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- May 17, 2009
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I'm 3 weeks into my pediatrics floor month and really lagging behind the other interns. Multiple senior residents have pulled me aside and told my I'm not keeping up with my patient load as well as the other interns and they're concerned I'll be in trouble when I carry 9-10 patients instead of the easy 5-7 that I am carrying now.
My main issue is that I have difficulty remembering all the details of my patient's care and just can't seem to keep track of all of it as well as the other interns. I'll have one patient need their post-albuterol treatment check at a specific time later in the day, another needing follow up from a specialist, a third with social works issues where I need to coordinate meeting with case management and the medical team, and orders and tasks for so many others, sprinkled in with rounds and meetings.
I tried the medical scut sheets and wrote everything down which has helped, but by trying to write everything down I've become really slow and don't finish my notes till hours after my shift has ended, or I have to fumble through a bunch of papers during rounds. Everyone has told me to write less, but when I write less I forget things...but when i write more, I get disorganized and slow and then miss things as well. And this is only with 5 patients which should be easy for mot residents and interns.
I'm worried I just don't have the brain power for this, I barely got through medical school and struggled then as well. Has anyone struggled with keeping organized and being efficient, but still trying to remember what needs to be done and staying on top of all the tasks? Any advice on how I might try to improve? If it wasn't for the debt, I might do my fellow residents and future patients a favor and just leave as I'm clearly not good at this...or even average.
Thanks to anyone who replies.
My main issue is that I have difficulty remembering all the details of my patient's care and just can't seem to keep track of all of it as well as the other interns. I'll have one patient need their post-albuterol treatment check at a specific time later in the day, another needing follow up from a specialist, a third with social works issues where I need to coordinate meeting with case management and the medical team, and orders and tasks for so many others, sprinkled in with rounds and meetings.
I tried the medical scut sheets and wrote everything down which has helped, but by trying to write everything down I've become really slow and don't finish my notes till hours after my shift has ended, or I have to fumble through a bunch of papers during rounds. Everyone has told me to write less, but when I write less I forget things...but when i write more, I get disorganized and slow and then miss things as well. And this is only with 5 patients which should be easy for mot residents and interns.
I'm worried I just don't have the brain power for this, I barely got through medical school and struggled then as well. Has anyone struggled with keeping organized and being efficient, but still trying to remember what needs to be done and staying on top of all the tasks? Any advice on how I might try to improve? If it wasn't for the debt, I might do my fellow residents and future patients a favor and just leave as I'm clearly not good at this...or even average.
Thanks to anyone who replies.