A surgical residency program in India in a high patient flow medical college is a daunting task for any neet PG aspirant who just cleared and got selected in a medical College. I faced the same struggles, endured it , learned things the hard way and came out a better person. A brief note of things which I learnt are :-
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Patience:- At the start everything feels new and seniors start putting responsibilities over your shoulders. All feels so overwhelming. Perfection doesn’t come at once, it takes time and after many mistakes and scoldings. It requires patience and a calm mind to go through the storm.
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No breaks and burnout :- Once I got selected and joined the residency , it’s work from Day 1! I wasn’t used to the long shifts, handling stressful situations, counselling and management skills. All this have to repeated over and over with no breaks . Everyday the same task seemed to be more difficult as burnout had set in . One has to have the right mindset .
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Make time for yourself:- To tackle burnout, I consciously made time for friends , hobbies all along with managing work. Seems unimportant but this was most important thing which helped me tackle burnout.
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Responsibility:- I got to understand that my work matters . Based on my daily decisions and efforts , a lot of lives are saved as well as proper care given . The paper work, the instructions given to nursing staff all matters. I became more responsible in the process .
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Satisfaction :- I learnt about the surgical branch that it gives permanent cure to the surgical illness rather than other illness where the treatment is of a long duration or lifelong. The results appear faster and what better to see your treated patient fit and fine.
Do care to share some of your experiences from your residency. Was it easy or difficult like me?
MBH/PS