Confidence grows when we can ask, "Am I doing this right?" | Considerations

On their concluding day with me, my clerkship student reflected on how they grew more confident by the end of the rotation. I think it was largely due to giving them space to practice their skills.

Medical students are a studious and keen bunch to begin with. Their enthusiasm withers, though, when senior colleagues glaze over their work and generate instantaneous impressions and management plans. And then they're told to do that again for the next patient, only guessing at what they got right. Doubt and hesitancy set in.

What I've found is that making time to observe my students in action gives them security knowing they can pause to check if they're doing things correctly. And after days and weeks of this process, it's gratifying to see them step into clinical encounters wanting to take on more responsibilities and attempting more layered management plans. Their little wings are beginning to soar!

Note to self: I'm probably not too busy to jump waves in the ocean | Considerations

Sometimes what I want from a vacation is to take a break from usual work duties and spend time on personal projects. I'd decline the things that a usual traveller would do - I'd rather give uninterrupted blocks of time for whatever it is I'm interested in.

Fortunately, I have people to remind me that vacation doesn't have to be productive. Putting away the devices was easy; pausing the daydreaming of ideas took effort. (Flow state! I want to get to the flow state!)

So out I went, trudging along the beach and, after some encouragement, waded into the ocean.

And wow - the rush of the tingling cold and the sweep of the waves over my body - it felt invigorating. It made me dance in the water!

I'm glad for people that help me move out of my head so that I can experience the world not just cerebrally but also sensationally, experientially.

So yes - refreshment. I need more of it. I'm not too essential to take a break, and I'm certainly not too busy to jump waves in the ocean.

Process first, then outcome | Considerations

Since I've moved to a new clinic this month, I'm much slower at seeing patients than I usually am. That's by design because I'm keeping room to establish and clarify my processes with a new group of colleagues and staff.

Not only are there day-to-day activities to do - order investigations, write prescriptions, recall patients - but also there's higher-level documentation and arrangement of patient information for their comprehensive primary care. Couple my preferences with the established patterns at this office means there are lots of questions. It would do me no good to learn all of that while having a full patient schedule!

Sorting through these details is one of the unglamorous costs of transition, though ultimately these steps set the foundation that lead me back to the care that I want to provide for my patients.