Staying Human During Residency Training: How to Survive and Thrive after Medical School, Fifth Edition

by Allan D. Peterkin

Overview

The ultimate survival guide for medical students, interns, residents and fellows, Staying Human during Residency Training provides time-tested advice and the latest information on every aspect of a resident's life – from choosing a residency program, to coping with stress, enhancing self-care, and protecting personal and professional relationships.

Allan D. Peterkin, MD, provides hundreds of tips on how to cope with sleep deprivation, time pressures, and ethical and legal issues. This fifth edition features new, leading-edge information on enhancing personal resilience, planning one's career, pursuing leadership roles, and using new technologies to maximize learning. Presenting practical antidotes to cynicism, careerism, and burnout, Peterkin also offers guidance on fostering more empathic connection with patients and deepening relationships with colleagues, friends, and family.

Acknowledged by thousands of doctors across North America as an invaluable resource, Staying Human during Residency Training has helped to shape notions of trainee well-being for medical educators worldwide. Informative, compassionate, and professional, this new edition will again show why it is required reading for medical students and new physicians pursuing postgraduate training.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781442662568
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division
Publication date:	04/17/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	224
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Allan D. Peterkin is a practising psychiatrist and an associate professor in the Departments of Psychiatry and Community and Family Medicine at the University of Toronto, where he also heads the Health, Arts, and Humanities Program health-humanities.com

Table of Contents

Contents

Foreword to the Fifth Edition
Introduction to the Fifth Edition
Acknowledgements

1 Body and Soul: The Risks, Challenges, and Opportunities of Resident Training
Anxiety and Depression
Substance Abuse
Abuse and Harassment
Suicide
Relationships
Job Satisfaction
Stressors
Other Health Risks
Key Trends Around Residency Stress
Major Manifestations of Burnout
Individual Vulnerabilities
Developmental Issues
What Residents Want
Elements of Physician Wellbeing
What about Happiness?

2 Preventive Medicine: Choosing a Humane Residency
Program Factors
Picking a Specialty
Considerations in Choosing a Residency
The Human Factor
The Interview
Before Signing On: What to Look for in Residency Contracts
Preparing a Curriculum Vitae
Navigating the Match: Tips and Resources
Additional Reading and Resources

3 Physician Heal Thyself: Taking Care of Your Body
Sleep
Top 10 Cognitive and Neurobehavioral Effects of Fatigue
Tips for Regular Sleep
Diet
Fuel-Efficient Snacks
Eating Strategies
Bad Habits
Other Stress Busters
Exercise
Simple Relaxation Exercises
Remaining Mindful
Protecting Your Physical Health
Protecting Yourself from Physical Violence
Strategies to Ensure Safety
Avoiding Viral and Bacterial Infections
Universal Blood and Body-Fluid Precautions
Illness During Training

4 Staying Whole: Maximizing Supports and Finding Balance
Maximizing Support at Work
A Good Mentor
Support Groups
Setting Up Your Own Support Group
Maximizing a Personal Sense of Control
Personal Strategies for Maintaining Balance
Additional Reading
Other Resident Wellness Resources

5 Protecting and Improving Personal and Professional Relationships
Couple Life
Avoiding Trouble in Couple Life
Parenting
The Single Resident
Other Residents
Signs of Trouble Among Residents
Dealing with Team Troubles
The Impaired Colleague
Residents as Teachers: Working with Students
Guide to the Ethical Behavior of Clinical Teachers
Responsibilities to Students
Nursing and Other Staff
Attending Physicians
Signs of Trouble in Resident-Attending Physician Relationship
Dealing with Unprofessional or Disruptive Behavior
Patients: How to be a Mindful, Caring Doctor
Signs of Trouble in Relationships with Patients
Delivering Bad News to Patients
Other Tips to Enhance Communication with Your Patient
Practical Strategies for Practising a More Narrative-Based Medicine
Remaining Sensitive and Compassionate about Death
Resources for Physician Health and Help with Substance Abuse
Additional Readings and Resources

6 One Size Does Not Fit All: Unique Concerns
Women
International Medical Graduates
Visible Minority Residents
Religious Residents
Gay and Lesbian Residents
Residents with a Disability, Chronic Illness, or Learning Challenge
Additional Resources

