Considerations for Residency: Year 3

Here you are! You can finally see the bright light at the end of a long tunnel of intense training! Congratulations! It’s important to continue to develop yourself as a senior/budding attending. Also, continue to meet regularly with your mentor/s. This really helps keep you on track during a very busy time in your life. It's ok to not have everything figured out yet. Your career will last many years and take many paths!  

Plan now 

• It’s important to try to plan out this next year as much as possible.  
• If applying for fellowship, plan out your interview schedule.  
• Set aside time for job interviews and a plan for Board prep. 

Burnout 

• Senioritis is real...and truthfully, it’s just another form of burnout. It can lead to those around you (patients included) feeling unimportant. Seek ways to stay connected to your training – mentor a junior trainee, offer to serve on a new committee, or take the lead on a QI project.  
• Reach out to your mentors at some point during this year and let them know that you appreciate them. Gratitude can carry you through the last months of this long journey. 
• Dedicate some time to reflect on your journey thus far. Try to do this out loud with some of your residency classmates. Talk about some of the most rewarding moments. Share some of the most daunting moments. What excites you about life after graduation? What scares you? Putting some of this out in the open can be more helpful than you realize. 

Attend a Conference 

• Attending a conference can help with burnout by giving you an opportunity to connect with physicians like you.  
• If you are planning on going into fellowship, attending a conference helps tremendously with networking. It can help you stand out when programs review fellowship applications.  

Rotations/Research/Board Prep 

• Grab a small notebook or start a note on your smart phone to scribble down a couple of things the night before each new rotation starts. Use a prompt like, "this is my last opportunity to really learn how to..." or "I need to come out of this rotation feeling confident in..." Use these notes as your guide to your last year of residency. 
• If staying at the same institution for fellowship or your job, try to start a research project or any other work of your own, which you can continue after 3rd year. 
• Continue to find time to read. Peds in Review articles are great resources that are digestible and helpful for Board content and practical info.