In this series, the Column editors continue our interview series exploring the experiences and advice of current residents in urology. In our latest edition, we interviewed Dr Connor McPartland, postgraduate year 2 at Temple University.

Editors: Thanks for taking the time to sit down with us! To kick things off, would you mind telling us a little bit about yourself?

Dr McPartland: I grew up just outside of Philadelphia and went to Clemson, studying bioengineering for undergrad. I then came back home for medical school at Thomas Jefferson University and just finished intern year at Temple.

Editors: What was the hardest part of the transition from medical school to residency?

Dr McPartland: The hardest part—but also arguably the most rewarding part—is the responsibility of clinical decision-making. As a student, you are encouraged to think about clinical decisions. But any assessment and plan are filtered through a resident, chief resident, and/or attending before they directly translate to clinical care. As a resident, you’re entrusted with patients to make these decisions, and people look to you to make that call. It carries a lot of weight—as it should. It’s not unique to intern year, but it’s a challenge that you may not necessarily appreciate as much as a student. Regardless, I think it’s both normal and probably a healthy thing for the consequences of clinical decision-making to produce some level of anxiety. We all care so deeply about our patients and their clinical course. One of the greatest challenges I’ll wrestle with throughout my career is finding a healthy balance between worry and compartmentalization.

Editors: What makes an effective intern?

Dr McPartland: I think there are several attitudes that allow you to grow and be a strong intern.

First is truly caring about every single patient that you take care of—following up on their labs judiciously, making sure that they are receiving all the right medications, avoiding delays. As an intern, you become efficient by thinking about putting yourself in the patient’s position and always trying to make sure that they’re getting the best possible care.

As interns, we can also strongly advocate for patients. Outside of nursing staff, we’re often the ones interacting with patients most, making us particularly attuned to patient needs. We are exposed to the elements happening behind the scenes all day on the floors. As a result, good communication about patient updates and needs is key.

In addition, having a growth mindset is important. You’ve come so far to be here, but also you’ve got so far to go in terms of your knowledge base. I think the best interns are those who realize that every day, there’s something that you could work on to improve and provide better patient care.

Lastly, it is crucial to be a team player. You’re the one who is often on the floor the most, communicating to the rest of the team about patient updates and trying to help the team in any potential way that you can. Interns can stand out if they rise up to the challenge of accomplishing tasks to help the team and ensure patients are receiving the best possible care.

Editors: Have you developed any new strategies for work–life balance with your busy work schedule?

Dr McPartland: This can be somewhat considered when you’re choosing residencies. I knew that being close to family was important to me. I lean on them to disconnect and ensure that I have a life outside the hospital. For example, sometimes it is difficult to disconnect from our patients, even when we go home. I think that’s good to a certain extent, but it’s also important to be able to have a life outside of the hospital and compartmentalize, which spending time with my family helps me do. I also try to run and exercise when I get a chance.

Plus, you gain a support system with your co-residents that helps. It’s an absolute pleasure to spend time with my co-residents. We try to do brunches every month. We’re doing a resident/attending softball game. These initiatives, along with others built into programs, help develop community and promote work-life balance.

Editors: How do you recommend approaching financial literacy as an intern?

Dr McPartland: I think this is such an important topic that needs to be discussed, even at the student level. I used the time between Match and residency to explore financial plans—for example, my cost of living estimates and what I was going to do with my salary. I particularly recommend becoming familiar with retirement plans, such as what it means to have a Roth IRA or 403B and employer matching. You can also use that time to understand loan repayment processes and options. It’s never too early to start considering these topics, so I recommend going into intern year with some understanding and plan.

Editors: What surprised you most about your intern year?

Dr McPartland: It’s been incredibly meaningful to see patients longitudinally and through their clinical course. As a resident, you get the opportunity to see people over weeks and months. You see them preoperatively, in the operating room, postoperatively on the floor, and then even in clinic for follow-up. You really build relationships with them and feel like you’re their physician, not just another face in a blip of their clinical experience. It’s been so amazing to develop these relationships.

One of the greatest challenges of intern year—and honestly medicine in general—is the inefficiencies of our health care system. You are often the one who has to push to get things done—whether that is prior authorizations, acquiring imaging, making sure patients go to the right place, or more. It’s great to know that you’re making a difference, but sometimes I feel that there are better ways to care for patients than having the intern call 10 people for a CT to be approved. But unfortunately, you will face these hurdles as an intern and have to work through them.

Part 2 of our interview with Dr McPartland will be featured in the next edition of the AUANews Medical Student Column.