Starting Intern year, any advice?

Rick Dagless

Hey there, shall soon be starting intern year and would welcome any tips, career advice or such from all those with experience of the Irish health system...

Much obliged

lonestargirl

Not really career advice but it will be a long year and it's important to look after your own health (both physical and mental). When on shift it can seem like the jobs are neverending but if you need to take time out to make sure that you eat or even just walk outside in the fresh air for a few minutes.

Rasheed

Be nice to nurses or you'll be crucified!! They have long memories and are very clannish! Best of luck, hope it goes well for you

locum-motion

Rick Dagless wrote: »

Hey there, shall soon be starting intern year and would welcome any tips, career advice or such from all those with experience of the Irish health system...

Much obliged

Don't sign your prescriptions "Dr. Rick Dagless".
Sign them "Rick Dagless, MB, ChB" (or whatever the correct letters for your degree are).

Rasheed

locum-motion wrote: »

Don't sign your prescriptions "Dr. Rick Dagless".
Sign them "Rick Dagless, MB, ChB" (or whatever the correct letters for your degree are).

Can I ask you why?? Just being nosy!

lonestargirl

locum-motion wrote: »

Don't sign your prescriptions "Dr. Rick Dagless".
Sign them "Rick Dagless, MB, ChB" (or whatever the correct letters for your degree are).

Shouldn't he put his MCRN after his name too?

Rasheed

lonestargirl wrote: »

Shouldn't he put his MCRN after his name too?

I've seen a lot of doctors signing things, scripts and paperwork and I've never seen anything other then Dr. Whatever or a squiggle.

lonestargirl

Rasheed wrote: »

I've seen a lot of doctors signing things, scripts and paperwork and I've never seen anything other then Dr. Whatever or a squiggle.

I thought the rules on this had changed recently? Where I work we require it on everything, we are paperless so all the electronic forms have a section for it.

Rasheed

lonestargirl wrote: »

I thought the rules on this had changed recently? Where I work we require it on everything, we are paperless so all the electronic forms have a section for it.

Oh very possible, haven't worked the acute area in a year!

RobFowl

lonestargirl wrote: »

I thought the rules on this had changed recently? Where I work we require it on everything, we are paperless so all the electronic forms have a section for it.

That was my impression though it had to be eg RobFowl MCRN 12345

Anyway give it a few years and Doc really can accumilate ridiculous amounts or qualifiactions and letters after their names.

sam34

Rasheed wrote: »

I've seen a lot of doctors signing things, scripts and paperwork and I've never seen anything other then Dr. Whatever or a squiggle.

I always sign prescriptions then print my surname and my mcrn.

doctors are now supposed to put their mcrn after every signature.

lonestargirl

It makes sense, much easier than trying to decipher a squiggle! I've noticed that all the letters I've seen recently have it after the name.

ThatDrGuy

Good luck with it. Get working on your exit strategy now : USMLES, OZ/NZ application, GP placements etc, the last thing you want to be is an Irish SHO. . .

locum-motion

lonestargirl wrote: »

Shouldn't he put his MCRN after his name too?

Yes, he should. I forgot to mention that.

locum-motion

Rasheed wrote: »

Can I ask you why?? Just being nosy!

"Dr." is like "Mr."
It is a form of address, not actually an intrinsic part of the name.

Rick should be addressed as Dr. Dagless, but his name remains Rick Dagless.

I might be addressed as Mr. Motion, but I wouldn't sign my name as Mr. Locum Motion. I might, depending on circumstances, sign L. Motion, MPSI.

locum-motion

Rasheed wrote: »

... and I've never seen anything other then Dr. Whatever or a squiggle.

Well then, you've never seen anything other than it being done wrong!

I see anywhere between 50 and 400 doctors' signatures a day. About once a week, I'd see 'Dr. Whatever'.

locum-motion

RobFowl wrote: »

That was my impression though it had to be eg RobFowl MCRN 12345

Anyway give it a few years and Doc really can accumilate ridiculous amounts or qualifiactions and letters after their names.

Most of them drop the MBChB bit pretty quickly after qualification too.
These days, I'd be lucky to get even as much as RF 12345. Most docs end up using just a sort of squiggle that bears a vague resemblance to the first letter of one of their names.

RobFowl

locum-motion wrote: »

Most of them drop the MBChB bit pretty quickly after qualification too.
These days, I'd be lucky to get even as much as RF 12345. Most docs end up using just a sort of squiggle that bears a vague resemblance to the first letter of one of their names.

Have to say quiltyish althought do add the MCRN now

Icemancometh

locum-motion wrote: »

Most of them drop the MBChB bit pretty quickly after qualification too.
These days, I'd be lucky to get even as much as RF 12345. Most docs end up using just a sort of squiggle that bears a vague resemblance to the first letter of one of their names.

Not quite a signature, but I remember reading through some old notes a while back, and I couldn't decipher the handwriting at all. The doc had wrote in cursive, and had a habit of writing every third or fourth letter, and using a straight line to join them. So "Betty went to the shops" became "B--t- w--t t- t-- s--p-." Quicker to write I'm sure, but indecipherible.

cgeaney

Go out and enjoy yourself. As a GP now there was very little learning value in it. I had great crack

take everything

locum-motion wrote: »

"Dr." is like "Mr."
It is a form of address, not actually an intrinsic part of the name.

Rick should be addressed as Dr. Dagless, but his name remains Rick Dagless.

I might be addressed as Mr. Motion, but I wouldn't sign my name as Mr. Locum Motion. I might, depending on circumstances, sign L. Motion, MPSI.

I remember one of my SHO's policy of stressing the word Dr whenever he wanted to get something done over the phone. Made sense I suppose. Not mad about the whole Dr this, Dr that stuff though tbh.

