How To Be An Awesome Med Student (And Your Intern’s Best Friend)

Medical students are a precious commodity in the intern world. A good medical student makes it a lot easier to get through the day and get all the jobs done. But it’s a fine line between being a clingy medical student and a helpful medical student, and one that’s difficult to work out. So, this is my wish list for all my future medical students – do this and I’ll be indebted to you for life.

• Ask for our number and give us yours. I’m always happy to be texted by a keen medical student who wants to put in lines and take blood and clerk patients. If you let me know you’re free, I’ll let you know how you can help. Just don’t page me. Interns are perpetually one page away from a nervous breakdown.
  
• Please carry files on ward rounds. I know that you’re not a human bookshelf, but there are a lot of files and I only have two hands. Any help here is greatly appreciated, and extra points if you volunteer to write notes. It lets me give my hand and my pen a break!
  
• Learn to love the list. The patient list is the most important thing an intern has, and we need our medical students to value this. Whether it’s writing down jobs on the list, helping us type it up, or keeping track of the registrar’s list (he or she will inevitably misplace it), your contribution is noted and appreciated.
  
• Ask questions. Interns are fresh out of medical school and know a lot of things. Most of the time, we’re happy to answer (and it makes us feel like we might actually be semi-competent doctors!). Just pick your moment – over coffee is good. During a code blue is not so good.
  
• Volunteer to do practical things. An IVC resite can take half an hour. If you volunteer to put a new drip in (or even put an IDC in!), we will be forever grateful. I’m even happy to supervise whilst you do it – it gives me a moment to sort through my pages and even delete a few).
  
• Remember that you’re going to be an intern soon – and internship means paperwork. The more you can help us with our paperwork, the better prepared you will be for your internship, and the more likely we are to pay you in coffee.
  
• If the interns are busy, ask us for patients to clerk. I love it when medical students show an interest in my patients and in learning – do this, and I will always listen to you present your findings. It’s a good skill to learn, and it shows that you’re keen to be a part of the team.

I know this sounds demanding, but spending time on the wards with your intern not only prepares you to be a junior doctor, it gives you a lot of hands-on experience that you can’t get from your physiology textbook. And the more time you spend on the wards, the greater your chances of being rewarded with coffee.

Hope to see you on the wards soon!

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