Congratulations, you’ve just become the newest addition to the medical fraternity, a houseman, or popularly called ‘a HO’. As exciting as it sounds, it is commonly perceived by many doctors as the most daunting phase of their medical training because lives are now in your hands! With great power, comes great responsibility. Here are few tips on how to make the most of your housemanship period. 1. See, Do and Reflect Embrace the ‘problem based approach’ that medical school has taught you. Learning does not stop after you graduate from medical school, because the knowledge you attained upon graduation is just the tip of the iceberg. You need to be proactive in learning from your patients and your seniors, especially knowing your limitations. Only from these, you can draw more experience and develop maturity in care for your patient. For example, after inserting central venous lines for your patient, it will be beneficial to reflect on your insertion technique and arranging your equipment; so that procedure can be performed more efficiently in the future. Ask “Why? Why not? What if?” 2. Communicate Half the battle is won for doctors who are able to express themselves clearly and effectively. Patients and their relatives are highly appreciative of you updating them of their latest progress and plans. Good communication avoids many unnecessary frustrations, and more importantly reduces harm to the patient. Diagnostic and treatment errors are said to be generated in as many as 80%* of cases of miscommunications. As one of my professors told me, “Say (and write) what you mean, and mean what you say (and write).” It goes without saying that legible handwriting is paramount in reducing communication harm. There is a thousand-fold difference if your nurse wrongly reads “milligram” instead of “microgram” when administering drugs. 3. Learn to unlearn Trust yours truly, who has seen it all before, on this. Deconstruct whatever you learnt at medical school, and rebuild it from scratch (quickly). Learn from everyone, not just from your seniors but also from everyone else, including nurses, pharmacists, cleaners, porters etc. Humility is the way forward; you may have the knowledge, but they have the experience. They can make or break you. Be open to constructive criticisms, and make it a point to learn from them. Certainly during my paediatric rotation, I am most grateful to my nurses for showing me tips and tricks of inserting a branulla into frightened paediatric patients and dealing with anxious parents. From the porters, I learnt how to mount the oxygen tank onto the transport ventilator which proved useful to me when I had to quickly change a malfunctioned oxygen tank when my patient desaturated in the ambulance! As you embark on this journey, I hope these tips will offer you courage in completing your housemanship. As Aristostle once said, “You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind to honor”. Above all, do because you care. Source
