Congratulations on matching into residency and graduating from medical school! You've already accomplished so much, and you should be proud of this. Take a moment to celebrate this milestone. And now you're about to start residency, and you are ready. Even so, it's normal to feel unprepared.
When I was about to start my intern year, I had all these questions of inadequacy—Did I know enough? Was I really prepared? Would I make the right decisions for my patients?
You are probably feeling similar things right now.
Remember that it’s normal to feel overwhelmed.
Your job as an intern is not to know everything. Your job is to keep learning and to care deeply for your patients. Be kind to yourself on the path.
When you’re a new intern, everything is overwhelming. You’re learning how to diagnose and treat patients, perform procedures, and figure out how to function in the hospital… It’s a lot. Know that all new things are challenging, especially intern year. Each month will feel a little easier as you get to know the hospital system, the EMR, the workflow, and the medicine.
Ask questions early and often.
There is so much you won’t yet know when you're an intern, and this is normal. Ask questions to best care for your patients. When you’re further in your training, you’ll be expected to know the answers, so ask the questions when you’re an intern. It’s the right thing for your patients.
Remember, the doctors leading your teams want to help you. They are there to help guide you. Ask questions even if they seem stupid or entirely off base. Your future self will thank you.
Look up your patients a day or two before you rotate on service.
Take time to get familiar with the EMR and your patient list. Figure out which patients will be assigned to you and spend time reviewing charts and taking notes in advance. This will make your first day of service a lot easier. Do this when you rotate to other new services to help ease the transition month by month.
Celebrate the small wins.
Did you put in an order you’ve never placed before? Celebrate this. Did you discharge a patient after helping them feel better? Celebrate this. Did you survive a whole week as an intern? Celebrate this.
As an intern, it was beneficial to have this mentality. It’s easy to think of everything you don’t yet know. Instead, celebrate the small progress as the year goes on.
Don’t take an arbitrary approach to studying.
Before my intern year, I created a “study plan” to read a certain number of pages per day in a review book. I quickly learned that this was not easy to retain.
Instead, a better approach for me was to read about my patients' conditions in real time and apply this knowledge to the care of my patients. If one had AFib, then I’d read about AFib that day. Or hyponatremia. Or colorectal cancer screening. Interacting with information, presenting it, reinforcing it to patients, and even teaching it to medical students is how the knowledge will stick over just passive reading in a book.
When you read about the things your patients are facing, it makes it more personal and memorable, and you’ll likely learn something that will benefit your patient, too.
Remember that connection with your co-residents and patients will sustain you.
It’s easy to get caught up in the work. Don’t forget to connect with the people around you—your teams, co-residents, and patients. This is what makes life meaningful. Laugh with your co-residents, become friends, and spend time together outside of work.
And connect with your patients. Be present with them. Get to know them as people. This is what makes medicine worth pursuing.
Even when the days are busy, take those extra moments to connect with human beings.
Take care of your mental and physical health.
Amidst a busy schedule; it can feel impossible to care for yourself, too.
As much as you can, take time to sleep, exericise, reduce your stress in healthy ways, stay connected to your family, and eat lots of plants. Consider therapy. Consider taking medication for your mental health if needed, or if it comes to it, even a break from training. Nothing is more important that your health, not even a career. Continue to advocate for the residents coming after you, and if a rotation is malignant for learners, say something (when you have the professional security or ability to do so). And be kind to medical students. They need your support, teaching, and kindness, too.
Wishing you luck this year! You're going to do great. Trust that you are capable and qualified.