Dear new first-poster taggers,
Welcome to the working life! It will be filled with many ups and some downs. More importantly, it will shape you for many years to come. For many of you, it would be your first experience holding a job and finally, FINALLY being responsible for your own needs. Congratulations! It's not easy, but you're here to start and learn to be the captain of your own ship. The ship called your Career in Medicine.
Let me give you some tips, hopefully humbly, from the perspective of one who was, in the not-too-distant past, in your shoes:
1. Be proactive
More often than not, you will feel overwhelmed the first few days of your working life. Especially if you're not used to the system, i.e. overseas grads.
My advice is to be proactive- anticipate what you should know, and offer to do things. Ask for assistance- any good senior would be too happy to stand by you during your first couple of clerkings/procedures. But learn quickly, because most of the time everyone is too busy to just stand by you and be your guide. Everyone has their share of work!
My advice, as I have said, is to anticipate and prepare. Read about housemanship duties (from other people, blogs, or books). Watch videos of procedures. Read back on your theoretical knowledge and basic clerking skills.
But if you haven't done any of the above during your holidays, and only realized belatedly, then at least volunteer first and learn second. Seize the opportunities!
2. Listen to those more experienced
If your SN says she is concerned about the patient, chances are she has a good reason. They have been working for way longer than you most of the time and know when something is wrong. Listen and attend to the patient, and chances are you'll learn something new.
When your seniors say you should do a certain thing before another, there is a very high chance that you should listen to them. After all, they are most probably better at prioritizing tasks than you are, having been there for longer. This is something only experience can teach you; books only do so much. So if they say the clerking of a case can come after the blood C&S of another patient, then better do the latter first. This is only sometimes true- like when an antibiotic has to be given STAT and the patient is septic. How would you know? Experience.
Of course, as always, come prepared. At least you would have an inkling why they prioritize certain things more than others, and are less blind!
3. Try before you could even think of being intimidated
It's easy to be intimidated by new procedures the first few times. Even the simplest of things like blood taking may scare the wits out of you at first. Chillax, that is normal for new taggers. Eventually, blood taking will be the least of your concerns.
So try.
Seniors will likely point new people to easier patients for procedures, because they know that giving you harder options will likely make their jobs harder as well. So before you say you can't, if you've seen it being done before and know more or less what to prepare and how to do it, try. Try before you fill your head with negative thoughts of failure.
Failing the first few times is alright, but you will improve with practice. Most important is to attempt!
4. Find time to learn- quickly
You should have done at least some reading and preparing in your long months of holidays.
But if that's not the case, then learn while doing.
And learn quickly.
While you are in your tagging period, especially as a first poster, people will give you slightly more time with clerking and procedures. So this is good for some quick learning! For example, if you're clerking a case of adult pneumonia, open the Sarawak Handbook (3rd Edition) while you write out your plan. And if you're so swamped with work it's not possible to even open a handbook, then learn from the management plans given to you by your MOs/senior HOs. Internalize them and be sure to be able to manage the next similar case. During your first few days you are more likely to get away with making wrong diagnoses and not having any management plans, but some bosses are stricter and less lenient than others.
Bring a tiny pocketbook to jot down important facts. It will always come in handy, believe me.
If you have even more free time in the ward, as soon as you sit down and have no carry-outs then open your books and start revising based on the cases you just managed, so it is easier for you to remember the facts. And if your seniors or bosses tell you to revise a certain topic, then do so! It's probably very important and common.
5. Come early!
So you feel like you have no time to review your assigned patients before your bosses come? Unfamiliar with most of the terms you see (especially for those not used to the local system)? Want to practice blood taking? Want to know a bit more about the cases you're managing but once you get home, all you want to do is sleep?
Come early!
As new people, you are expected to come earlier than your seniors to familiarize yourself with the new environment. You cannot expect to be as speedy in reviewing as those more senior to you. If you do not feel the inclination to come early and you are a new tagger, shame on you. I'm sorry but this is true.
Please remember that even if they do not force you to come early, it is your onus to do your work to the best of your abilities. It's only for a period of time, until you're more confident of your own skills. And it may make a difference as to how others perceive you. If you're rather clueless but people see you putting in extra effort, chances are this will make your job way easier in the future. People are more likely to help those who show effort!
6. Take it one step at a time
Feeling depressed? Everyone went through it at some point in their working lives. You may feel alone but across space and time, you're one of many. Scoldings are normal (they shouldn't be, but alas they are in many hospitals).
For every single day you wake up and brave your workplace, is another day closer to the end.
Take it one step at a time.
One more day close to the next off day.
One more day closer to the end of the week.
One more day closer to the end of the month- and your salary!
And within the blink of an eye, your posting is half gone (talking about myself now)...
7. Keep going! Motivate yourself
Awful bosses? Snobby SNs?
They're only there for a blip in your entire existence!
4 months (inshaaAllah)! Not that long!
And look forward to future events.
If you love book sales, look forward to the next Big Bad Wolf Book Sale!
If you love traveling, look forward to the next Matta Fair!
If you love gadgets, look forward to the next PC fair!
And how about holidays with your loved ones? Plan your leave early and look forward to that!
Remember, this is temporary. It's just a tiny phase in your life.
Soon you'll be out of it and on to greater things. But how you react to what you have now will define you in the future.
Seize the opportunities, smile often and try to be sincere. It gets hard at times, but if you consciously try, God will help you.
Take care and remember it's all temporary! Persevere and you SHALL be rewarded!
