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For doctors/physicians, what would you change to enhance your residency experience?
I understand that there are ups and downs in medical school and the training years later on. I want to know what can be done to make things smoother for doctors. #medicine #residency #doctor #healthcare #hospital-and-healthcare
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4 answers
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Richard’s Answer
Things I wish I had done differently: 1) Read more. I had 4 children during residency so I had plenty of excuses to avoid the books. But by my last year, I had figured out how to budget my time better and was able to finish all the major texts to prepare for my boards. If I had only been as dedicated during the first 4 years I could have gotten even better training and come out of residency more confident.
2)Moonlight less. Once you have the opportunity to make "real" money, it is tempting to work on your days off. Unfortunately this extra pay barely makes a dent in the overall financial burden of medical training so may not be worth the fatigue and time away from your family.
3)Exercise more. During fellowship I started running again and found that it improved my mood and job performance.
Things the program could have done differently:
1) I was fortunate to attend a residency with twice daily lectures. Considering how much time and effort the attendings put into lecture, I feel like we could have learned more if it was more structured. For example, they could have given lectures in units, so the residents would know before hand what to study each week.
2) We worked all day on call-days then worked all night. These 24 hour shifts were followed by a day off. I think taking night shifts one week at a time would have been better
3) More frequent evaluations. We received our evaluations at the end of a month-long rotation. By then it's too late to change anything. Giving us a preliminary evaluation after 2 weeks could have given us a chance to improve.
2)Moonlight less. Once you have the opportunity to make "real" money, it is tempting to work on your days off. Unfortunately this extra pay barely makes a dent in the overall financial burden of medical training so may not be worth the fatigue and time away from your family.
3)Exercise more. During fellowship I started running again and found that it improved my mood and job performance.
Things the program could have done differently:
1) I was fortunate to attend a residency with twice daily lectures. Considering how much time and effort the attendings put into lecture, I feel like we could have learned more if it was more structured. For example, they could have given lectures in units, so the residents would know before hand what to study each week.
2) We worked all day on call-days then worked all night. These 24 hour shifts were followed by a day off. I think taking night shifts one week at a time would have been better
3) More frequent evaluations. We received our evaluations at the end of a month-long rotation. By then it's too late to change anything. Giving us a preliminary evaluation after 2 weeks could have given us a chance to improve.
Updated
Angela RM’s Answer
Residency should not be a test of whether you can care for patients while sleep-deprived. It also should not be an opportunity for Attendings to haze interns. Finally, it should not be cheap labor.
Competitive salaries based on hours of patient care.
Reasonable working hours with a guarantee of at least eight hours of sleep at night.
Attendings should teach rather than haze or give interns unnecessary scut work.
Residency Internship Medicine MedicalTraining Healthcare TeachingHospitals
Competitive salaries based on hours of patient care.
Reasonable working hours with a guarantee of at least eight hours of sleep at night.
Attendings should teach rather than haze or give interns unnecessary scut work.
Residency Internship Medicine MedicalTraining Healthcare TeachingHospitals
Updated
Corey’s Answer
training is better than ever before in the USA. Residents need more financial training since school debt is out of control. Learn as much about the business of healthcare so you can avoid the pitfalls of poor contracts, shady medical partnerships, or joining poorly performing hospitals.
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Rachel’s Answer
My residency experience would have been improved by allotting time every day to reading my textbooks. We work a lot in general surgery, so there is not much time to spare. However, I could have squeezed in a few paragraphs every day if I had known how important that information would be later.