Post graduate residency training will be a time with lots of work, study, responsibility and most doctors will fall prey to some or the other health problems during this time. If not anything else, poor management of health will lower your immunity and make you prone to frequent mild infections. It is also the most enjoyable time in life and losing out on any fun due to health reasons will be a pity. Therefore every doctor entering Residency training should work out a comprehensive healthcare self-management program and practice it throughout Residency.
Environment modification is out of the question, the poor environment itself is cause of most health problems. So one should work on prevention and strengthening immunity.
Get used to waking up early and having bath everyday- thats the only time bathrooms in hostels are available so that you may have a clean proper bath. Bath is necessary- poor hygiene leads to infections and infestations. Remember all hospitals are dens of very bad infections like TB and malaria. All living quarters and workplaces are full of scabies, bed bugs and lice. One can never over-emphasize the need to be clean and hygienic. Also wearing clean clothes is important. Always wear ironed clothes- heat can kill lots of germs and wash your own underwear. I also used insect repellant cream and spray everyday almost like lipstick and other cosmetics. I regard it as being more important than 'Fair and Lovely'. It is really effective in keeping away mosquitoes and bed bugs.
Never miss breakfast. Always have a heavy and nutritious breakfast. I got used to adding Horlicks to my milk/ coffee- I believed it gave me extra nutrients. Try to go out of the hostel at least once a week to have a good breakfast- all hostels provide pathetic breakfast which is nutritionally very poor. The least we can do is go out a buy something healthy. Always make it a habit to make healthy choices in food- such as idli, paranthas, rice-dal, pulses, sambar, etc. Definitely stay away from alcohol, cigarrettes, drugs, sleeping pills, stimulating pills, excess tea/ coffee. These things will surely ruin your health in the short-term itself and your Residency training will be a disaster.
Most doctors neglect exercise because they believe that hard work is equal to exercise. It is not true. One should purposely exercise, even if it is irregular. I had made it a habit to grab my swimming costume and head to the pool whenever I got a break between 3 and 5 pm. This would be about 5-6 times a month (other than Sundays), which is good enough frequency. Many excellent bending-stretching exercise modules for workplace are easily available on internet and doctors should use one of these. Doctors can always take 10-15 mins break during the day to do these. This helps to tone and strengthen your muscles. This is very important as long hours bending over microscopes, standing in OT or even doing Op consultations can cause lot of unnecessary pain and discomfort.
Although most of your time will be spent working/ studying and rest of it .....resting- do cultivate at least one hobby. You can devote even 1-2 hours a week doing this activity. I have a great passion for needlework and I regularly worked on my pieces during Residency. It helped me to really cool down and feel calm after hectic day of work.
Learn the art of time and people management. These two will help you to minimise the stress that is part of Residency. In every hospital you will meet seniors who will appear to persecute you endlessly and juniors who appear to be lazy and incompetent. Remember that you are not in Residency training to assert labour rights or to avail of human kindness. You are here to learn to deal with problems as they are in the real world. Therefore you are always going to be short of time and help and you are always going to receive critical feedback. So give a thought to how you are spending your days, how you are dealing with people and try to devise solutions that will help you to improve your own situation.
Make it a practice to study regularly on a case-to-case basis. Later during practice, this habit comes handy. It is abnormal habit to work for 2.5 years and then devote the last few months to exam preparations. Ideally you should be ready to face your exam anytime after completion of the second year. This also minimises exam stress- which should be redundant term with respect to MD exams.
A lot of young doctors get married and start a family right away (Particularly Gynecologists). I think it is the foolishest thing to do. Both men and women should realise that parenting is a great responsibility- and you need to put aside proper 5-6 months for it. If you happen to take the plunge, be prepared to delay your graduation by a term. It is unfair on the child to give birth and then dump it on your parents or the maid- when you clearly know that you have to focus on your training and studies. Unplanned pregnancies are a source of severe stress- even to your clinical team. So preventing it is very important. If you must have a baby during Residency, the least you can do is to plan it. Hence knowledge and practice of contraception and safe sexual practices is as important to doctors as it is to their patients.
A lot of doctors do stupid things like riding dangerously without helmets when they have to reach fast, start examining a patient without gloves because he looks very sick or neglecting early signs of ill-health. Being intellectually smart and a having a good knowledge of disease will not protect you from the consequences of your stupidity. It will also not protect you from disease. So is the case about mental health problems. A lot of doctors who attempt to kill themselves will do so during Residency. That is also the peak age for onset of all mental illnesses. Dont be so ridiculous as to deny yourself treatment for depression/ anxiety/ ocd/ alcoholism just because you believe you cannot get mental illness. All hospitals with Residency training programs have at least one in-house Psychiatrist. And all of them will be more than willing to provide you with excellent, confidential treatment free of charge.
