Acting Intern

“Wherever the art of medicine is loved, there is also a love of humanity.”

Hippocrates

Today was the last day of my acting internship in internal medicine. This month was a whirlwind full of patient care, learning, and pushing past my comfort zone. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything! I loved spending time with my team caring for veterans. Being trusted to call consulting physicians, update patients and families, and communicate with other team members was extremely validating. Building the confidence to navigate these responsibilities was crucial, as they will soon become expectations of me.  

An important lesson I relearned this month was the essential nature of clear communication. Taking time to go to the floor and check on patients, ask a question of their nurse or confirm with the scheduler that a follow-up appointment was set pays dividends. It can be easy to sit behind the computer or send a virtual message. Keeping lines of communication open helps build team cohesion and trust in addition to ensuring patients get the care they need. I generally can get along with most people, which apparently was noticed by my residents. One commented on the rapport I developed with one of the vascular surgeons, who took time to give me ultrasound tips for finding pedal pulses. I made a point to ask daily what I can do to make my colleague’s lives easier. I also took time to listen to their concerns. Too often we don’t acknowledge their dedication, and many feel unappreciated. In the future, I hope to be a leader who fosters an environment where everyone is valued and has a seat at the table

Clear communication with patients is also incredibly important. The impact you can have by taking the time to talk to patients, answer their questions, and explain what has been found so far on their workup cannot be overstated. We owe it to ourselves and our patients to do our best by them every time. They come to us in a time of need and it’s our job to help, not dismiss them as a “dispo issue” or “not interesting” and ignore them. These are real people with real problems. At times, it seems the bar is set so low that just treating one another as a human being is exceptional. As one patient put it, a comforting bedside manner is sadly not as common as one would hope. In medicine, so many have become burnt out and have trouble empathizing with patients. I pray that never becomes my fate. In an era of performance metrics, a sea of documentation and too many patients to count, it’s easy to feel you don’t have enough time with your patients. I can promise you this. You won’t regret spending those few extra minutes. The memories I have of tracking down a patient’s hearing aid, ensuring a patient didn’t fall from bed and explaining a patient’s upcoming procedure left an impression that won’t soon fade.

As I work to finalize my program list and look forward to application season, it amazes me how far I’ve come. It seems only yesterday I was starting medical school and eagerly awaiting my first clinical skills session. Now I’m the M4 leader of my own clinical skills groups and loving the new challenge. While my groups were likely anxious about beginning the year with a new facilitator team, we were just as nervous to start our new roles. I love teaching, however I am still growing in this area and becoming more comfortable in the role of educator. I look forward to developing my teaching skills as I move through my training and passing on what I learn to future doctors. In the meantime, I plan to enjoy every minute of this year. Fourth year truly has been great so far.