So I've been wanting to write this for a long time. So one of my
interviews....actually, all my interviews, there were two questions I
asked them for sure. Mostly for my own knowledge. They might think it's
generic, but it's crucial to me. Answers to this question overlapped a
lot and most of them basically sounded more or less the same. So my
question to them - what do you look for in a candidate? Or I also
phrased it as - who do you think is a good fit for your program?
All of my interviews answered the question except for one. He actually asked me back the question. It was the upstate NY one. I remember because they paid for my dinner the night before and let me stay at this beautiful bed and breakfast. So he said, I get asked this question a lot. And I actually want to ask you the same question back. If you were in my position and you were interviewing a candidate, what would you look for? And (this was a follow up question later), how do you judge all this in a 15-20 minute interview?
So here goes my write-up on skills you need to have to be a good internist:
1. People-person: you really need to love talking to people and be able to work with anyone. At the end of the day, you depend on nurses, phelobotomists, other physicians and staff of the hospital to treat your patient. I think of the hospital as a community. You have to work together and if you're the odd one out, you're going to slow everyone down. I guess the concept of gears comes in....to get the car running, everything has to align. You don't have to be perfect but you have to be willing to move the gears along to get where you want to.
2. Hardworking: now, smarts matter. But only to a certain extent. You can have the best grades and be a terrible doctor....that's an extreme. People exist on different parts of scale of human craziness. So you need that fine balance of intelligence and hardworking nature. Because smart people tend to get lazy because they think they "know" it. But a hardworking person will go extra lengths to make sure they're right and keeping things in order. Yes, those two statement were generalizations but they have held true to most students/doctors I've met so far.
3. Love patient-care: they say this in those books for intro-to-clinicals and we've probably heard it one time or another on the floors. You have to be an advocate for your patients. There are the crazies but most patients are miserable to come to hospital and there's too many people they deal with when they're in the hospital. As a resident, it's your job to pull everything together and comfort the patient. Educate the patient and make sure they're in the loop. After all, you are poking through their veins and radiating their body as needed.
4. Motivated: THIS is needed 100%. I mean motivation in many ways. Eager to learn from patients, and to go out of your way to get shit done. I think this is also a unique quality. Not all medical students have this, which sucks for them. And the idea of loving medicine falls under this too.
5. Well-rounded: a doctor just doesn't deal with medicine. You need to talk to people, keep up with the world news, have a hobby or two, pursue other interests, have a family and friends, have an outlet when shit hits the fan and must be sorta, kinda interesting.
6. Be a educator: apparently it's our oath to teach and pass on the medical knowledge. I think some of the best doctors are excellent teachers. This explains why they know so much too because they reiterate a lot of the crucial info and eventually become experts. They don't stop learning and respect the future generations. So be a good teacher.
7. Respect everyone: So this was my motto for clinicals. It's amazing and should be followed by everyone. A lot of students were amazed at how easily I could talk to attendings. A lot of times I was the "middle person" between the other students and the attending to ask if we can go for lunch/leave/ask a question because they thought I was good at talking to them. Honestly, all I do is treat everyone equally. Whether that's a nurse, a senior attending physician, resident or a janitor. I say hi, I question them if it doesn't make sense and learn as I go. If you learn to respect everyone, their space and their contributions, you get a lot out of your time in the hospital. Everyone has their troubles, issues, families, and other shit going on in their lives. If you put that in perspective, talking to anyone, including that famous attending or a surgery chairman very easy. And they respect you back.
Lastly, these are things I haven't mentioned in the interview but to wrap it up - don't suck up to people. They know. They can read it and there's no point to it. You're not there to be anyone's bitch. Never lie. To anyone, including yourself. Be nice, courteous, honest, and humble. Get your shit done, help people who need it (most interns/residents are hardworking and will appreciate it), learn everything and anything around you and leave on time as much as you can. Pat yourself on the back and be amazed at all the cool stuff you've seen that day, come back the next day and repeat. That was my recipe for rotations. I'll definitely continue all this during residency.