Welcome to the working life! It will be filled with many ups and some downs. More importantly, it will shape you for many years to come. For many of you, it would be your first experience holding a job and finally, FINALLY being responsible for your own needs. Congratulations! It's not easy, but you're here to start and learn to be the captain of your own ship. The ship called your Career in Medicine.
Let me give you some tips, hopefully humbly, from the perspective of one who was, in the not-too-distant past, in your shoes:
1. Be proactive
More often than not, you will feel overwhelmed the first few days of your working life. Especially if you're not used to the system, i.e. overseas grads.
My advice is to be proactive- anticipate what you should know, and offer to do things. Ask for assistance- any good senior would be too happy to stand by you during your first couple of clerkings/procedures. But learn quickly, because most of the time everyone is too busy to just stand by you and be your guide. Everyone has their share of work!
My advice, as I have said, is to anticipate and prepare. Read about housemanship duties (from other people, blogs, or books). Watch videos of procedures. Read back on your theoretical knowledge and basic clerking skills.
But if you haven't done any of the above during your holidays, and only realized belatedly, then at least volunteer first and learn second. Seize the opportunities!
2. Listen to those more experienced
If your SN says she is concerned about the patient, chances are she has a good reason. They have been working for way longer than you most of the time and know when something is wrong. Listen and attend to the patient, and chances are you'll learn something new.
When your seniors say you should do a certain thing before another, there is a very high chance that you should listen to them. After all, they are most probably better at prioritizing tasks than you are, having been there for longer. This is something only experience can teach you; books only do so much. So if they say the clerking of a case can come after the blood C&S of another patient, then better do the latter first. This is only sometimes true- like when an antibiotic has to be given STAT and the patient is septic. How would you know? Experience.
Of course, as always, come prepared. At least you would have an inkling why they prioritize certain things more than others, and are less blind!
3. Try before you could even think of being intimidated
It's easy to be intimidated by new procedures the first few times. Even the simplest of things like blood taking may scare the wits out of you at first. Chillax, that is normal for new taggers. Eventually, blood taking will be the least of your concerns.
So try.
Seniors will likely point new people to easier patients for procedures, because they know that giving you harder options will likely make their jobs harder as well. So before you say you can't, if you've seen it being done before and know more or less what to prepare and how to do it, try. Try before you fill your head with negative thoughts of failure.
Failing the first few times is alright, but you will improve with practice. Most important is to attempt!
4. Find time to learn- quickly
You should have done at least some reading and preparing in your long months of holidays.
But if that's not the case, then learn while doing.
And learn quickly.
While you are in your tagging period, especially as a first poster, people will give you slightly more time with clerking and procedures. So this is good for some quick learning! For example, if you're clerking a case of adult pneumonia, open the Sarawak Handbook (3rd Edition) while you write out your plan. And if you're so swamped with work it's not possible to even open a handbook, then learn from the management plans given to you by your MOs/senior HOs. Internalize them and be sure to be able to manage the next similar case. During your first few days you are more likely to get away with making wrong diagnoses and not having any management plans, but some bosses are stricter and less lenient than others.
Bring a tiny pocketbook to jot down important facts. It will always come in handy, believe me.
If you have even more free time in the ward, as soon as you sit down and have no carry-outs then open your books and start revising based on the cases you just managed, so it is easier for you to remember the facts. And if your seniors or bosses tell you to revise a certain topic, then do so! It's probably very important and common.
5. Come early!
So you feel like you have no time to review your assigned patients before your bosses come? Unfamiliar with most of the terms you see (especially for those not used to the local system)? Want to practice blood taking? Want to know a bit more about the cases you're managing but once you get home, all you want to do is sleep?
Come early!
As new people, you are expected to come earlier than your seniors to familiarize yourself with the new environment. You cannot expect to be as speedy in reviewing as those more senior to you. If you do not feel the inclination to come early and you are a new tagger, shame on you. I'm sorry but this is true.
Please remember that even if they do not force you to come early, it is your onus to do your work to the best of your abilities. It's only for a period of time, until you're more confident of your own skills. And it may make a difference as to how others perceive you. If you're rather clueless but people see you putting in extra effort, chances are this will make your job way easier in the future. People are more likely to help those who show effort!
6. Take it one step at a time
Feeling depressed? Everyone went through it at some point in their working lives. You may feel alone but across space and time, you're one of many. Scoldings are normal (they shouldn't be, but alas they are in many hospitals).
For every single day you wake up and brave your workplace, is another day closer to the end.
Take it one step at a time.
One more day close to the next off day.
One more day closer to the end of the week.
One more day closer to the end of the month- and your salary!
And within the blink of an eye, your posting is half gone (talking about myself now)...
7. Keep going! Motivate yourself
Awful bosses? Snobby SNs?
They're only there for a blip in your entire existence!
4 months (inshaaAllah)! Not that long!
And look forward to future events.
If you love book sales, look forward to the next Big Bad Wolf Book Sale!
If you love traveling, look forward to the next Matta Fair!
If you love gadgets, look forward to the next PC fair!
And how about holidays with your loved ones? Plan your leave early and look forward to that!
Remember, this is temporary. It's just a tiny phase in your life.
Soon you'll be out of it and on to greater things. But how you react to what you have now will define you in the future.
Seize the opportunities, smile often and try to be sincere. It gets hard at times, but if you consciously try, God will help you.
Take care and remember it's all temporary! Persevere and you SHALL be rewarded!
