• Gryphon Login
  • MyCourses
  • Alumni
  • UCLA Health
  • Contact Us
Prospective Students

Prospective Students

Prospective Students
  • Admissions
    Procedure & Timelines
    • Admissions Timeline
    • Admissions Procedure
    • Basis of Selection
    • Housing Information
    • Interview Process
    • Competencies
    General Information
    • Statement of Diversity
    • Mission Statement
    • Honor Code
    • Admissions Brochure
    • FAQs
    • Admissions Timeline
    • Admission Procedure
    • Basis of Selection
    • DACA Applicants
    • Housing Information
    • Interview Process
    • Competencies
    • Statement of Diversity
    • Mission Statement
    • Honor Code
    • FAQs
  • Financial Aid & Scholarships
  • Degrees & Programs
  • Curriculum
  • Student Life
    Why Choose UCLA
    • Research
    • Clinical Work
    • Service Opportunities
    • Global Health Impact
    • Why You'll Love LA
    Campus Life
    • Student Organizations
    • Annual Events
    • Day in the Life
    • Around Campus
    • Photo Galleries
    • Medical and Research News
    • Medical Student Council
    • Geffy Guide
    • Search Campus and Health News
    • Service Opportunities
    • Global Health Impact
    • Why You'll Love LA
    • Photo Galleries
    • Day in the Life
    • Around Campus
    • Medical and Research News
    • Search Campus and Health News
  • Apply
  • Gryphon Login
  • MyCourses
  • Alumni
  • UCLA Health
  • Contact Us

Prospective Students

Search Campus and Health News

Search Campus and Health News

Search Campus and Health News

  • Health News
  • A Day in the Life
  • Around Campus
  • Medical and Research News
  • Health News
  • A Day in the Life
  • Around Campus
  • Medical and Research News
  1. Home
  2. Prospective Students
  3. Student Life
  4. Search Campus and Health News

Search Campus and Health News

Share this

Day in the Life

Title

A Day in the Life of a Medical Resident: No Day is Typical

Day in the Life

Date
04/08/2016
Article
Dr. David Richards

Dr. David Richards had many rewarding experiences as a resident leading up to his residency at UCLA.

After medical school, most students complete a year as a resident during the first stage of their medical residency. Depending on the student's location and specialty, however, most residents agree it's a year filled with surprising challenges, engaging new experiences and, of course, plenty of work hours.

Dr. David Richards, a pediatric resident at UCLA who began his residency year this June, shared his first few months with a snapshot into the life of a medical resident.

A 'typical' day

According to Dr. Richards, no day is typical in the life of a medical resident. "Depending on the rotation," he says, "you work anywhere from 60-to-80 hours a week. While on the PICU (pediatric intensive care unit), I was showing up at 5:30 every morning and working 13-to-14 hours a day. On outpatient-clinic rotations, I often show up at 8 am. Sometimes you work nights." Nevertheless, these long hours and varieties in schedules are not without purpose. "It is nice to have the variety of locations and hourly schedules, and at least during resident year, every rotation is something new to learn a lot from," he reflects.

Curing impostor syndrome

Aside from an extensive day-to-day experience, residents take up several other challenges as well. For Dr. Richards, feeling a strong sense of impostor syndrome was one of them. "You don't feel any smarter than when you were in med school, but somehow, now that you have the letters MD after your name, you are making so many decisions, putting in all the orders and transferring patients. I'd say all my friends had these same feelings at the beginning of residency," he admits, "But they start to pass once you've done things a few times. And, of course, the senior residents and attendings are there to help; they remember what it was like to just start off."

Growing with your patients

Fortunately, Dr. Richards has had incredibly rewarding experiences during this first year following medical school. Instead of just establishing connections with new patients each rotation, pediatric residents get the exciting opportunity to see families come back to them during their clinical career. Dr. Richards's partnerships with the other pediatricians have also been particularly encouraging.

"I was pleasantly surprised at how close you quickly become with your co-residents and how often you end up helping each other to get a task done," he says. "There really is an excellent sense of camaraderie that is focused not only on excellent patient care but also on nurturing each other."

For medical students who are entering their fourth year, Dr. Richards suggests pursuing rotations they won't get the chance to complete again, traveling independently, conducting research abroad or a similar project that affords them the best opportunity to enjoy their last year of medical school. This was advice that Dr. Richards was given by his own mentor, and he's glad he took it. "It really did help me recharge mentally before resident year," he says.

By Marilyn Chau

Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter Subscribe to Our Videos on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Add Us to Your Google+ Circles Connect with Us on LinkedIn Follow us on Pinterest Follow us on Flickr Follow us on Sharecare
Top 10 U.S. Medical Schools
  • Giving
  • Publications
  • Newsroom
  • Weekly Digest
  • Directory
  • Contact Us
  • Diversity
  • Emergency
  • Maps & Directions
  • UC Regents
  • Abuse Free
  • Volunteer
  • Biomed Library
  • Disability Resources
  • UCLA Health
  • Smoke-Free
  • Sitemap
  • Terms of Use
  • Report Broken Links
Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Twitter Subscribe to Our Videos on YouTube Follow us on Instagram Add Us to Your Google+ Circles Connect with Us on LinkedIn Follow us on Pinterest Follow us on Flickr Follow us on Sharecare