Kimberli Cox gave a nice overview of ways to do good on a surgical AI. I did a couple, actually. I just did a search and couldn't find it. So I'll do my best here.
You should pre-round. This means getting the patient list, pulling the charts, seeing the patient and writing a note. Learn the art of writing the short but sweet note. When the residents and the attending round, then, you should lead them from room to room. They will follow you. You can present the patient, or sometimes, if it's a difficult patient, the resident will present, but at least you are in the know with what's going on. It's so satisfying when they look at your note and see vitals, labs, etc. all in one place and they use this to write their note, etc.
You'll be someone the 3rd years might look to for some help in getting their bearings, since they are brand-new on surgery. Leave the "pimping" to the real residents.
Help the real intern out however you can. Work "with" them, see if there is anything you can do, b/c during the day they will likely be working on the floors doing admits, discharges, dressing changes, taking calls, removing sutures/staples, drains, etc. These are all things you can do, and familiarize yourself with where all the supplies are to do this. Some places have the pyxis machines for general supplies and you will have to make friends with the patient's nurse so she can get you in if you have no code to do so.
You can run stuff to radiology. You'll bug the radiologists for a read on something.
Get the OR schedule for the next day and have it handy. Sometimes the residents might need to know what's up for the next day. You could also go on Up to Date and print out some things regarding diseases that your patients have, etc. They are under the gun, too, so any little things you can do will be helpful.
Now, the beautiful part of my sub-I/AI was that as long as I did all this scut stuff early in the day, and once after a few days I proved to the team that I was going to be a workhorse for the month, I was rewarded with being told that I could go to the OR and scrub in on whatever I wanted. And I did.
And of course, surgery is anatomy. Know it cold.
