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FIND: A framework for success as a first-year hospitalist
Congratulations! You’re about to start your first year as a hospitalist, and in many cases your first real job. Hospital medicine is an incredibly rewarding subspecialty, but the progression from resident to attending physician can be daunting. To facilitate this transition, we present FIND (Familiarity, Identity, Network, and Direction) – a novel, sequential framework for success as a first-year hospitalist. For each component, we provide a narrative overview and a summary bullet point for quick reference.
Familiarity
- Lay the foundation: Learn the ins and outs of your job, EMR, and team.
Familiarize yourself with your surroundings. Know where your patients are located, where you can document, where to find equipment for procedures, and how to reach information technology. Proactively set up the electronic medical record on your home computer and phone. Make sure to review your responsibilities, including your call schedule, your shifts, your assigned patient panel, when you can leave campus, and how people should contact you. Also, others should know your expectations of them, especially if you are working with trainees.
Maintain a file with all of your orientation materials, including phone numbers and emails of key personnel. Know who your people are – who can access your calendar, who you can call with a clinical question or to escalate care, who can assist you with billing, and who helps with the throughput of your patients in the hospital. Take time to review your benefits, including parental leave, insurance coverage, retirement planning, vacation time, and ancillary services like laundry for your white coat. Familiarizing yourself with these basics will provide comfort and lay the foundation for your first year.
Identity
- Perform self-reflection: Overcome imposter syndrome and invest in hobbies.
One of the fundamental realizations that will occur with your first hospitalist job is that you are the attending. You walk in with a vision of your first job; be prepared to be surprised. You have earned the privilege of deciding on patient plans, and you are no longer obligated to staff with a senior physician. This is both empowering and terrifying. In a way, it may oddly remind you of intern year. A new hospital, new EMR, new colleagues, and imposter syndrome will trick you into doubting your decisions.
How to battle it? Positive thinking. You do know the basics of inpatient medicine and you do have a support system to cheer you on. As part of imposter syndrome, you may feel pressured to focus solely on work. Yet, your first job as a hospitalist is finally an amazing opportunity to focus on you. What hobbies have you been neglecting: cooking, photography, reading, more time with family, a new pet? You have the power to schedule your off-weeks. Are you interested in academics? Reserve a portion of your time off to explore scholarship opportunities at your institution. Your first job as a hospitalist is a chance to develop your identity, both as a physician and as an individual.
Network
- Engage your support system: Communicate with nursing, administration, colleagues.
Networking, or building a web of mutually beneficial professional relationships, is imperative for long-term career success. Hospitalists should focus on developing their network across multiple departments, such as nursing, subspecialties, medical education, and hospital administration. Curating a broad network will increase your visibility within your organization, showcase your unique services, and demonstrate your value.
To make networking encounters impactful, express interest, actively listen, ask relevant questions, and seek areas of mutual benefit. It’s equally important to cultivate these new relationships after the initial encounter and to demonstrate how your skill set will aid colleagues in achieving their professional goals. Over time, as you establish your niche, deliberate networking with those who share similar interests can lead to a wealth of new experiences and opportunities. Intentionally mastering networking early in your career provides insight into different aspects of the hospital system, new perspectives on ideas, and access to valuable guidance from other professionals. Engaging in networking to establish your support system is an essential step towards success as a first-year hospitalist.
Direction
- Visualize your path: Find a mentor and develop a mission statement and career plan.
Once you’re familiar with your work environment, confident in your identity, and acquainted with your support network, you’re ready for the final step – direction. Hospital medicine offers many professional avenues and clarifying your career path is challenging when attempted alone. A mentor is the necessary catalyst to find direction and purpose.
Selecting and engaging with a mentor will bolster your professional advancement, academic productivity, and most importantly, career satisfaction.1 At its best, mentorship is a symbiotic relationship. Your mentor should inspire you, challenge you, and support your growth and emotional well-being. In turn, as the mentee, you should be proactive, establish expectations, and take responsibility for maintaining communication to ensure a successful relationship. As your career takes shape over time, you may require a mentorship team to fulfill your unique needs.
