After several long years, you have graduated medical school and are about to start your residency. Finally you’ll get to stop living on student loans and can start paying them back. As a new resident doctor, you anxiously countdown the days and probably feel many different emotions until the programme day begins. In preparation for starting residency training, here are some tips:
Making the Most of Your Last Weeks of Freedom
- Plan something fun to do
- Find a place to live near the hospital
- Spend time with your family and friends who you may not see as often during the residency training
- Take care of your health as your residency training will be a heavy physically and mentally demanding, so being in good health will make a difference
- Relax
Understanding A Day in The Life of Resident Doctor
Some examples of a medical resident’s daily schedule:
| Time | Activity |
|---|---|
| 6:00 AM | Wake-up |
| 7:00 - 7:30 AM | Start the shift |
| 7:30 - 9:00 AM | Conduct pre-rounds: check patient records, vital signs, new notes |
| 9:00 - 11:00 AM | Conduct rounds: discuss patient care plans with the attending doctor |
| 11:00 - 12:00 PM | Complete tasks: order tests, review new tests, complete discharge documents |
| 12:00 - 13:00 PM | Noon conference on the management of patients |
| 13:00 - 17:00 PM | Complete remaining tasks |
| End the shift |
https://www.sma.org.sg/highlights/The-House-Officers-Handbook-(21st-Edition)
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How to Prevent and Manage Stress
As a new resident doctor, you are tasked with long days and the responsibility of learning how to analyze variances and subtle changes in lab tests, vital signs, diagnostics and much more. There are simple, evidence-based steps you can take that help you self-care when you experience stress:
- exercising regularly, even for short periods a few times a week
- finding time to do positive things for yourself that you enjoy
- spending time with friends or family, particularly the people you find most supportive
- eating well
- having a good sleep routine
- taking breaks during the workday that also involve some time away from technology
- trying short but regular deep breathing and/or brief mindfulness exercises
- looking at a variety of health and wellbeing tools in https://www.seadoc.co/app put together to help meet your personal needs
- making a list to prioritize your tasks for the day
- scheduling certain tasks for times of the day when you focus best
- setting some boundaries around your time at work and sharing the workload where you can
- being kind to yourself – you are doing your best in a difficult situation (we are often more critical of ourselves than anyone else)
Starting a residency programme, it may be challenging but it would be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. We wish you the successful transition from a student to a specialty doctor that you desire!
