Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash

Table of contents

1. Preface

2. Main Article

3. OMFS World

4. Stuff (App, Gear)

Preface

We recently started to give our kids pocket money.

Being around friends with toys and possessions makes our kids want the same.

Both secondborn (5 years old) and firstborn (almost 9), know the things they can’t have and don’t ask for them anymore: A game console, phone, or any other internet-containing device. They have an iPad they use under our strict guidance, and that’s it.

But with the Pokemon cards pandemic, having their own budget made sense.

💵So each boy gets 20$ every month.

👦With firstborn, it’s pretty easy. He already balances spending and saving and does well without our guidance.

👦With secondborn it’s more challenging. Buying a pack of Pokemon cards for 4.5$ instead of a single expensive card is apparently not logical for a 5-year-old mind.

And their statements were interesting as well:

—“Dad, I want to have all the money in the world,” firstborn announced.

—“And what will you do with all that money?” I asked.

—“I’ll buy all the Pokemon cards in the world.”

—“But if you have all the cards in the world, there will be no reason to sit with your friends and negotiate card swaps. You’ll stay in your cards-filled-house and organize them in your fancy albums”.

—“You know what,” he said, “I don’t want to have all the money in the world”.

With secondborn, it was similar but on a different scale:

—“Dad, I want to be rich.”

—“What do you want to buy with all that money?” I asked.

—“A lollipop.” 🍭

—“But you have more than enough money for a lollipop right now!”

That blew his mind

Long story short, both kids bought 5-10$ worth of Pokemon cards and saved the rest.

No lollipops.

Number 27, here we go!

Main Article

“An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.”
— Niels Bohr

Story Time!

☎️My phone rang, but I decided not to answer.

I was resting on the couch, and my 8-days old first son was sleeping in the crib. 🍼👶

My dear wife asked: “aren’t you going to answer it?”

“No,” I replied. “It’s probably one of the spam callers who’ve been harassing me for the last few days.”

“But what if it’s about your residency application?” she asked.

“Probably not.”

My phone stopped ringing. My dear wife, surprised to see this so atypical reaction on my part, returned to her business.

☎️Then the phone rang again.

Same number.

“You’re crazy, I’m answering it,” she announced and answered the phone.

One look at her face and I immediately realized. I was about to know if I got accepted into the residency program.

😮“It’s the department head!” she whispered and handed me the phone.

😷 And I became an OMFS resident.

Fast forward. I’m now a resident on my first on-call. I’m on my own.

It’s a very challenging place to be.

❓On the one hand, you must ask many questions because you have much to learn.

🏋️On the other hand, you want to exhibit self-confidence and have all the answers. You want your patients to trust you and your attendings to think highly of you.

🤔So what should you do?

You’ll never be a true expert without asking questions.

But asking questions will make you look like you don’t know what you’re doing.

This is a dilemma every resident faces daily, more so in the beginning.

🏂So, how did I deal with it?

Over the years, I realized that specific values could transform a resident from good to exceptional. I witnessed it repeatedly, both as a chief resident and as an attending.

So here are my 4 rules for residency:

🔵 Be humble

👩‍⚕️Be humble with your patients.

🎤They know best what bothers them; if you just let them talk freely, you will have 50% of your diagnosis. With time and experience, you’ll be able to diagnose almost all of them just by listening.

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦This is even more true when treating children and listening to their parents. You should trust the parents. Their gut feeling is almost always correct.

Remember, you’re only a temporary tool on their way to healing. The fact that you have more medical knowledge than them doesn’t mean you know better.

🔵 Listen to your attendings.

🚸There’s an inverse correlation between experience and being wrong. Shortly after starting your residency, if your attendings and you disagree, chances are that you’re wrong and they’re right.

This is just the way it is.

👩‍🏫As you gain experience and knowledge, you will be the right one. If you read a lot, it will happen sooner. But at the beginning, listen. Just listen.

🔵Learn how to do everything yourself.

🛠️Each tool you’re exposed to during residency can serve you well for decades. And that includes EVERYTHING.

⚕️Use a slit lamp with the ophthalmology resident, draw blood, prepare IV drugs, and place an NG tube with the nurse.

💉 Transfer your patient to radiology, and take an X-ray with the radiology tech. Watch the blood lab tech at work, and examine the blood smear slide with the hematologist.

All these will advance you tremendously.

Over the years, the medical profession has become more focused. It means that while we’re getting better in our field, we’re also losing touch with other fields of medicine.

🎒Take a few minutes daily to familiarize yourself with a tool outside your profession. It will be your safety net for the decades to come. It will elevate you to a whole new level of knowledge and experience.

As a bonus, your colleagues will respect you early in your career. You will communicate better because you have established common grounds and medical jargon.

💉 Transfer your patient to radiology, and take an X-ray with the radiology tech. Watch the blood lab tech at work, and examine the blood smear slide with the hematologist.

“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”
— Stephen King

🔵 Don’t let others clean up your mess. 🚯

I mean both literally and professionally.

🧹If you use a procedure room, throw away all the blood-stained materials. If you place sutures, clean the patient. If you treat a crying child, help them wipe their nose and tears.

🗒️If you had a rough on-call night, don’t let the resident who replaces you be left with all the mess. Clean up all the admin! All the notes should be completed, consents signed, and consults done. The finesse of your work is your signature, and your work ethic is your trademark.

🏌️‍♀️So these are the 4 rules of residency I never backed out from. No matter what.

We haven’t touched many other tools I developed and will serve you well in your residency: how to manage your time, how to prioritize, how to study, how to deal with failure, how to stay fit, how to deal with burnout, how to sleep, and how to take great pictures.

You can read about these by enrolling in my “How to Survive Residency” 7-day email course by clicking here.

Enjoy!

OMFS World

🩺For the non-MD medical professional - The topic of suicide is difficult to discuss.

Yet, it is essential to understand the various risk factors that can lead someone to consider or commit suicide so that we can work on prevention strategies.

Know the risk factors!

The most significant risk factor for suicide is a previous suicide attempt. Other risk factors include divorced, separated, or never being married, living alone, being unemployed, physical illness, and substance abuse. Protective factors include parenthood and family support.

Stuff

📱Application I use - Booking.com is one of the world's most popular online travel companies, and I’ve been booking hotels through them for more than 15 years.

Millions worldwide use it to plan their holidays, business trips, and other travel experiences, so the feedback is always on point. I never had a room different from its description on Booking.com, and over the years, I started to get benefits such as free breakfasts, upgrades, and discounts.

💡Gear I use - For all the book lovers out there who lend their books and want to mark their name, meet a tool called “Embosser.”

I use the ExcelMark Hand Held Embosser for my surgery books (sorry, these are the only physical books I have). It will make a great gift to a book lover!

Epilogue

That’s it for this issue.

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Have a great weekend!

Shay