When you’ve established a relationship with your mentor, take time to develop 1-year and 5-year plans. Your 1-year plan should focus on a few “quick wins,” often projects or opportunities at your home institution. Small victories in your first year will boost your confidence, motivation, and sense of control. Your 5-year plan should delineate the steps necessary to make your first major career transition, such as from instructor to assistant professor. Working with your mentor to draft a career mission statement is a useful first step in this process. Beginning with the end in mind, will help you visualize your direction.2
We hope that the FIND framework will help you find your path to success as a first-year hospitalist.
Dr. Nelson is a hospitalist and instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, both in Boston. Dr. Ashford is assistant professor and program director, department of internal medicine/pediatrics, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha. Dr. Rawal is clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Crecelius is assistant professor of clinical medicine at Indiana University, Indianapolis. This article is sponsored by the SHM Physicians in Training committee, which submits quarterly content to the Hospitalist on topics relevant to trainees and early -career hospitalists.
References
1. Zerzan JT et al. Making the most of mentors: a guide for mentees. Acad Med. 2009;84:140-4. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181906e8f.
2. Covey F. The seven habits of highly effective people. 25th anniversary edition. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013.
Congratulations! You’re about to start your first year as a hospitalist, and in many cases your first real job. Hospital medicine is an incredibly rewarding subspecialty, but the progression from resident to attending physician can be daunting. To facilitate this transition, we present FIND (Familiarity, Identity, Network, and Direction) – a novel, sequential framework for success as a first-year hospitalist. For each component, we provide a narrative overview and a summary bullet point for quick reference.
Familiarity
- Lay the foundation: Learn the ins and outs of your job, EMR, and team.
Familiarize yourself with your surroundings. Know where your patients are located, where you can document, where to find equipment for procedures, and how to reach information technology. Proactively set up the electronic medical record on your home computer and phone. Make sure to review your responsibilities, including your call schedule, your shifts, your assigned patient panel, when you can leave campus, and how people should contact you. Also, others should know your expectations of them, especially if you are working with trainees.
Maintain a file with all of your orientation materials, including phone numbers and emails of key personnel. Know who your people are – who can access your calendar, who you can call with a clinical question or to escalate care, who can assist you with billing, and who helps with the throughput of your patients in the hospital. Take time to review your benefits, including parental leave, insurance coverage, retirement planning, vacation time, and ancillary services like laundry for your white coat. Familiarizing yourself with these basics will provide comfort and lay the foundation for your first year.
Identity
- Perform self-reflection: Overcome imposter syndrome and invest in hobbies.
One of the fundamental realizations that will occur with your first hospitalist job is that you are the attending. You walk in with a vision of your first job; be prepared to be surprised. You have earned the privilege of deciding on patient plans, and you are no longer obligated to staff with a senior physician. This is both empowering and terrifying. In a way, it may oddly remind you of intern year. A new hospital, new EMR, new colleagues, and imposter syndrome will trick you into doubting your decisions.
How to battle it? Positive thinking. You do know the basics of inpatient medicine and you do have a support system to cheer you on. As part of imposter syndrome, you may feel pressured to focus solely on work. Yet, your first job as a hospitalist is finally an amazing opportunity to focus on you. What hobbies have you been neglecting: cooking, photography, reading, more time with family, a new pet? You have the power to schedule your off-weeks. Are you interested in academics? Reserve a portion of your time off to explore scholarship opportunities at your institution. Your first job as a hospitalist is a chance to develop your identity, both as a physician and as an individual.
Network
- Engage your support system: Communicate with nursing, administration, colleagues.
Networking, or building a web of mutually beneficial professional relationships, is imperative for long-term career success. Hospitalists should focus on developing their network across multiple departments, such as nursing, subspecialties, medical education, and hospital administration. Curating a broad network will increase your visibility within your organization, showcase your unique services, and demonstrate your value.
