Archive for 'Professionalism' Category
Survey of Physician Ethical Opinion – Intimate Patient Relationships
A 2010 survey administered by Medscape tackles the ethics of intimate patient-physician relationships: [The] Medscape ethics survey …asked physicians of all specialties: Could you become involved in a romantic/sexual relationship with a patient? The survey ran from August to September 2010, and more than 10,000 physicians responded… the overwhelming majority, 83%, said that it was [...]
How to Stop Being Late
Some practical advice for those medical students finding it difficult to make deadlines… 2. Surround yourself with clocks (not just the one on your cell phone) 4. Give yourself a handicap. If you’re a bad estimator, double the time you think it will take to get there. 7. Don’t try to do too much. Keep [...]
E-mail Etiquette – Breaking Bad Habits
Email Signatures – Does keeping an automatic “Sent from my iPhone/iPad/BlackBerry/mobile” signature on your device-typed emails provide helpful information about the context of your message, or does it just imply you’re too busy to properly address someone’s thoughts? “‘Sent from my iPhone / bb’ always makes me think I’m only worth a quick note on [...]
Peer Evaluation – How to Compliment Fellow Medical Students and Residents
Chris Birk… 1. Be Specific Detail is …the heart of a great compliment. Hone in on a specific achievement or aspect and focus your words on that. A vague, generalized comment that can be recycled throughout the day …lacks real meaning because of its cookie-cutter nature. Specific compliments have lasting power. So do those that [...]
How to Master Humility on the Wards
The clinical years of medical school are, in large part, a game of appearances. Medical students must find there place at the bottom rung, and they must excel in this place. An air of humility is often interpreted by the rest of the team in a positive light. Many of your evaluators use humility as [...]
Coping with Difficult Teammates
1. Be calm – Someone who is calm is seen as being in control, centered and more respectable. Would you prefer to work with someone who is predominantly calm or someone who is always on edge? 3. Get some perspective from others – In all likelihood, your colleagues, managers and friends must have experienced similar [...]
How to Handle Criticism as a Medical Student
Accept self-criticism properly – It has taken my entire first year, a new way of studying and a doubling of my efforts to finally become “average.” …As I got to know my classmates more, my past achievements and experiences in comparison seemed to be insignificant. There was always someone who would be smarter, more talented, [...]
Essential Facebook Privacy Tips for Medical Students
1. Use Your Friend Lists – For those not aware of what friend lists are, Facebook describes them as a feature which allows “you to create private groupings of friends based on your personal preferences. For example, you can create a Friend List for your friends that meet for weekly book club meetings. You can [...]
How to Utilize Criticism
You need the critics, because criticism can help you make improvements. You need to be able to absorb and act on sometimes unfair criticism, while staying motivated. The people with the thickest skins aren’t insensitive jerks. These are the people who are able to take downright abusive comments, pick apart the pieces to make themselves [...]
Measuring Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence is a set of 4 distinct yet related abilities: (1) perceiving emotions; (2) using emotions; (3) understanding emotions; and, (4) managing emotions. This framework can be used to understand the factors that make up interpersonal and communication skills. Emotional Intelligence can be measured in individuals. There are two self report tests and one [...]