What your best tips/advice to share with the current residents?
Stay organized, manage time wisely, create small and big deadlines, accept feedback positively, create networking connections etc. are some common tips you will need to succeed in the residency program. I want to highlight these two advice that would help you make the most of your residency year!
Tailor your residency program as much as you can!
Take full advantage of having an elective option! Especially if it’s something — a specialty, a particular preceptor, a clinic, or a patient population — that does not come around often. I would avoid choosing a repeated or “easy” rotation to have more time to work on other big projects. During the residency, it’s YOUR time to choose and learn! Take control of your year and your experience!
Ask for the opportunity that align with your interest! For example, I asked my ambulatory care preceptor about the HIV clinic on site and asked to be connected with the pharmacist in charge. Then I prepared the following to discuss with my residency program director to create a new rotation for my learning experience:
Reason for interest in the HIV clinic
Sample schedule showing how clinic days would fit with my weekly duties
Tentative learning objectives for the rotation
In the end, I was able to complete my HIV clinic rotation which became the highlight of my residency! I learned a ton!
Some residents do well by simply going with the flow of the established rotations, especially since many programs have been designed and refined over the years. But your unique interest may benefit from small tweaks here and there. The key is you want to make these adjustment for you within your year, rather than waiting until the end to submit suggestions for future residents.
Take a step back, look at the big picture
I am a perfectionist, and I tend to put all of my effort into preparing and completing the project at hand. I often found myself focused on catching up with non-stop mini deadlines, and perfecting every small assigned tasks. While this attention to detail helped me with my work, it also introduced unnecessary stress and caused me to pass on other opportunities. For example, I remember RSVPing “no” to a few sponsored dinners and a networking event because I felt I needed to do more research for my CE presentation draft. I became so absorbed in fine-tuning details or responding to a single piece of feedback that I forgot to enjoy other aspects of what the residency program had to offer.
Overtime, I learned to pause and ask myself: What matters most right now? What will benefit me more in the long run? What is the minimum expectation for the project? What is the key takeaway I need to learn from this project? This streamlined thought process helped me prioritize tasks more effectively, reduce burntout and reclaim time and energy for things I genuinely enjoyed.
Take breaks and breath
Step back and view the year as a whole
Celebrate small wins
Reassess goals throughout the residency year and adjust priorities accordingly
This realization became one of the key turning point during my residency. It allowed me to reset my mindset, work more efficiently with better focus and prioritize my work-life balance.