I feel very sad when I see that Resident doctors falling sick and wasting some days/ months of the best years of any doctors life. It should not happen. Residency training is a rare and special opportunity to grow into an independent professional. Keep a watch on your health and make the most of it.
Environment modification is out of the question, the poor environment itself is cause of most health problems. So one should work on prevention and strengthening immunity.
Get used to waking up early and having bath everyday- thats the only time bathrooms in hostels are available so that you may have a clean proper bath. Bath is necessary- poor hygiene leads to infections and infestations. Remember all hospitals are dens of very bad infections like TB and malaria. All living quarters and workplaces are full of scabies, bed bugs and lice. One can never over-emphasize the need to be clean and hygienic. Also wearing clean clothes is important. Always wear ironed clothes- heat can kill lots of germs and wash your own underwear. I also used insect repellant cream and spray everyday almost like lipstick and other cosmetics. I regard it as being more important than 'Fair and Lovely'. It is really effective in keeping away mosquitoes and bed bugs.
Never miss breakfast. Always have a heavy and nutritious breakfast. I got used to adding Horlicks to my milk/ coffee- I believed it gave me extra nutrients. Try to go out of the hostel at least once a week to have a good breakfast- all hostels provide pathetic breakfast which is nutritionally very poor. The least we can do is go out a buy something healthy. Always make it a habit to make healthy choices in food- such as idli, paranthas, rice-dal, pulses, sambar, etc. Definitely stay away from alcohol, cigarrettes, drugs, sleeping pills, stimulating pills, excess tea/ coffee. These things will surely ruin your health in the short-term itself and your Residency training will be a disaster.
Most doctors neglect exercise because they believe that hard work is equal to exercise. It is not true. One should purposely exercise, even if it is irregular. I had made it a habit to grab my swimming costume and head to the pool whenever I got a break between 3 and 5 pm. This would be about 5-6 times a month (other than Sundays), which is good enough frequency. Many excellent bending-stretching exercise modules for workplace are easily available on internet and doctors should use one of these. Doctors can always take 10-15 mins break during the day to do these. This helps to tone and strengthen your muscles. This is very important as long hours bending over microscopes, standing in OT or even doing Op consultations can cause lot of unnecessary pain and discomfort.
Although most of your time will be spent working/ studying and rest of it .....resting- do cultivate at least one hobby. You can devote even 1-2 hours a week doing this activity. I have a great passion for needlework and I regularly worked on my pieces during Residency. It helped me to really cool down and feel calm after hectic day of work.
Learn the art of time and people management. These two will help you to minimise the stress that is part of Residency. In every hospital you will meet seniors who will appear to persecute you endlessly and juniors who appear to be lazy and incompetent. Remember that you are not in Residency training to assert labour rights or to avail of human kindness. You are here to learn to deal with problems as they are in the real world. Therefore you are always going to be short of time and help and you are always going to receive critical feedback. So give a thought to how you are spending your days, how you are dealing with people and try to devise solutions that will help you to improve your own situation.
Make it a practice to study regularly on a case-to-case basis. Later during practice, this habit comes handy. It is abnormal habit to work for 2.5 years and then devote the last few months to exam preparations. Ideally you should be ready to face your exam anytime after completion of the second year. This also minimises exam stress- which should be redundant term with respect to MD exams.
A lot of young doctors get married and start a family right away (Particularly Gynecologists). I think it is the foolishest thing to do. Both men and women should realise that parenting is a great responsibility- and you need to put aside proper 5-6 months for it. If you happen to take the plunge, be prepared to delay your graduation by a term. It is unfair on the child to give birth and then dump it on your parents or the maid- when you clearly know that you have to focus on your training and studies. Unplanned pregnancies are a source of severe stress- even to your clinical team. So preventing it is very important. If you must have a baby during Residency, the least you can do is to plan it. Hence knowledge and practice of contraception and safe sexual practices is as important to doctors as it is to their patients.
A lot of doctors do stupid things like riding dangerously without helmets when they have to reach fast, start examining a patient without gloves because he looks very sick or neglecting early signs of ill-health. Being intellectually smart and a having a good knowledge of disease will not protect you from the consequences of your stupidity. It will also not protect you from disease. So is the case about mental health problems. A lot of doctors who attempt to kill themselves will do so during Residency. That is also the peak age for onset of all mental illnesses. Dont be so ridiculous as to deny yourself treatment for depression/ anxiety/ ocd/ alcoholism just because you believe you cannot get mental illness. All hospitals with Residency training programs have at least one in-house Psychiatrist. And all of them will be more than willing to provide you with excellent, confidential treatment free of charge.
I feel very sad when I see that Resident doctors falling sick and wasting some days/ months of the best years of any doctors life. It should not happen. Residency training is a rare and special opportunity to grow into an independent professional. Keep a watch on your health and make the most of it.
