What makes a good Intern

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What makes a good Intern

Jan 11, 2016 0

onthepods,Working & training in healthcare

Summary Writer: Linda Wu

James asks Dr Ken Liu, Liver Transplant Fellow, Bridget Barbaro, Acting Nursing Unit Manager, and Amy Freeman-Sanderson, Senior Speech Pathologist from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. The question – What makes a good Intern?

Interviewees: Ken Liu, Bridget Barbaro, Amy Freeman-Sanderson

About Dr Ken Liu

Dr Ken Liu is currently the liver transplant fellow at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Ken completed his internship, residency and Basic Physician Training at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He also completed 2 years of advanced training in Gastroenterology at Concord Hospital.

About Dr Brigid Barbaro

Brigid Barbaro is an Acting Nursing Unit Manager at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. In 2004, Brigid completed her training to become a registered nurse. Brigid has worked in various roles including clinical education, project management, management and was the Nursing Executive Officer in 2014 at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. In 2012 she completed her MBA, majoring in Health Management. Brigid enjoys being a NUM, leading a team and having the ability to maintain patient contact and make impact changes for the benefit of patients.

About Dr Amy Freeman-Sanderson

Amy Freeman-Sanderson is the manager of Speech Pathology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. She graduated from the University of Sydney in 2001 and has been working in the hospital environment since graduation. Amy has worked in a number of tertiary facilities both in Australia and England. She has experience working within a multidisciplinary team in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. Her current caseload is critical care and Amy is completing her PhD in communication facilitation in mechanically ventilated tracheostomy patients.

What makes a good intern?

With Dr Ken Liu, Liver Transplant Fellow at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Bridget Barbaro, Acting Nursing Unit Manager at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and Amy Freeman-Sanderson, Senior Speech Pathologist at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital

Introduction

A good intern can make a big difference to patient care and how efficiently a ward functions. Internship can be a steep learning curve and the skillset required to be a good intern can at times be very different to those practiced in medical school. Being an intern means being a team player – here are some tips from some key members of that team.

1. Communication

Try to be approachable and friendly
Ask questions
Depending on the term, the patient needs will be different – so clarify with each term
Identify the nursing unit manager (NUM) and what needs to be communicated from your patient’s plan promptly. This assists in patient flow and providing safe and prompt discharges
Communicating with allied health staff
- Introduce yourself to the entire multidisciplinary team
- Be aware of what different allied health members can offer
- Be clear on and communicate what the management goals are
- Find out what are the requirements for discharge (medical, nursing, allied health needs)
Communicating with other doctors
- Learn to summarise your patient, their current and background issues well (ISBAR)
- Useful for handover, consults
- Have a clear clinical question
Close the loop
- If you aren’t sure; clarify
- Verbally handover important information

2. Organisation

Be organised and aware of tasks with set time frames
Prioritise and plan ahead e.g. preparing discharge letters in advance
Give a time frame if you can’t do something straight away

3. Asking for help

Some interns may be uncomfortable admitting that they don’t know something
- Be open, ask for help if needed
Nurses and other staff may have worked in the field for many more years than you
Recognise that you can learn something from everyone
Be respectful and collaborative

4. Professionalism

Be honest and open
Think about the environment you are in and who can hear you
Include patients in your decision making in a respectful way
You will be judged on how you treat others
Good role modelling behavior
People can be curt or rude when stressed
- Think of ways to reduce your stress level – e.g. coming in early
- Put yourself in someone else’s shoes before judging their question
- Be honest if you don’t have time and reschedule
- Be open and communicate if you have found someone else rude

5. Starting out a new term

Find out who the key people are e.g. NUM, CNE
Clarify what are the expectations around discharge planning and admitting
Find out where forms are kept, where jobs are written up
Don’t be afraid to ask for help e.g. the intern before you, the NUM, ward clerk

6. Allied health perspective

Ask if unclear what the role of the allied health team is
Allied health members are often happy to teach and provide in-services
Make the reasons for the referral clear, if unsure ask for clarification
Make referrals promptly – a lot of patient outreach and community follow ups require some planning and waiting lists

7. Registrars’ perspective

A good intern is:
- Organised and prioritises well
- Efficient
- Switched on, predicts needsand plans ahead
- Has initiative
- Takes an active approach – has thought about the management rather than just asking for help
- Has clinical knowledge – useful when seeing someone sick after hours, or calling for a consult
Dislikes:
- Cutting corners e.g. discharge summaries that don’t reflect what happened, after hour reviews that aren’t thorough
- Being late
- People who think they know everything and don’t need feedback
- Interns who aren’t keen on the area but also disinterested in learning and put the bare minimum of effort in