During a recent night shift I was called to a patient who obviously was acutely ill. She had been transferred from the ICU to the ward today. Further workup showed she didn’t have urinary tract infection (UTI) as suspected, but: necrotizing fasciitis.
The most important skill for doctors regardless of your specialty is this one: Decide which crisis you deal with first. Many tasks will appear very urgent, and some actually are. However, you can only effectively focus on one thing at a time. Multitasking is a myth. So here is an example:
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.
Getting through a night without a minute of sleep is what I find the hardest about being a doctor. Lack of sleep will make me unconcentrated, irritable, and more error-prone. And during a night shift, it’s not your only task to stay awake: you are supposed to work, make good decisions, and save lives.
During my first years of my residency I tested several strategies not only to stay awake, but also alert and concentrated during a night shift.
Here I share what worked, and what didn’t .
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:
It’s no secret that doctors are busy people. Having an organized workflow is key to be productive and keep a reasonable amount of free time.
To manage my time and tasks I use these apps that
In order to keep my workflow clutterfree I only use six apps, five of them are FREE!
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.
“Do you have any more questions..?” Every good doctor patient conversation ends with this question. But what if you don’t have an answer yet? At the beginning of my career I found myself rushing out the patient’s room because I didn’t want to answer any more questions.
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Last week I received this voicemail from the principal’s secretary of my son’s elementary school: “Hello, this is the elementary school. Your son Jonas … [ten second pause] … unfortunately …[ten second pause] has on his head [twenty second pause] a little bruise after colliding with a classmate playing soccer….”
Photo courtesy of JONAS
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.
Photo courtesy of IStockphoto.com
Question: What gives you the feeling to not be respected by a doctor? Leave a comment below!
