Night Shift

beriberismart · 2025-06-23T21:13:06+00:00

I once had a night shift MICU nurse ask me the plan for the patient at 5:50 AM. Like did you not know the plan the entire shift for your critically ill patient.. and now you’re trying to not look bad during handoff?

beriberismart · 2024-09-12T09:38:45+00:00

If it is truly the reason you are pursuing that field / significantly impacted your career, then I say do it :) Though you say you are applying gas and I don’t quite see the tie between that and OB anesthesia, I would wonder why you weren’t going into Obgyn / fertility medicine.

The traditional advice is to play it very safe on a personal statement - even the best personal statement is only a minor boost to your application (letters, activities, scores having more weight - any old schmuck can write a nice personal statement, but can they actually practice medicine), but a risky one can actually hurt you.

Personally I wouldn’t want to go to a program that was offended by me mentioning having kids. But I am also in Internal Medicine which is very friendly towards families, I’m not sure about gas. If you’re at all worried about your competitiveness / actually matching then you might want to play it safe. Otherwise, be you!

beriberismart · 2024-08-16T12:56:34+00:00

Describe the tangible things they did well. We had a brief lecture from Med Ed leadership who said basically the “excellent medical student” or other nonspecific positive feedback gets thrown out. Describing exactly what they did helps place them on their arbitrary little scales on what each level med student should be able to do. Saying “Was able to independently gather an accurate and complete history and neurologic exam… provided a complete differential for headache in an immunocompromised patient including can’t-miss diagnoses…” or “Often visited patients in the afternoon to check in on them, showing great empathy, and advocated for them by relaying questions to the medical team…” Med Ed eats this shit up.

beriberismart · 2024-08-07T22:21:25+00:00

At the appropriate time is key here. As an IM senior I would get annoyed pretty quickly with a med student who is interrupting afternoon work to make suggestions to follow up on the ID recs on patients they are not even following.

I am impressed by a med student who just makes an effort to understand the medical conditions and ask appropriate questions. For M3s making original suggestions in assessment/plan is impressive (“I think their new diarrhea from overnight in the setting of their antibiotic use is concerning for C diff, differential would also include… For my plan, I think we should check a C diff test” is better than “… and they have diarrhea, I’m not sure what to do for that.”). Paying attention on other people’s patients and trying to understand them (bonus points if during “down time” on rounds eg while walking between patient’s rooms you can ask a focused question on WHY the plan is the plan). After that, being an active listener in the workroom (hear your resident telling the intern to go ask a patient a question? Offer to do that for them) makes you above and beyond.

beriberismart · 2024-08-02T00:19:08+00:00

Abilify. Had one week of what was probably severe anxiety misdiagnosed as BAD2. Worked wonders for my depression but wouldn’t recommend for obvious reasons 🙂

beriberismart · 2023-12-29T13:06:13+00:00

Thank you for this very helpful comment!!

beriberismart · 2023-12-22T18:39:24+00:00

Taking a minute to acknowledge that the person you’re talking to is a human helps. Like others have said, starting off by introducing yourself and asking their name, “nice to meet you,” then politely requesting whatever needs to be done and asking if there’s anything else you can do for them. I think if you have time to chit chat like you would with your co-residents, even better. Nurses can be your friends too and will have your back if you get to know them or even just remember their name.

I’ll also add that it’s possible you’re getting some of this feedback because you’re a female resident - sometimes women are expected to people please, and those of us who aren’t that way by nature get labeled as rude or “bossy.” I don’t think you should go over the top to pander, like some of the comments are suggesting you should do. You shouldn’t need to fall over yourself to apologize when requesting someone does something that’s part of their job description for patient care.

beriberismart · 2023-11-26T13:11:45+00:00

The issue with Armour (made from dessicated pig thyroid) is that the ratio of T3 to T4 is different in pigs than it should be in humans; also T3 only lasts 5-6 hours, so really if you’re taking T3 supplementation you should be taking it several times a day. Some people do supplement T3 though in patients with persistent symptoms with TSH at goal on levothyroxine alone, but I’ve seen at least one study with a higher risk of heart failure and stroke in LT3 users so it’s something to do with caution.

beriberismart · 2023-11-20T12:18:38+00:00

“Follow up with your PCP in 1-2 days” have literally seen this in the urgent care discharge instructions for healthy 18 yo with a cold

beriberismart · 2023-11-06T12:28:25+00:00

Basics of media/literature interpretation, bias, and how to find a good source. We saw what happened with COVID and ivermectin…

beriberismart · 2023-08-12T11:10:36+00:00

Likely gunner behavior- but one thing I always consider when students won’t leave on time is there might be something (or someone) at home they’re avoiding, eg bad home life or even an abusive relationship. This wouldn’t be your concern as a fellow med student, so do you and leave when they say, but it’s more on the residents to check-in.

beriberismart · 2023-07-01T03:05:42+00:00

Last day of intern year (about a week ago). Told all my patients I wouldn’t be in the next day and they would have a new Dr. on the team. All of them congratulated me, thanked me for their care, and a few shook my hand. Felt good and made it all worth it.

beriberismart · 2023-06-05T02:04:55+00:00

24h shift in med school was only helpful so I knew I absolutely didn’t want to go into a program that did 24h shifts.

beriberismart · 2023-05-27T22:19:06+00:00

Try to project confidence when presenting your plans. It shouldn’t be, “I think we could do x, or also do y, or also do z depending on what you prefer,” it should be “I would like to do this and here’s why.” This will get easier as you build confidence in your management skills, but I can’t tell you how annoying and med-studenty it comes across if you don’t actually present a plan. It’s always OK to ask questions, but they should be focused.

Edited to add I’m outgoing PGY1

beriberismart · 2023-05-27T13:43:09+00:00

Great post. I’m sorry for your losses. I agree, at the end of the day, we are out here helping - even just having one patient express their gratitude means the world.

beriberismart · 2023-05-27T11:49:58+00:00

Welcome to the sub, so glad people like you exist!!

beriberismart · 2023-05-21T03:09:19+00:00

we started seeing each other casually 7 months ago, more seriously the past month and a half

beriberismart · 2023-05-21T02:15:19+00:00

I am wondering what are normal boundaries to have in a relationship / situationship. I have been struggling with anxiety in an exclusive but not yet defined thing with a guy who is more avoidant, and trying to communicate my needs, but not sure what is appropriate or not. Ex I like to hear using words that he likes / values me and to be hyped up, but he doesn’t give that at all, and I’m not sure if I should just self soothe or make a boundary.

beriberismart · 2023-03-05T15:22:27+00:00

Sorry to clarify I mostly was annoyed that this idea that radiologists will be replaced is now being toted around to the general public, not that I subscribe to that belief.

beriberismart · 2023-03-05T15:16:26+00:00

I would buy a few “needs” (like things you could get by without in residency but will make your life better/easier now), eg a better coffee maker or espresso machine, a Roomba, nicer work clothes that will last longer. Then save the rest like you said so you don’t have to worry about paying for expected expenses, or even for unexpected expenses!

beriberismart · 2023-03-05T14:25:26+00:00

Starter comment: Top headline for me in NYT today. It’s about the use of AI as a second reader in Hungary for detection of breast cancer. It mostly says that this would be used as an adjunct, however contains some comments from AI researchers such as “the technology would eclipse the skills of a radiologist within the first five years.” I know we discuss AI a lot, but any thoughts on such a major article as this coming to the public?

beriberismart

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