Allison Fitzgerald’s Tips for Intern Year

Allison Fitzgerald, Resident Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, shared on X:

“Tips for intern year:

My co-residents—feel free to tack on whatever I missed!

Trust your instincts! You’ve been in training for many years. when you pick up a new patient there’s often new data that the last physicians who saw them didn’t have the luxury of interpreting. Reasses the pt on your own and decide if you agree!

When working with an attending for the first time, explicitly ask them how they want presentations and follow it exactly. It’s a gift when someone tells you their expectations because it makes it easy to meet them.

Work everything up to the fullest. Or at least propose to work up every problem even if just as a thought exercise, then your resident or attending can peel back appropriately.

When you speak to families, let them know they’re doing a great job caring for their loved ones. Being a caregiver is hard and this small act of reassurance can go a long way.

If you make a mistake, say so and apologize to whoever needs the apology.

Take the time to set up your EMR earlier in the year in a way that works for you. (Ask residents how they had it set up. Or even better is to watch other use the EMR to learn tips and tricks) It took me too long to optimize my workflow. So many clicks…so much lost time…

And lastly- be kind to yourself and others!!!! It’s so easy to quickly lose empathy in the hospital grind, but remember it really is a privilege to be an intern where you are! And you’re there to learn and grow! If you already knew everything, you wouldn’t need a residency!”

Source: Allison Fitzgerald/X