Just showing up... BS.
-You need a survival kit.
-Always have something edible in your pocket, even if it's just a little thing of peanut butter you swiped from the supply area or a packet of sugar.
-You can learn to eat almost right in front of someone without them ever knowing if you have something bite sized you can swallow whole and you learn some magic sleight of hand technique.
-Correct that no one should see you eat ever except for another resident, and keep it to the call room if you can't pull off the magic trick.
-But don't eat anything particularly appealing (ie go to the cafeteria for a nice hot plate) unless you've asked others what they wanted you to bring back for them.
-If it's something from home or you had on you, keep it simple to minimize jealousy, or else bring enough to share.
-Feeding fellow residents makes life 20% better.
-In general, you will see what the culture of eating is at your program. Just because the attending is eating does not mean you can. Follow an upper's lead.
-It's supposed to be unethical to use med students to get food, but if you are allowed to let med students eat/piss, I tell them that anytime they need to do this, I would like for them to speak up and do so (unless you know clinic has a lunch hour), and if they lose the group to just page me and I will help them find their way.
-By giving them permission to eat, then you can say "Gosh med student, are you hungry? You must be starving? Do you want coffee?"
-If they take the bait, then you can say, "Well, what do you say, if you're headed that way would you mind grabbing me something while you're there? why don't I give you this (badge or money), my treat? I don't mean to scut you out."
-You need only do this once with the med student of average intelligence, from this point on when they are hungry they will announce that they are going to the cafeteria and would you like anything, and at this point since it is now their idea it is no longer unethically asking them to gopher for you, and I can say I was BEYOND thrilled as a med student to be able to say I was hungry and be rewarded with free food while making my resident well fed / happy.
-This is the happiest and most noble arrangement of co-survival between resident and med student in my opinion.
-This still works on long call admit days if the student is with you, the intern, because while they go eat a real meal, they can still bring you a latte to gargle down a cookie while you walk through the hospital (trying not to be seen eating).
If you can, have in the workroom/locker/bag/coat pocket:
On your person:
-Multiple caffeine sources,
-some that need no prep, pills or the shot bottles,
-or maybe tea or instant coffee if you can spoil yourself with a cup and tap water
-APAP or NSAID
-Breath mints (all docs seem to have coffee halitosis breath, I prefer to not be one of them despite the lattes I guzzle)
-If your specialty has a white coat field bible, like PocketMedicine
-Any other pocket reference for whatever essential topic you feel the most insecure about in your knowledge base (be it EKG, abx, whatever)
-I always have the Sanford guide to abx, unless you feel really confident about abx stuff
-Dosing guide if you're not having your hand held by Epic
-At least like 2 colors of pen I would say, maybe a highlighter
-ACLS cards - yeah, it's not likely you'll need them, but better safe than sorry, plus there's some stuff in there that's always helped me w/ stroke admits
-Travel toothbrush, toothpaste,
-Facewash, comb,
-extra undies, socks, shirt (you can get away with rewearing slacks or have a spare set)
-It's better to appear on time to work and then slip away to brush your teeth than be 5 min late because you did it at home, and assuming no body fluid accidents it's still good to have extra clothes in case you need to sleep at the hospital.
-Seriously, please find somewhere to sleep there if there is any chance you are too tired to drive home safely.
-Ditto learn the layout of the hospital.
-Scour the residency program materials/website about anything that's actually practical:
-ESPECIALLY PHONE/PAGER NUMBERS!
-Expectations about notes,
-where to find templates,
-standard order sets
-Anything about your program's EMR, like signing in, if you have a desktop
-Accessing email, how to get email on your phone
-Usually there's a website with a lot of stuff like this, make it your wonderland
-Play with your pager until you know how to operate its every function in your sleep
-Depending on what your first rotation is, find a survival manual geared for that. That's helpful for ICU, night float, wards.
-For FM I guess I would say there must be something about the top problems you'll see and basic plans for that.
-Phone apps that might be helpful:
-Epocrates,
-since you're doing FM the USPTF I don't know the acronym guidelines,
-other med calculators like for DVT, PE risk, strep, etc
-Have a system in place for organizing scut sheets, lab values, your presentations, and to-do's, or at least have thought about this by reviewing what's out there
-Most of this stuff is more useful for wards, but I hope some of this helps you with FM.
-It's true, the key is just figuring out where you are supposed to be when you're supposed to be there, and making love to your pager.
-Be humble,
-always choose being likable over looking smart,
-don't bitch,
-offer to help someone with their work if you're not on the edge of death and have one more note or order left in you,
-do as you're told,
-bite your tongue as much as you can, turn it into a challenge to yourself to do so at every opportunity.
-Only point out or correct someone above you in the most tactful, humble, polite, I'm almost phrasing this as a question kind of way, and only because it will really truly largely make a difference in management.
-I can't ethically tell you to lie about duty hours....
-Remember, the fastest note wins. It is better to be told that your notes are ugly as hell (while containing the bare minimum, never do less than the bare minimum) than to be told they need to be done faster. Your number one job is writing notes. Followed by answering pages.
-Remember: you are a note monkey making love to a pager. Seriously.