To make networking encounters impactful, express interest, actively listen, ask relevant questions, and seek areas of mutual benefit. It’s equally important to cultivate these new relationships after the initial encounter and to demonstrate how your skill set will aid colleagues in achieving their professional goals. Over time, as you establish your niche, deliberate networking with those who share similar interests can lead to a wealth of new experiences and opportunities. Intentionally mastering networking early in your career provides insight into different aspects of the hospital system, new perspectives on ideas, and access to valuable guidance from other professionals. Engaging in networking to establish your support system is an essential step towards success as a first-year hospitalist.
Direction
- Visualize your path: Find a mentor and develop a mission statement and career plan.
Once you’re familiar with your work environment, confident in your identity, and acquainted with your support network, you’re ready for the final step – direction. Hospital medicine offers many professional avenues and clarifying your career path is challenging when attempted alone. A mentor is the necessary catalyst to find direction and purpose.
Selecting and engaging with a mentor will bolster your professional advancement, academic productivity, and most importantly, career satisfaction.1 At its best, mentorship is a symbiotic relationship. Your mentor should inspire you, challenge you, and support your growth and emotional well-being. In turn, as the mentee, you should be proactive, establish expectations, and take responsibility for maintaining communication to ensure a successful relationship. As your career takes shape over time, you may require a mentorship team to fulfill your unique needs.
When you’ve established a relationship with your mentor, take time to develop 1-year and 5-year plans. Your 1-year plan should focus on a few “quick wins,” often projects or opportunities at your home institution. Small victories in your first year will boost your confidence, motivation, and sense of control. Your 5-year plan should delineate the steps necessary to make your first major career transition, such as from instructor to assistant professor. Working with your mentor to draft a career mission statement is a useful first step in this process. Beginning with the end in mind, will help you visualize your direction.2
We hope that the FIND framework will help you find your path to success as a first-year hospitalist.
Dr. Nelson is a hospitalist and instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, both in Boston. Dr. Ashford is assistant professor and program director, department of internal medicine/pediatrics, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha. Dr. Rawal is clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Crecelius is assistant professor of clinical medicine at Indiana University, Indianapolis. This article is sponsored by the SHM Physicians in Training committee, which submits quarterly content to the Hospitalist on topics relevant to trainees and early -career hospitalists.
References
1. Zerzan JT et al. Making the most of mentors: a guide for mentees. Acad Med. 2009;84:140-4. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181906e8f.
2. Covey F. The seven habits of highly effective people. 25th anniversary edition. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013.
Congratulations! You’re about to start your first year as a hospitalist, and in many cases your first real job. Hospital medicine is an incredibly rewarding subspecialty, but the progression from resident to attending physician can be daunting. To facilitate this transition, we present FIND (Familiarity, Identity, Network, and Direction) – a novel, sequential framework for success as a first-year hospitalist. For each component, we provide a narrative overview and a summary bullet point for quick reference.
Familiarity
- Lay the foundation: Learn the ins and outs of your job, EMR, and team.
Familiarize yourself with your surroundings. Know where your patients are located, where you can document, where to find equipment for procedures, and how to reach information technology. Proactively set up the electronic medical record on your home computer and phone. Make sure to review your responsibilities, including your call schedule, your shifts, your assigned patient panel, when you can leave campus, and how people should contact you. Also, others should know your expectations of them, especially if you are working with trainees.
Maintain a file with all of your orientation materials, including phone numbers and emails of key personnel. Know who your people are – who can access your calendar, who you can call with a clinical question or to escalate care, who can assist you with billing, and who helps with the throughput of your patients in the hospital. Take time to review your benefits, including parental leave, insurance coverage, retirement planning, vacation time, and ancillary services like laundry for your white coat. Familiarizing yourself with these basics will provide comfort and lay the foundation for your first year.
