What are my expectations of a clinical observer in an observership? Five things an attending wants you to do and NOT do.

As a followup to my last blog on clinical observership at my institution, I felt it would be very useful to share 5 pearls of wisdom on what I expect from a clinical observer. These specific pieces of advice may turn out to be very useful for an observer who strives to make the most of his or her limited time in an observership.

1. As your teaching attending, I am fully aware that your goal as an observer is to obtain a letter of support at the end of the observership. There is no secret about it.

So when a faculty member asks you as to what you aim to achieve in your observership, yes you can certainly talk about 'wanting to learn clinical medicine', 'gain exposure to US health care system' or 'learn about residency training or evidence based practice'. I would also urge you to be upfront and state that you wish to obtain a letter of support from me. This demonstrates honesty and that you are not hiding anything from me. The words may need to be carefully chosen, for example: 'I wish to learn how residents work as a team and with consultants to take care of the patient. My observership is 4 weeks long. I would greatly appreciate you writing me a letter of support at the end of my observership as the US clinical experience and your letter of support will greatly strengthen my residency application."

This way, I can be on the lookout for strengths in your performance and presentations during the observership for inclusion in a glowing letter of support. Also, sometimes if the division chief (whom you may or may not have interacted with) takes the role of being the author of the letter, I can apprise you of this arrangement and then I can make sure I rightly forward my feedback of your performance to be included in the letter. Be ready with your CV (your ERAS CV or a traditional CV) as this is needed to write a letter of support. Also, instructions on how to upload the letter to ERAS would be needed.

As a corollary to this advice, I recommend that you stick with an observership period of four weeks at the least as opposed to two weeks. A longer duration in the division gives you the chance to interact in multiple occasions with many different attendings who can provide the necessary input to the one faculty member writing the letter of support. This may also give you a chance to work with the division chief whose letter carries the most value in the academic hierarchy.

2. At my first meeting with an observer, I always ask an observer 'which topics should we focus this week (or in the next few weeks)?'. A common response is 'whatever you wish'. The intention behind this question is to gauge your sincere interest in learning. You should be ready to answer this question in as much detail as possible. Here are few examples from a nephrology perspective:

• "Could you introduce us to a patient on dialysis and show us how dialysis corrects electrolyte imbalances?"
• "One of the patients that I am following has hyperkalemia. Could we review the causes and management of hyperkalemia?"
• "Could we go down to Pathology and see the kidney biopsy slides?"
• "Could you show us how to do urine microscopy?"
• "I noticed that one of the dialysis nurses was doing plasma exchange on a patient. Could we review the indications of plasmapheresis?"
• "I have always struggled with choosing the right diuretic. Could we review the indications for diuretic use and which diuretic is to be used in a specific situation?"
• "I have only read about kidney transplantation but have never seen a patient with kidney transplant. Could we review the rejection medications in a kidney transplant patient?"

The above requests send out a clear message that you are sincerely interested in making the most of your observership time and want to improve your knowledge of medicine and the clinical practice. Since you know much in advance which specialty you will be rotating, it is best to review an intern's book such as 'The Massachusetts General Hospital Handbook of Internal Medicine' or 'The Washington Manual of Medical Therapeutics Paperback' and do your very best in identifying topics of interest.

In case you are not asked as to your goals of observership (maybe because the attending is busy with other work), don't hesitate to bring these to the attention of the attending.

3. Be polite and courteous to everyone. From the fellowship coordinator to the nurses, techs, medical students, residents, fellows, patients and just anyone you encounter before, during and after observership.

Yes, I realize that you are trying to project your very best and wish to make a lasting impression on me. But doing so at the expense of another person by belittling or proving them wrong will not be tolerated. I shudder when I recall the observer who would just not wait for the attending to finish her question and would just cut her short to make a point. Or the observer who just did not show up when she was supposed to start observership and did not have the basic courtesy to notify the coordinator well in advance. We could have another observer in her absence.

So please be patient and appreciative. As a busy attending on service, we are really going out of our way to accommodate you and your needs just for an altruistic cause i.e. your professional success.

Please be respectful of my time as I have multiple responsibilities including documentation, chart review, interacting with the medical and surgical teams, family members, nurses, dietitians, social workers, administration roles and teaching. Try not to hang around me in an attempt to seek my attention when I am in the middle of other work.

4. Be productive and keep yourself busy during the short observership period and make the most of your time. See if you can be of assistance in the teams daily work. For example, you may assist the student, resident or attending in completing the assessment and recommendations in the patient note especially on the patient that you are following. While observers usually are not allowed to write a note in the electronic medical records, I still fondly remember the observer who typed the complete history and physical including assessment and recommendations in a word document that he sent to me by email that I copied and pasted into the chart after making minor edits. Remember that anything you do to make the life of an attending easier will surely be greatly appreciated and well remembered.

Offer to research topics on Uptodate or on Pubmed either on a question that may have come up during rounds or at any time. If you find yourself dozing or getting bored waiting for a consult, do not start chatting on Facebook. Have a lunch break or check out the library. If you are starting on the inpatient side, ask the attending if you can go to the clinic to observe. Attending medicine resident morning report or noon conferences are other great learning opportunities and will help you in your residency (plus you can add to youe personal statement).

5. Finally, be proactive. You will soon realize that the work culture in a US hospital demands a thick skin at times. You cannot be soft spoken or modest as this is usually equated with lack of confidence. Make eye contact. You don't need to be loud but sometimes one needs to be forceful to get the work done. A university officer shared with me his opinion that the work culture in US is a bit unfair to introverts.

Making presentations to the entire division especially a case presentation that generates a discussion and literature search for evidence is a very high level of learning and is appreciated in any academic program. These skills will surely be highlighted in your letter of support (and you can describe these experiences in your personal statement). Try to do one PowerPoint presentation each week to your rounding team.

Be bold. Be smart. You can do this. And don't forget to remind your letter writer towards the end of your observership for the letter of support and send them your CV.


Always thank the letter writer and any teaching attendings for taking the time to teach and draft the letter. Oh and don't forget to tell them where your matched. All the best!

Note: I just found out that some observership programs ask for payment (for example, this program charges upto 18k for observership) likely to cover liability and teaching efforts. This puts a strain on an oberver's financial resources as any observer needs to bear the expenses for travel, stay and food which can quickly add up to a lot and can be burdensome when not having an income. Use your best judgement and understanding of available resources when deciding where to do your observership. All the best!

Ed4Med LLC (www.ed4medus.com)

Before you go: Here's your golden opportunity to have your voice heard. Write down your ONE question regarding your US residency program application, personal statement, interviews or anything that has been bothering you and keeping you up at night. You can reply at the end of this blog or post a message at my Facebook page.

The top 10 popular questions will be featured on my next blog posts at https://ed4medllc.blogspot.com/ and the winners will receive a coupon each for a FREE practice interview at Ed4medus.com ! Put those thinking caps on and hurry up!

Photo credit of image on top of webpage: https://www.reviewjournal.com/life/health/medical-societys-mini-internship-gives-perspective-on-doctors-jobs/