Training Goals
It is very easy to get wrapped up in the service commitments of your hospital posts. On call rotas and the steep learning curve to become proficient at your job can dominate. In our experience, the people who enjoy their hospital posts the most are those that take the long view by looking at what the post can offer them for their future career.
Plan for the Future
As we have said elsewhere, you should be making the most of your study leave while in hospital as there is no funding for leave during the ST3 year. However, if you haven’t recently spent some time in general practice, one of the most useful things you can do early in your rotation is to spend some time at your trainer’s practice. Understanding what you are preparing yourself for will help you get more from your jobs.
Develop Lifelong Learning
For many trainees, one of the greatest transitions from hospital medicine to independent practice is that of learning to learn for yourself. Admittedly a generalisation, but in school, medical school and often in hospital posts, one is told what to learn. Ahead of you is a career in which you must decide this.
Some effective steps in this process are to look beyond the demands of the current job and also to make the most of your peer group as sources of insight. Use the eportfolio to help you record and address real learning needs.
Take the Initiative
Hospital jobs are busy but they do have lulls. If you find yourself in a quiet patch, take the initiative and seek out some GP-relevant experience. Usually this can be found in the clinics rather than on the wards. Keen questions develop keen teachers so seek out those who respond well and sit in with them. Better still, see patients for yourself. There’s nothing like having to make a decision to help you focus on the clinical and cognitive skills you need. In our experience the trainees that do this enjoy their jobs far more than those that retire to the mess whenever they can.
Develop new friendships and have some fun!
While we don’t think you should be hanging out in the mess when you could be in clinic, we do think you should make the most of it for lunch and coffee breaks. The mess is an important place. Whether you stay local or not, often your colleagues from the wards will be your friends and support network of the future.
Value the busy times too. While recent changes in rotas etc have tried to undermine the value of the “firm”, there is nothing like struggling through the tough patches together to form friendships and give you a real sense of communal achievement.
And don’t forget to strike a healthy work-life balance.
Summary
Be proactive about getting the most from your jobs. People who do so have more fun, and learn more and enjoy their future careers more.