Identity
- Perform self-reflection: Overcome imposter syndrome and invest in hobbies.
One of the fundamental realizations that will occur with your first hospitalist job is that you are the attending. You walk in with a vision of your first job; be prepared to be surprised. You have earned the privilege of deciding on patient plans, and you are no longer obligated to staff with a senior physician. This is both empowering and terrifying. In a way, it may oddly remind you of intern year. A new hospital, new EMR, new colleagues, and imposter syndrome will trick you into doubting your decisions.
How to battle it? Positive thinking. You do know the basics of inpatient medicine and you do have a support system to cheer you on. As part of imposter syndrome, you may feel pressured to focus solely on work. Yet, your first job as a hospitalist is finally an amazing opportunity to focus on you. What hobbies have you been neglecting: cooking, photography, reading, more time with family, a new pet? You have the power to schedule your off-weeks. Are you interested in academics? Reserve a portion of your time off to explore scholarship opportunities at your institution. Your first job as a hospitalist is a chance to develop your identity, both as a physician and as an individual.
Network
- Engage your support system: Communicate with nursing, administration, colleagues.
Networking, or building a web of mutually beneficial professional relationships, is imperative for long-term career success. Hospitalists should focus on developing their network across multiple departments, such as nursing, subspecialties, medical education, and hospital administration. Curating a broad network will increase your visibility within your organization, showcase your unique services, and demonstrate your value.
To make networking encounters impactful, express interest, actively listen, ask relevant questions, and seek areas of mutual benefit. It’s equally important to cultivate these new relationships after the initial encounter and to demonstrate how your skill set will aid colleagues in achieving their professional goals. Over time, as you establish your niche, deliberate networking with those who share similar interests can lead to a wealth of new experiences and opportunities. Intentionally mastering networking early in your career provides insight into different aspects of the hospital system, new perspectives on ideas, and access to valuable guidance from other professionals. Engaging in networking to establish your support system is an essential step towards success as a first-year hospitalist.
Direction
- Visualize your path: Find a mentor and develop a mission statement and career plan.
Once you’re familiar with your work environment, confident in your identity, and acquainted with your support network, you’re ready for the final step – direction. Hospital medicine offers many professional avenues and clarifying your career path is challenging when attempted alone. A mentor is the necessary catalyst to find direction and purpose.
Selecting and engaging with a mentor will bolster your professional advancement, academic productivity, and most importantly, career satisfaction.1 At its best, mentorship is a symbiotic relationship. Your mentor should inspire you, challenge you, and support your growth and emotional well-being. In turn, as the mentee, you should be proactive, establish expectations, and take responsibility for maintaining communication to ensure a successful relationship. As your career takes shape over time, you may require a mentorship team to fulfill your unique needs.
When you’ve established a relationship with your mentor, take time to develop 1-year and 5-year plans. Your 1-year plan should focus on a few “quick wins,” often projects or opportunities at your home institution. Small victories in your first year will boost your confidence, motivation, and sense of control. Your 5-year plan should delineate the steps necessary to make your first major career transition, such as from instructor to assistant professor. Working with your mentor to draft a career mission statement is a useful first step in this process. Beginning with the end in mind, will help you visualize your direction.2
We hope that the FIND framework will help you find your path to success as a first-year hospitalist.
Dr. Nelson is a hospitalist and instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, both in Boston. Dr. Ashford is assistant professor and program director, department of internal medicine/pediatrics, at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha. Dr. Rawal is clinical assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Dr. Crecelius is assistant professor of clinical medicine at Indiana University, Indianapolis. This article is sponsored by the SHM Physicians in Training committee, which submits quarterly content to the Hospitalist on topics relevant to trainees and early -career hospitalists.
References
1. Zerzan JT et al. Making the most of mentors: a guide for mentees. Acad Med. 2009;84:140-4. doi: 10.1097/ACM.0b013e3181906e8f.
2. Covey F. The seven habits of highly effective people. 25th anniversary edition. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2013.
