All fourth year medical students are required to complete a one month sub-internship (sub-I) in internal medicine, surgery, pediatrics, or family medicine. Compared to core rotation students who focus more on interviewing patients, doing physical exams, and synthesizing assessments/plans, sub-I students perform the aforementioned in addition to other aspects of a patient’s care: writing orders (which are cosigned by attendings/upper levels), responding to pages from the floor, placing consults, etc. In other words, we’re emulating junior residents on our respective teams.
I’ve been out of the hospital scene for several weeks, and while it was fun traveling the country for residency interviews, I feel like I’ve lost my edge as a clinical student. The methodical approach to interviewing patients, writing notes, and providing concise oral presentations has become a foreign skill. Internal medicine was my first rotation (which I started almost exactly two years ago), and that’s the rotation where students consistently practice their “doctorly skills.” I better get back in the swing of things quickly.
Of note, there are eight sub-I students on the medicine services, and four of them are going into anesthesiology. I know where I’ll be sitting during morning report and grand rounds. 😀
