We have an intern on our ICU, who will be a physician in a few months. She asked me what can I do to lose my fear? “Fear of what?” I asked.
“Fear of having my first day at work. Here during my internship I follow you around, I watch, sometimes I put in needles. But having the responsibility for all these patients? The whole unit? That is totally different from what I do here during my internship. So what can I do to prepare better for “day one”?” She replied. Here is my 5 step strategy:
Few fields demand such a high degree of energy, concentration and emotional stability in order to do a great job, as medicine.
Listening attentively, suturing a vessel, implanting a catheter- those are all tasks that require energy, focus and concentration.
Whether you do a good job in your internship will greatly depend on what you do off the job. Coming to work physically fit and mentally strong will definitely boost your career.
In this job you need to keep your batteries charged. Here are three steps to high energy levels.
There are many ways to Rome, but in my experience there are three major keys to a successful medical career. Here they are:
Whether our patients are content with our work greatly depends on their expectation prior to the treatment.
While we should always do our best to deliver high quality work, modulating -and many times lowering- their expectations can further maximize your patient’s satisfaction ratings. Here are 4 ways how you can do that.
“Hey Daniel, greetings from Jack [our attending, name changed]: Don’t ever put in a pneumocath in a patient’s chest again, your patient suffered a pneumothorax”.
That’s how I was greeted to my late shift after I had put a chest tube in a patient the day before, which obviously hadn’t work out as we had hoped.
As it turned out, the patient had a pneumothorax before I even saw him. But either way, I wasn’t all that happy about this kind of feedback in front of all my colleagues. Obviously someone was happy I had caused a complication.
I’m convinced that there has never been a better time in history to be a doctor. However, many doctors use a great part of their time to complain how hard life is as a doctor. They talk about the good old days, when everything was better and easier.
So I put together my top ten of reasons, why this is the best time to be a doctor. Ever. Consider this post an antidepressant for doctors and feel free to share it.
Every time you end your shift, you’ll be criticised. Your colleagues and bosses try to understand why you did what you did.
That’s why they will question why you
That’s OK: Three doctors, four opinions. However, many doctors take that form of criticism personal and react defensive. Here are my four steps to handling criticism, so you profit from it:
When you start off as a doctor you depend on the nurses. Oh man, some of them saved my butt several times, I can tell you. There were times when they suggested adequate therapies when I had no clue what to do next. It depends almost entirely on you, whether they help you out or make your life a living hell.
Here is what I learned during my first years in residency. More.
If you want your patient to follow your medical advice, you need her to feel respected by you. There are easy-to implement things we can do reach that goal.
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Question: What gives you the feeling to not be respected by a doctor? Leave a comment below!
When I started my residency in 2008 I only read two books in three years. ALTOGETHER!
But as I wrote in my last blogpost: It is critical for our personal development and our career to read non-medical books. But how can I make time for that?
