Intern 101: Tips and
Tricks for Surviving
Internship
Dr Samuel Roberts, RMO, John Hunter Hospital
Dr Alex Legge, Intern, John Hunter Hospital
Summary
• Background – Manning Hospital
• “The Gaps”
• The Program
• The Feedback
• The Future
Manning Hospital
Taree, NSW
The Gaps…
• Medical school gives good medical
knowledge
• Much of this is irrelevant to life as a JMO!
• Little taught about how to “do the job” of
a JMO
The Gaps Continued…
• Many JMOs want to teach
• “Junior” knowledge is a barrier
• Access to formal teaching limited due to
full time working hours
• They DO have good knowledge about how
to be JMOs!
The Solution – Intern 101
• Once weekly
• Over Lunch
• Informal
• In the JMO common room
• Relatively unstructured
• Topics of relevance for JMOs – both “day
to day” and “clinical”
Topics – Day to Day
• Structuring Your Day/Ordering Bloods
• Writing In Notes
• Getting a consult (without being abused!)
• Discharge Summaries
• Imaging Requests
Topics - Clinical
• Low Urine Output
• Fevers
• Chest Pain
• Analgesia/Anti-emetics
• Sugars
• Fluids
Example: Structuring Your Day
• Turn up early, print lists.
• Ward Round
• Sick Patients!!
• Imaging and other investigations
• Consults
• Discharge Summaries
• Cannulas, rechart’s, fluid’s
• Bloods
Feedback
• Formalized Survey after each session
• Collected separately from students and
presenters
From Students
• Examined “usefulness”, “style”, “content”
and “whether you would recommend to a
colleague”
• Paper forms, employing Likert Scales
• Some issues with presenters!
• 21 total responses
From Students
• 100% said style was “just right”
• 100% said content was “just right”
• 100% said sessions were either “useful” or
“extremely useful”
• 100% said they would “definitely”
recommend the session to a colleague
From Presenters
• Online Survey
• Employed Likert scales and “true/false”
plus free text boxes
• Total of 6 responses
From Presenters
• 100% Said they would like more teaching
opportunities
• 83% said they thought their session had
been useful or extremely useful
• 100% said their teaching skills had
improved
• 100% said they would recommend
involvement to a colleague
The Future
• This semester – John Hunter Hospital
• Next Year – Possibly network wide
• Need to get more feedback – small
numbers from Taree
• Possibility of a day long workshop
• Orange and Blacktown
Conclusions
• There is a gap in medical education
• JMOs like to teach – and have strong
knowledge in this area
• The intern 101 sessions were very
successful in Taree with overwhelmingly
positive feedback
Acknowledgements
• Dr Alan Pederson (Senior Lecturer, University of Newcastle)
• Mrs Mel Kerr (4th year Manager, University of Newcastle
Medical School)
• Mrs Peta Bernasconi (5th Year Manager, University of
Newcastle)
• Mrs Jessica Moore (JMO Manager JHH/RNC)
• All the JMOs and medical students who have been involved
with the program