Top Three Attending "Pearls" for Success

We’re lucky to have such great attendings at our school who are more than willing to share what they know.  Here are three of my favorite attending “pearls”:

1.  “Trust but verify.”

I heard this saying from multiple attendings, and for good reason.  The EMR is great for a lot of things, but it can be full of incorrect information that gets copy and pasted over time.  I had a patient who had a purportedly negative tobacco history.  Wrong – he had a 50 pack year history and was still smoking.  Verify your patient’s histories.  Make sure orders that are put in for your patient have actually been done, especially medication orders (check the MAR).  Verify lab and radiology results - don’t just take someone’s word for it.   If something feels off, verify.

2.  “For us, we see this all the time, every day.  But for you, it’s happening for the first time.”

I’ve loved this quote ever since I heard it early in my third year.  Once you’ve been in the hospital for a while, things get very routine.  This quote reminds me to not become too nonchalant, especially when it comes to informing patients about major treatment plans.   Break the news slowly, don’t rush it, and help the patient understand.  This is true for even the most common of things.  I underwent an endoscopy a few months ago.  Although I knew it was a fairly routine procedure, I was still nervous when they wheeled me into the endoscopy suite.  I realized then how grateful I was to be told what was happening, even if it was just “we’re setting up the meds.”  Do your patients a favor – keep them in the loop and explain what’s happening.  It’ll go a long way for patient comfort. 

3.  “You should stay here 24 hours.  You’re paying for your education.  The longer you stay, the cheaper it is per hour.”

While nobody wants to maximize his or her price per hour ratios by staying longer, you can maximize the quality of time that you are at school by being proactive.  You’re paying to be wrong now before they pay you to be right later.  Get as involved in your patient’s care as possible – ask why you’re doing what you’re doing.  Anybody can follow an algorithm, but you’re in school to learn why the algorithm is the way it is and what to do when the algorithm doesn’t work (which seems to be the case more often than not).  Don’t be afraid to get your hands dirty, and take the initiative to ask to do procedures.  Your time in the OR is the best time to get signed off on a lot of procedures (especially foley caths) as is your time on Labor and Delivery (ask to practice starting IVs).  If your patient needs an EKG, ask the nurse if you can do it (put on the leads yourself and learn how to work the machine).  You have to be at school for several hours a day – might as well make it worth it! 

Jennifer Simpliciano is a fourth-year medical student based out of the Augusta campus.  She is currently applying for residency in Internal Medicine.  Outside of school, she enjoys going ballroom dancing, eating too many desserts, and singing loudly in the car to 90s music.