advice for fitting in reading

[juicyprunes]

Hi everyone...I just needed some advice about how to fit in all the reading that we're supposed to do...I'm a spanking new PGY-1 in surgery and I feel like I have to read for my off service rotations (e.g. ER, CCU, etc.) and POS stuff, and also my home specialty...How do people fit it in?? What are some strategies for maximizing yield?

 

You'd think I've figured all this stuff by now but it seems like residency is a whole new ball game.

 

Any advice would be appreciated!!

[Lactic Folly]

Carry a pocketbook/PDA/iPhone that you can use to read and look things up during downtime (i.e. waiting in line at the cafeteria.. waiting for your senior to get off the phone). As in clerkship, it's usually easier to learn around cases.

 

Ask questions now, while the expectations are still relatively low. The people around you have pearls borne from experience, high-yield nuggets of information that you might not come across in your reading. Doing your reading and staying attentive and engaged will help you come up with good questions.

 

Focus on the aspects of off-service rotations that are most relevant to your future practice. Learn from their perspectives - what do they wish surgeons knew about their fields?

[007]

It's ok to not read much at first. The first 6 months of residency I found it ridiculously difficult to do any reading, but I still passed my rotations. Then all of a sudden in the second half of first year my schedule seemed to open up a bit more. I think I was less exhausted from working at figuring out life at the hospital all day and more able to do a bit in the evenings. I try to read around cases a bit and read one of the journals for my base specialty (a monthly one)...ultimately I probably spend about 30min a night doing some work-related reading and try not to stress beyond that.