Procedures

Over the course of intern year, I've become better at procedures, even ones that I do rarely. There are several tricks I've learned, none of which have to do with the technical aspects. Like a mantra, everyone who's taught me to do a procedure says that position is everything, and now I repeat it to medical students. Positioning is everything. Anesthesiologists move beds up and down to a surgeon's fancy. I spend fifteen minutes preparing for an arterial line that takes fifteen seconds to get.

I've also realized, strangely, that confidence makes a difference. It's not easy to stick a needle or scalpel or tube into a person. But doing procedures eases that discomfort. And now at the end of the year, I feel more and more confident about my ability to do things, and with that, I find that my success rate is higher. Perhaps this is why surgeons have so much confidence; it's a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In watching multiple people do procedures, I learn a lot. Every person who supervises me has their own tricks and preferences, and I am sure that eventually, I will adapt an amalgam of these idiosyncrasies. But even watching people who aren't successful ends up being immensely helpful. I was watching one person attempt an art line several times and I deduced that the patient's arteries were quite superficial and so when I tried, I was able to accomplish the procedure smoothly.