If you’re among the applicants who matched to a residency program this year, you’ve likely enjoyed celebratory relief.

As a medical student transitioning to residency your life is going to change significantly in the coming months. What are the best steps to prepare for those changes in both a clinical and personal capacity?

    1. For many graduating medical students, the excitement of Match Day is quickly followed by the anticipation and uncertainty of relocating for residency. You’ll need to a new home that balances meeting the demands of clinical training with achieving family, financial and lifestyle goals.
    2. In terms of your living arrangement, your options are likely going to fall into three areas: buying, renting with roommates and renting on your own. The ideal is to spend no more than 25–35 percent of monthly income on housing.
    1. Match Day marks the end of a rigorous academic journey before another begins. Often, graduation and some much-needed downtime are in the near future. While some medical students have already completed their coursework by Match Day, many others have a month or more remaining in medical school. Learn how to use that time well.
    1. Housing is one big fixed cost, of course. Following the right advice on other questions of income and expense can allow you to focus more of your mental energy on getting the most out of your training.
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    1. Almost every physician has some medical-student loan debt, with 75% of physicians borrowing more than $170,000. So, as a new resident physician, debt is likely part of your present and future.
    2. To effectively manage debt, one can take a few key steps, such as understanding your loan forgiveness options, improving your credit score, understanding the potential benefits of consolidation and refinancing, and learning how to use your debt efficiently.
    3. For further insight, a series of episodes of the AMA’s “Making the Rounds” podcast discussed the state of student debt in the U.S. Those episodes are available on numerous podcast platforms, including Apple PodcastsGoogle Play or Spotify.
    1. Published by the Association of American Medical Colleges, the Core Entrustable Professional Activities for Entering Residency provides a set of tasks learners should be able to perform upon beginning their graduate medical education. Which of those tasks are most vital on day one?
    1. As a medical resident working long shifts and running short on free time, accomplishing the everyday tasks can seem to require extraordinary efforts. Understand how residents find time to get their painstaking daily tasks done. 
    1. Revealing data on how first-year medical residents spend their working hours suggests that interns can expect plenty of interaction with an electronic health record (EHR), but far less time in direct contact with patients or in educational activities. There’s also the matter of preparing for the 24-hour shift.
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    1. Finding time to study for the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 3 can be difficult for residents in the busy first year of residency, often referred to as intern year. Heed these tips for balancing test preparations with rotations to ensure better understanding of the subject matter and boost scores.
    2. Also, keep in mind that the AMA provides resources to help recent medical graduates obtain their medical licenses and study for licensure exams.  
    1. The AMA is with its members every step of the way. For medical residents, that means providing resources to succeed—during residency and in charting your career—throughout your years of training. Learn how these comprehensive members-only offerings help you stay ahead during residency.
    1. As you warm up to life as a medical resident, you will learn that practicing medicine is only part science. Some lessons cannot be gleaned from a textbook or lecture. To get that insight, it is wise to speak to physicians you admire and your future attendings.

Learn how the AMA Resident and Fellow Section gives voice to, and advocates for, the issues that affect resident and fellow physicians.



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