As a PM&R hopeful going into my third year in a few days, I think it'd be nice to get a heads up on what I should be paying attention to so I can get the most out of each rotation.
What to look out for?
- Thread starter Eilat87
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Everything everyone says, especially the patient. People miss things because they get distracted, or anxious. Write things down.
Have a book to read during down time. Some rotations have a lot of time you are doing little-to-nothing. Other rotations have you running from dawn to dusk and beyond.
Work hard at ALL your rotations (well maybe not OB/Gyn--that sucks) Every single 3rd yr rotation has A LOT to teach you. Even psych (a good proportion of our patients are crazy)
Learn how to work with your hands (stitches, lines, injections, paracentesis, etc.) which will carry over to injection techniques when you are a resident.
Learn how to do an exceptional physical examination. How to listen to your patients.
Pay attention to every resident and attending you meet. Try to figure out what makes them likeable or dislikeable. What makes them a good/bad physician. You can learn as much from negative role models as you can from the positive role models.
Never say you are too busy or too tired.
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Learn how to anticipate the needs of your residents and attendings. This shows you've learned the process and actually care to be helpful. When you think one step ahead of the people you're working they will take notice.
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That's great advice. I think too often students are too concerned with "getting the right answer" or "looking good." That's the wrong attitude. The right attitude is to figure out how to think/act like a doctor. Residents and attendings think you're ignorant, so missing the answer to a question means nothing; however when a student is lazy, irresponsible, selfish, or inappropriate, that's when they get noticed. They will also get noticed when they do their work, when they help without asking, and when they learn the system before they should.
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this is great advice. Just read about your patients brotha. if one of your patient has terminal cancer and comes in for c. diff colitis, then read about it, know the treatment, and know the complications associated with it... that way you can anticipate anything going south, you know exactly what to be looking for when reading their charts, you can do a focused PE and present the patient crisp and to the point.
also, dont be afraid to ask the other teams like surgery, palliative care etc what going on on their end. It is always impressive when the med student knows what surgery is thinking or where hospice/palliative stands in terms of talking with the family. and I dont mean go and read their (surgery) notes because everyone reads their notes so you're not going to come up with anything new... actually call or go talk to the team.
I am just an intern so my advice doesn't weigh as much as lots of the guys in this forum. But I hope that this helps a little. good luck
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