I'm writing all this because....well...I thought of writing this on my drive. Also the man who interviewed me said that I pretty much figured out everything that has to do with that question. I probably added more stuff during the interview, but these above ones are huge.
All of my interviews answered the question except for one. He actually asked me back the question. It was the upstate NY one. I remember because they paid for my dinner the night before and let me stay at this beautiful bed and breakfast. So he said, I get asked this question a lot. And I actually want to ask you the same question back. If you were in my position and you were interviewing a candidate, what would you look for? And (this was a follow up question later), how do you judge all this in a 15-20 minute interview?
So here goes my write-up on skills you need to have to be a good internist:
1. People-person: you really need to love talking to people and be able to work with anyone. At the end of the day, you depend on nurses, phelobotomists, other physicians and staff of the hospital to treat your patient. I think of the hospital as a community. You have to work together and if you're the odd one out, you're going to slow everyone down. I guess the concept of gears comes in....to get the car running, everything has to align. You don't have to be perfect but you have to be willing to move the gears along to get where you want to.
2. Hardworking: now, smarts matter. But only to a certain extent. You can have the best grades and be a terrible doctor....that's an extreme. People exist on different parts of scale of human craziness. So you need that fine balance of intelligence and hardworking nature. Because smart people tend to get lazy because they think they "know" it. But a hardworking person will go extra lengths to make sure they're right and keeping things in order. Yes, those two statement were generalizations but they have held true to most students/doctors I've met so far.
3. Love patient-care: they say this in those books for intro-to-clinicals and we've probably heard it one time or another on the floors. You have to be an advocate for your patients. There are the crazies but most patients are miserable to come to hospital and there's too many people they deal with when they're in the hospital. As a resident, it's your job to pull everything together and comfort the patient. Educate the patient and make sure they're in the loop. After all, you are poking through their veins and radiating their body as needed.
4. Motivated: THIS is needed 100%. I mean motivation in many ways. Eager to learn from patients, and to go out of your way to get shit done. I think this is also a unique quality. Not all medical students have this, which sucks for them. And the idea of loving medicine falls under this too.
5. Well-rounded: a doctor just doesn't deal with medicine. You need to talk to people, keep up with the world news, have a hobby or two, pursue other interests, have a family and friends, have an outlet when shit hits the fan and must be sorta, kinda interesting.
6. Be a educator: apparently it's our oath to teach and pass on the medical knowledge. I think some of the best doctors are excellent teachers. This explains why they know so much too because they reiterate a lot of the crucial info and eventually become experts. They don't stop learning and respect the future generations. So be a good teacher.
7. Respect everyone: So this was my motto for clinicals. It's amazing and should be followed by everyone. A lot of students were amazed at how easily I could talk to attendings. A lot of times I was the "middle person" between the other students and the attending to ask if we can go for lunch/leave/ask a question because they thought I was good at talking to them. Honestly, all I do is treat everyone equally. Whether that's a nurse, a senior attending physician, resident or a janitor. I say hi, I question them if it doesn't make sense and learn as I go. If you learn to respect everyone, their space and their contributions, you get a lot out of your time in the hospital. Everyone has their troubles, issues, families, and other shit going on in their lives. If you put that in perspective, talking to anyone, including that famous attending or a surgery chairman very easy. And they respect you back.
Lastly, these are things I haven't mentioned in the interview but to wrap it up - don't suck up to people. They know. They can read it and there's no point to it. You're not there to be anyone's bitch. Never lie. To anyone, including yourself. Be nice, courteous, honest, and humble. Get your shit done, help people who need it (most interns/residents are hardworking and will appreciate it), learn everything and anything around you and leave on time as much as you can. Pat yourself on the back and be amazed at all the cool stuff you've seen that day, come back the next day and repeat. That was my recipe for rotations. I'll definitely continue all this during residency.
I'm writing all this because....well...I thought of writing this on my drive. Also the man who interviewed me said that I pretty much figured out everything that has to do with that question. I probably added more stuff during the interview, but these above ones are huge.
