New Kid in the Block. Welcome Doctor.

A lot of young doctors are joining the existing brigade of healthcare professional every day. This profession can be very demanding and tiresome; even confusing at times. To be a successful doctor, an intern or a newly crowned resident doctor must adhere to some basic tenets and the glory would be on its way to greet with open arms.

• Plan your day ahead. It would be awesome if you can divide the day in the chunks of 2 hours each; that will give you greater flexibility and clarity over the acts, their courses and end results.
• Don’t lose your sleep. A healthy mind needs your daily quota of hypnotic trance. 
• Talk to your patients. Talk a lot. Make moves to understand their insights.
• Don’t hide any fact from your patient. You sit in the seat just next to that of the God in your patient’s eyes. Do your best to keep up to the heightened expectations.
• Always take consents as per the protocol. On a bad day it would save your skin as well.
• Follow sanitation standards. Wash your hands as per the WHO recommended protocol. Don’t abridge the minutes passed practicing hand washing.
• Take Hepatitis B vaccination. Everyone tries to be smart enough to avoid a needle prick injury, but one can never predict a bad moment. One stitch in time saves nine.
• Take complete history of the patient. Remember to include allergy history, family history and past medical history as feverishly as you take history of present ailments. The deeper you dig, higher you soar.
• When in doubt, take help from the seniors.
• Respect the nurses and allied healthcare staff. You can learn a lot from them just by observing them closely.
• Give wings to your lateral thinking. Why this? Why not that? Keep the handy versions of your reference books always available.
• Get access of the medical and surgical journals of your choice. The more you read, the better you know. You get to know a lot of latest modifications in the standard regimens of treatment when you read journals.
• Be acquainted with a patient by his name (not his bed number or room number).
• Write legibly.
• Never write about the clinical state of the patient in the case sheet unless you have examined him.
• Participate in the academic activities. Get enrolled for seminar, workshops, conferences etc.
• Co-operate with the quality control team of the organization you work with. They are not your enemies; they just want to make patient care more effective.
• Go slow on stimulants.
• Practice meditation.
• Try not to get irritated even in the adverse settings. No one comes to the hospital in a serene mental state.
• Write notes about the key things that you learned. Maintain a diary, if possible.
• Wear clean uniform.
• Sport that warm smile more often.
• Love your profession.