Good Interns

We are one month into the new year, that is for medical residents around the country.  It's hard to learn how to be a good intern.  It's also hard to learn how not to be an intern.  Since I have the intern thing down, I thought I would provide some tips for those new interns who are trying to figure it all out.

-The reputation you make for yourself on day 1 will last for the remainder of your residency.  Be nice, keep your head and don't blow up at nurses.  I'm sure you've heard it before, but nurses can make or break you.  You never know who knows who in the hospital, so make sure you mind your p's and q's.
-Write everything down.  When someone asks you to do something, put it on your list.
-Make check boxes and cross stuff off the list as you go.
-Do things as they come up, if you can.  If you can't, you have to prioritize.
-Check and recheck things throughout the day.  Follow-up on lab results and tests and keep people up to date.
-Get patients out of the hospital.  You're job is to help move patients out, otherwise, they will just linger forever.  Make it your mission.  Remember, bad things happen to people in hospitals.
-Don't leave the task at hand, unless someone's about to die.  Walk, don't run to codes.  You need to make sure you have collected your thoughts before you walk into a chaotic room.  You're supposed to be the one who knows what to do.  Start with A and go in order.  Make sure a senior person knows the situation.
-When you get a call about a patient, go see the patient, especially at the beginning.  Towards the end, you'll be able to triage more effectively over the phone.
-Call for help.  Your more senior residents have been there before.  If you figure stuff out on your own, and no one ever gets hurt, that's great, but if you mess something up and someone dies, and you didn't ask for help, you'll never live that down.
-The most important thing that a surgical intern can do is keep the operating room going.  Call the consultants, go to the Echo reading room yourself, do whatever you have to do to get the patient into the operating room safely.
-Stay until your work is done.  You might find that you are staying late at the beginning, but you'll become more efficient with time.  None the less, your more senior colleagues will appreciate your willingness to be a team player.
-Read as much as you can.
-Do something besides work.  Otherwise, you'll go crazy.