The Three Tips For A Medical Student

There was a luncheon with my extended family. Around thirty people attended. I cherish these gatherings very much. My mother’s cousin, Christine, approached me and we started to talk about her daughter, Jacqueline. Jacqueline just started her first year of medical school in Ireland. Chistine asked what tips I would give her daughter.

No doubt that Christine’s daughter is smart and hard working. Tips to give her, the aspiring young physician, are things I wished I knew when I was at her age.

First, take care of yourself. Medicine is a profession that is heavily focused on serving others, so much so that it is implied that you, the physician, do not matter. It is important to realize that if you do not take great care of yourself, you do not have the physical and mental capacity to take good care of other people. At that age, it is easy to take your health for granted. You may become a burden to other people if you are not well. We shared about not to pull an all-nighter because it is important to rest and get adequate sleep. Resting will increase your efficiency. Taking care of yourself is not selfish; it is essential. Give yourself the permission to put your well-being as a top priority.

Second, learn the skills of time management. We all have twenty-four hours. How you use the time affects your efficiency, productivity and well-being. In medical school, the requirement is to study well and get your work done. It does not matter to the classes or the instructors how you get your work done or how much time you spend to get things done. It does affect you though. If you are spending almost the whole day to do your academic work, you will be easily overwhelmed and feel stressed. You will be less efficient because you are exhausted. You will take longer to make decisions. You will take longer to study and memorize. The goal is to prioritize and do what you think is important. Be kind to yourself if you do not get to finish everything on your list. There is always room to tweak and fine-tune.

Third, we talked about good enough is good enough. In other words, it is okay to be imperfect. This is a concept that is challenging for many physicians to accept, because most physicians are trained in an environment which honors perfection. It is important to realize a person, any person, by definition, is not perfect. That is who we are. No one is perfect. It is helpful to have something perfect as a guide, but it is not helpful to beat yourself up because you did not achieve the impossible goal of perfection. Take the example of patient documentation. Sure, it is important to include the accurate and pertinent information about the patient. However, it is not necessary to have the encounter recorded in perfect English, with perfect grammar and perfect spelling. Allow yourself room to be imperfect, as we are imperfect. Focus on other medical skills instead. Knowing when and how much you allow yourself to be imperfect is a skill to learn. What matters is that you do your best, you put in your best effort, and you learn from your past experiences.

These are the three tips I shared with Christine and Jacqueline. These are the same things I share with other physicians and those who are in my coaching program. Having healthy and helpful mindset is vital to our well-being.