Gen Med Floor Tips

1. Work as a Team- help each other out, start discharge summaries early, help the post-call person, get labs for people, etc…

2. Get organized- keep all of your patient’s info on a card so you’ll know everything on a day-to-day basis

3. Do not leave without signing out to the senior and on-call person

4. Come early and find out everything about what happened to your patient by talking to the on-call person and nurses, check the orders for that night

5. When doing an H&P in the PMHx section, please quantify everything. If patient has COPD, write their last PFTs, if patient has DM, write their last hemoglobin A1C, if patient is coming in for a pneumonia, write down their last few chest xray results (and get the xrays, of course). Write their echos in the the PMHx section. In the HPI section, towards the bottom, write down the vitals of the patient in the ED and write down what they did in the ED to treat the patient.

6. If you need help, are confused or overwhelmed, have a question, don’t hesitate to ask me anything. If you are on-call and unsure how to handle anything, call your senior. Nobody will think that you couldn’t handle it. Everyone will think you are wise to ask for help.

7. If you don’t know something during rounds, just say it. It is okay. But, get the information ASAP.

8. You will be the primary doctor for this patient. You need to write labs that are needed every morning. You will need to make sure social issues are met. Make sure things we ordered in the AM actually happened.

9. When cross-covering on the weekends, find out everything you need to know about the patient. Please don’t say, “This isn’t my patient, so I didn’t know.” Find out.

10. If you order a test, follow it up. Take the time to look at the echo with the cardiologists or watch the EGD.

11. Fill out orange med sheets when the patient is admitted.

12. Read, read, read about your patients. Keep a Washington’s Manual on you. Get a Pocket Medicine by the Mass Gen Hospital. (You have a book fund.)