Rick Dagless

Thanks guys for all the tips, even the scary ones about getting the exit strategy sorted

Any more pearls of wisdom are more than welcome, I'm feeling pretty green going in to this...

Traumadoc

Try to get on with the nurses, your life will be an even worse misery if you do not, packet of sweets/biscuits deposited at your wards nurses station every night on call would be an excellent investment.

RobFowl

+1 get on with the nurses. They know a lot more than you think and have seen it all before. They can make life a lot easier for you if yu have a god relationship.
Also don't hesitate to ask for help if you're out of your depth (which will be often).
Above all try to enjoy it and appreciate the priviledge that allows you to have access to the most intimate details of peoples lives. Pateints are not just patients they are more often than not interesting, challanging, complex and fun people...

First Aid Ireland

Rasheed wrote: »

Be nice to nurses or you'll be crucified!!

I've heard this a million times before. But i was never nice to the ones who weren't nice to me. You're entitled to some self-respect.

I always tell students to be professional towards everyone, as opposed to being nice to everyone. Some people will just be horrible to you, and to be honest, you have no need to be nice to them. But you should always be professional towards everyone.

The nurses don't get drilled to be nice to the doctors, regardless of how they're treated.

Having said that, I've only had occasional difficulties with nurses, as I have with doctors and people from all walks of life.

My main advice to anyone starting their intern year is to be organised as hell. Keep good records and good "to do" list and you're 80% there.

take everything

First Aid Ireland wrote: »

I've heard this a million times before. But i was never nice to the ones who weren't nice to me. You're entitled to some self-respect.

I always tell students to be professional towards everyone, as opposed to being nice to everyone. Some people will just be horrible to you, and to be honest, you have no need to be nice to them. But you should always be professional towards everyone.

The nurses don't get drilled to be nice to the doctors, regardless of how they're treated.

Having said that, I've only had occasional difficulties with nurses, as I have with doctors and people from all walks of life.

My main advice to anyone starting their intern year is to be organised as hell. Keep good records and good "to do" list and you're 80% there.

The reality in my experience is nurse are a pretty powerful group so being nice to nurses is pretty good advice. Professionalism is a given obviously.
Organisation is the key as you say for any intern.

AmcD

Enjoy your intern year. It will seem tough while you are doing it, but you will look back on it as being one of the best years of your working life. A lot of your classmates will be around so take up all the opportunities for socializing. After intern year everybody scatters all over the world and you will never have such a good group of friends working together again.

Also enjoy being at the bottom of the feeding chain. Don't feel under pressure to know everything- interns are usually assumed to know nothing. This does give you a kind of freedom. There is plenty of time in the future for confident decision-making and responsibility.

Albection

locum-motion wrote: »

Don't sign your prescriptions "Dr. Rick Dagless".
Sign them "Rick Dagless, MB, ChB" (or whatever the correct letters for your degree are).

Mine (not this year though) will be MB BCh BAO.

Would signing Al Bection, MB. MCRN 123456 be ok?
Or should I go with Al Bection, MB BCh BAO. MCRN 123456?

Dr.NickRiviera

I wish you the best of luck on your internship year. It's going to be the best and worst year of your life hands down. Much of the things advised above are great. Apologies if i repeat any.

Off the top of my head in no particular order:

1. Be safe! When you even get an inkling that you may be out of your depth get help. The rest of us have all been there and would rather nip an issue in the bud early than find out too late. Even when you are not sure about something, ask. I'd advise you to have a chat to your registrar or sho about how to hand over and present properly when calling for help. If someone is dying we don't want to know about his social history. 'Hi, its the medical/surgical intern. Mr A n ward B who is in for CDE is unwell and I need you to come see him now'

2. Be professional, and be genuine and kind to those around you. Yes...if you get on the wrong side of nurses, they will make you miserable. It happened to all of us. Ignore it. You are a doctor. Your job is to care for patients as part of a team (which includes nurses). This is not a popularity contest. Leave the ego outside the door.

3. Look after yourself both physically and mentally. Exercise on a regular basis and make sure you eat a healthy diet and don't skip meals. Make sure you have a go to person you can confide in and talk to. There will be dark days ahead I promise you. Stay strong and stay focused and don't be too hard on yourself. Balanced life is key to success!

4. You are a walking ray of organisation! Personally I got fed up in the end with all the papers/to do lists/job lists after a few months. I got an I-pad and became Mr Organisation. It looks good and your seniors will be happy they can count on you to get jobs done. You can still be super organised without one. Point is find a system that works for you and stick to it.

5. When someone asks you to do something regardless of how trivial it is. DO IT! Remember you are part of a team and your carrying out of that task regardless of how mundane it is, is essential.

6. Help your colleagues when they struggle and that 'favor' will and should be returned when you are swamped later...and you will need it trust me. When there are 15 IV lines to be placed 'NOW' trust me you will be thankful for any help you can get.

7. LMNOP (Lasix, Morphine, Nitrates, Oxygen, Prop them up)
This acronym saves lives. I won't go into details but following this simple acronym will bring you the greatest job satisfaction you can imagine and hopefully save that persons life. Ask your registrar/sho for further details.

8. Smile and be happy. You are in arguably the best profession in the world. This is your moment to shine. You have worked so so hard to get there and this is where you belong. Congrats you're a doctor! Enjoy it!

Rick Dagless

Thanks for the great tips everyone! Much appreciated

vamos77

Just signed my contract, cant wait to get started very excited. But still wondering if there is still issues with hospitals paying interns for overtime?


Also if any recent intern's could give any advice on how to keep track of overtime salaries due?