Spoonfed

There's an intern that I've been working with, and every time he has a problem or question, he asks me. And normally, this is fine. But it gets absurd. He asks me what to do about home medications. He can't find the list of home meds. As if somehow I secretly know everyone's home meds.

But more concerning to me is that whenever something medically relevant arises, he asks for the answer. I do all the thinking, and that's not appropriate at all. Because the whole point of being an intern is to think. If you just want to get the opinion of your senior every time something comes up, you might as well quit residency and become a nurse. No disrespect to nurses, but the whole point of being the doctor is the responsibility.

I feel like I need to let him flounder a little. Not in a bad way. When I was an intern, my senior was busy cardioverting someone, and another patient was hypotensive. His words to me, "Take care of it." I had all of 36 days of being an intern under my belt. I learned. Sometimes, you have to jump out of the nest and try to fly.