As the holidays approach, this time of year can be filled with mixed emotions for high achieving medical professionals who find themselves in the hospital, clinics, and practices caring for patients instead of spending time with loved ones. It can be more hectic than ever as doctors try to be all things to family and friends while still carrying a full patient load.
Personally, I learned the hard way that this …
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Doctors spend their early adulthood preparing for medicine. In college, we take classes to satisfy prerequisites and prepare for the MCAT exam. Medical school has a life of its own. The volume of material to master is extensive, and the pressure mounts to be your best. Next is the interview process for residency training and the anticipation of Match Day.
Then life will begin. Maybe?
Now you are in your late 20s …
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As a physician in training, you’re in the first quarter of your new position as an intern or resident. If you are an early career physician, you are adjusting to life as an attending.
What exactly does that mean for you? Are you moving from rotation to rotation hopeful that someone will show you the ropes? In the midst of change, that’s usually what we do. We look at the schedule, …
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In medicine, this is the time when one season ends, and another begins. New doctors graduate medical school. They are excited and, at the same time scared, as they enter into residency training. Interns become residents. Senior residents celebrate moving into attending positions or look forward to subspecialty training in fellowship programs. It’s the excitement of completion combined with the uncertainty of charting a new course in medicine. Each new …
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What if each doctor in contact with medical students and residents acknowledge that they are a diverse group with their own inherent strengths and weaknesses?
Some residents will have mastered the knowledge within the pages of the textbook and can easily recite it during attending rounds. Others will have a natural bedside manner making patients feel comfortable, so that the admission history and physical exams are more complete. Others will be …
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At this place again.
Place: Neonatal ICU.
Time: 3 a.m.
Location: Bedside of a sick preterm female. She is intubated and on the ventilator. Antibiotics course through her veins. Blood transfusions, IV fluids and vasopressors support her in the fight of her life. Lab tests are checked and adjustments are made to meet her needs.
Her parents sit beside her isolette. They watch the monitor, silently begging the numbers to give them some sign, …
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Every July, recently graduated doctors from medical school transition into hospitals, clinics and surgical rotations. Doctors completing their internship year welcome second year with additional leadership roles. This period of transition is coupled with the pressure of doing well, the stress of proving your competency on attending rounds and the desire to receive respect from your team.
It is easy to get caught in a sea of confusion and frustration as …
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