know all the answers or how to do everything, but you do need to know who to ask for help and where to look stuff up.

Being scared is normal. It's the people who aren't scared that worry me. Just show up July 1, be humble and ready to work and ready to learn. You'll be fine.

 

[ScooterBanks]

You are doing emergency medicine. As long as you know the English language and can operate a telephone, you'll be fine.

Patient comes in, you ask them what's wrong, they say chest pain, you call cardiology and let them treat it.

Patient comes in, they have a broken bone, call ortho.

It can get a little more tricky. Sometimes patients come in and you really can't tell what's wrong with them. That's when you just order the pan-scan and let the radiologist tell you what's wrong with them, then you can call the appropriate service for care. This option is becoming increasingly more popular with EM's.

They should just put a surgery resident and an IM resident in the emergency rooms and eliminate emergency medicine physicians. Hire NP's and PA's to take histories/order imagining and then call the appropriate service to admit them. The surgery/medicine residents can just handle codes and critical care situations briefly until the NP's and PA's can page the critical care physicians/trauma surgeons to come down and take the patient.

EM physicians are the most useless and easily replacable doctors in the entire hospital.

 

[brianmartin]

^^^
Go back to the reading room and play nice with the other children 🙂