• Try and spread out studying, with 1-2 hours per night dedicated during the weekday and some catch
up/review during the weekend!
• Learn and read about your patient's problems as this will help solidify the information you are
reading/studying
• BE FULLY PRESENT AT THE HOSPITAL AND LEARN FROM YOUR PATIENTS. Shelf exams are important,
but you learn lifelong clinical skills during your rotation, that may not help you specifically for the
shelf, that will help you for your lifelong career as a physician. Be enthusiastic about being a part of
the care team, ask if there is anything that you can help with (sign outs, lecture on a topic that
would help your residents, etc), check in on your patients 2-3 times throughout your shift, etc.
• It can be difficult to make time to study and still meet expectations on rotations. I recommend
setting goals for how much you want to study, i.e. 20 Uworld questions per day, or set aside 1 hour
of studying per day. You may not get through everything, but you will at least continue to build your
knowledge base consistently. Also remember a great deal of learning occurs by actively participating
on rotations!
• You learn on rotation, so read up on the disease and treatment. There will be no dosing questions,
but you should know how to diagnose and treat common things seen on that rotation.
o 1-If you are in clinic, review your patients charts the preceding day: read their last clinic note,
and look up some things about why they are coming in to the office.
o 2- If you are on a medicine rotation, or surgery, or need more time, get there 30 minutes early,
review all the overnight events, current labs, and pre-round, go see all your patients and begin
to formulate your assessment and plan for the day. What medication changes, if any, can this
person go home? what needs to happen to get this person discharged home?
▪ Start to ask yourself the questions, why is this lab abnormal? what will I do
about it?
o 3-Make an effort to have great presentations. Be confident in your A&P, even if wrong,
because this is how you'll learn, and the doctors want to see you putting together something.
Make an effort to review the A&P with your resident prior to rounding with the attending.
o 4- Medical school is hard. Its a test of endurance, and delayed gratification along with much
loneliness since we spend so much time learning and studying and away from friends, family
and loved ones. Make an effort to be kind to yourself, do one nice thing a week for yourself,
because you have to care for you first, in order to share that love and dedication with your
patients.
o 5- Always make an effort to say hello, and ask about how your co-workers days/evenings went.
Don't forget your humanity.
o 6- Ask questions to things you don't understand, ask for explanations if unclear, and don't be
afraid to ask questions since you're paying a ton of money to learn and be here.
o 7- when you have down time, use it. Read your textbook, do online questions, etc. "
• You will learn more by staying engaged in patient care and asking appropriate questions than
reading from a book.
• Work in the evenings. Ask to leave if the day is over so you can study. Learn to do questions in
between patients.
• You can't pour from an empty cup. Find a way to prioritize self-care. If this means spending more to
make life easier, consider it an investment in your well being.
• Use onlinemeded.org with every rotation. The videos are free and short and super high yield.
• "Commonly myself and other students didn't feel they were doing a great job of studying outside of
the rotation for exams, but you learn every day from your patients. Take time to look up things you