Self Doubt

[sa10]

Hi Everyone,
I know everyone has their moments of self doubts and that is quite normal. But I wanted to know if any of you still feel like a student even as an intern.
Like ofcourse doctors are life long learners and all but I mean mentally don’t feel like you are a doctor!

I am 8 months into internship and I still feel like I don’t trust my self to do much.
It kind of affects the way I interact with my seniors too. As most interns are pretty chill with them and I still act like they are my examiners.

I don’t know if This is because these are doctors who trained me during medical school.
But does this really ever go away?

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[Chads2]

I didn’t feel like I truly knew what I was doing until after 3 years of being an attending.

 

[gutonc]

I'm 9 years into my career as an attending, and medical director of my large group. I don't feel like this daily anymore, but at least weekly. At least for a minute.

 

[dienekes88]

Hi Everyone,
I know everyone has their moments of self doubts and that is quite normal. But I wanted to know if any of you still feel like a student even as an intern.
Like ofcourse doctors are life long learners and all but I mean mentally don’t feel like you are a doctor!

I am 8 months into internship and I still feel like I don’t trust my self to do much.
It kind of affects the way I interact with my seniors too. As most interns are pretty chill with them and I still act like they are my examiners.

I don’t know if This is because these are doctors who trained me during medical school.
But does this really ever go away?

I'm a PGY9 fellow in a surgical super specialty.

How often am i humbled? Every. Single. Day.

Keep learning. Don't make the same mistake twice. Own your errors. You won't be perfect. Neither will your peers.

Just try not to get a maneuver named after yourself.

 

[Top Gun]

Completed a 3 year IM residency and practiced IM for 3 years. Then did nephro fellowship and have been practicing for 8 years. There are still times when I question my decisions or feel like I’m flying by the seat of my pants.

 

[DOswag]

I'm a PGY9 fellow in a surgical super specialty.

How often am i humbled? Every. Single. Day.

Keep learning. Don't make the same mistake twice. Own your errors. You won't be perfect. Neither will your peers.

Just try not to get a maneuver named after yourself.

PGY9?! What are you? Damn I did a transitional rotating internship and then 4 year psych residency (it was a DO internship and the residency didn't count it so had to start over as an intern) and I thought 5 years of post grad training was bad enough.

 

[EthylMethylMan]

As everyone’s already said, this is normal. As an intern, there is a ton you have yet to master or even learn in the first place. Just stay humble, ask your seniors and attendings for help, and read up on things you’re not comfortable with. An intern who doesn’t have a healthy amount self-doubt (I.e. humility, in this case) is dangerous.

It gets better with time because you read more and see way more patients over time. For me as a relatively new attending it hasn’t fully gone away. There are still times every week or so when something outside the routine comes up that I have to either look up or even text one of my fellowship attendings about. This is honestly a good thing though. It helps prevent cowboy behavior. But it does get better.

 

[dgdg]

As long as your performance is acceptable, don't be too hard on yourself. Residency is an intense environment with a rapid and steep learning curve. Additionally, many of your supervisors having no managerial experience.

From time to time I wind up reading inspirational and insightful quotes about knowledge and wisdom from others who were far smarter than I am. Here are a few for you:

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
― Socrates

“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.”
― William Shakespeare, As You Like It

Don't let your 'wisdom' get you down. Soak up all that knowledge and become a wonderfully capable doctor who never stops learning. A wise physician will feel like they have never learned enough. Acquiring and relearning facts never ends. It's part of the excitement in our field.