Developing clinical skills is not everyone’s cup of tea. It requires persistently applying small habits for a longer period of a time. Strong clinical skills are not built overnight. As a medical intern , I always try to focus on basic diagnostic accuracy and handling the patients. Observation always helps you to learn new things.
Here are few small habits which you should apply to develop your clinical skills.
- Listening to the patient without interrupting : The most basic habit, because patient often tell the most important complaints at the beginning, if we interrupt them the patient feels unheard.
- Active observation : Ayurveda explains Darshan ( observation ) as the primary examination done by the doctor. For eg. What is the gait of the patient ? Skin tone etc
- Detailed examination : Even when diagnosis feels obvious , detailed examinations sharpen the diagnosis and your skills as well.
- Daily case reading : Spend atleast 15 to 30 minutes daily reading the articles from different platforms to develop your knowledge.
- Daily case reviewing : Take a scan on the case papers that you handled in a day to reflect the diagnosis , treatment and what could be improved.
- Documentation : Save your cases either the hardcopies or use any available softwares.Try to add the points that you feel you forgot to ask or to apply while handling the patient.
- Communication with patients : I have seen many doctors who are busy with their own stuff even while handling the patients. Instead we as doctors should be able to explain everything to the patient in simple language which is a strong indication of how much we have understood.
I have noted these habits by observing the patients continuously for almost 2 years. These are the basic habits which every doctor should apply , the results will be automatically reflected.
What are the habits that I am missing here ? Please let me know in the comments section.