7 Whiz Kids: Teaching, Learning, and Leading with No Time
Learning
Basic Learning Styles
Continuing Medical Education
Exams!
Test Taking Tips
Teaching
How to Give an Effective Audiovisual Presentation Using Slides, Overheads, and PowerPoint
Other Tips on Organizing your Presentation
Becoming a Leader
Expanding your Worldview
Humanities and Arts-Based Learning
Additional Resources

8 Not Just a Job: Professionalism, Ethics Issues, and Legal Considerations
Ethics vs Legal Considerations
Ethics Issues
Legal Considerations
Other Resources and References

9 Taking Care of Business: Managing Your Finances
Budgeting
Education Debts
Medical Moonlighting and Its Tax Implications
Other Tax Deductions
Insurance
Obtaining a Loan or Line of Credit
Help from Other Professionals
Post-Residency Help

10 I'm Finally Done: Now What? Thoughts on the End of Residency
Options after Residency
Summary
Other Well-Being Resources

11 Knowledge is Power: Helpful Web Resources
Applying for Residency & Tips on the Match
Residents' Organizations
Wellness Resources
Physician Health
Useful Networking Sites for Residents
CME Websites
Search Tools for Medical Research
Useful Medical Websites
Databases
Medical Journal Internet Addresses
Medical Literature Websites
Online Journal Clubs
Clinical Practice Guidelines
Specialty Board Exams
Resident Researchers/PhD Students
Legal Resources
Financial and Business Resources
Specialty Associations
National Medical Associations
International Medical Associations
Special Interest Groups

Index

What People are Saying About This

Michael Myers

"Chock full of all kinds of information that is pertinent, if not essential, to residents, including innumerable survival tips and suggestions. Dr. Peterkin has written a penetrating and far-ranging, yet humane, perspective and has not lost sight of the "person within," so common in academic medical centres of today. This book will go a long way toward alleviating much of the worry and demoralization in contemporary residents, their partner or spouse. A copy should be stuffed into the pocket of every resident physician."

"This book will go a long way toward alleviating much of the worry and demoralization in contemporary residents, their partner or spouse. A copy should be stuffed into the pocket of every resident physician."

Elaine McNinch (Family Practice)

"There is no area in a resident's life that Dr. Peterkin doesn't tackle: finances, substance abuse, fellowship options, foreign, gay, and disabled students, ethical and legal considerations, study tips and support groups. It's the ultimate how-to book for all apprentice doctors and its common-sense approach makes it a mandatory trouble-shooter."

Editorial Reviews

"This lucidly written book offers practical advice on making the most of the residency experience."

Canadian Book Review Annual - Ian W. Toal

‘Staying Human During Residency: How to survive and thrive After medical School, by Allan Peterkin, is the roadmap that attempts to ease transformation. It’s filled with useful tips for first year medical students through chief residents.’

The New Physician vol 61:05:2012 - Benjamin Lemelman

"Through most of this century physicians have looked back on their internship and residency years as a painful but necessary maturation ritual. Once out of residency, they quickly forget, or at least deny, how much damage - depression, burn-out, marriage breakdown, alcoholism, and suicide - was wrought during the process. Allan Peterkin, a recent graduate of residency programs in family medicine and psychiatry, provides a useful guide for self-preservation and well-being. It should be required reading for all graduating medical students."

Canadian Medical Association Journal - Bruce P. Squires

"Though Staying Human has a very large scope, with a target audience that ranges from medical students to senior residents, its practical advice is probably most helpful for medical students and interns, who spend the most hours in the hospital but may not have had the chance to develop their own tools for staying sane. It is also a useful reference, bringing together, in a concise form, a plethora of data that would be helpful on the medical floors, and offering guidance that is not so easily available elsewhere ... But even for those past their early days of training, for whom such information would just be review, the book is an important reminder: that humane treatment - of oneself and of fellow residents, as well as our patients - is what makes a good doctor, and that one cannot have empathy without good self-caretaking. That is a lesson we can all afford to review."

C.I.R. (Committee of Interns and Residents) News - Sonya Rasminsky