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Tip #1
Introduce yourself.
- Attending? “Hello, my name is Zack, I’m one of the medical students”
- Resident? “Hello, my name is Zack, I’m one of the medical students”
- Nurse? “Hello, my name is Zack, I’m one of the medical students”
- Janitor? “Hello, my name is Zack, I’m one of the medical students”
Tip #2
Be humble but confident.
- Humility- Students know very little about the practice of medicine, the smartest med students actually realize that.
- Confidence- You have to be able to act confident, be decisive in your presentations, and make decisions. The best way to achieve this is to remember that you have (hopefully) been working hard and studying consistently.
Tip #3
Stay focused.
- Your humor, hobbies, activities, dress, and “cool” personality, don’t impress anybody in the emergency department.
- The best students tend to be friendly, focused, hardworking, and generally quiet (yay introverts!)
- Emergency medicine tends to be a very pragmatic, no b.s, specialty. Let your performance speak for itself.
Tip #4
Do the majority of your learning BEFORE your rotation starts.
Your audition rotation should not be when you are downloading podcasts, studying pretest, or going through practice questions. Your learning should be completed well in advance so you can focus your energy on clinical performance).
Tip #5
HELP around the department.
- Help patient change into gown
- Get urine samples
- Keep patients updated
- Go back and ask missing information