How it's different. The role of the sub-intern/intern is very different from that of the medical student. Whereas the prized quality in a student is thoroughness, the prized quality in a sub-intern or intern is EFFICIENCY. Anything that helps you get your work done faster should be adopted, and if (like me) you're on the plodding side, you should jettison your attachment to details a bit. Conquer your work as efficiently as possible – that is the goal.

As an example, you'll see in Appendix 4 that I don't recommend pre-rounding onto cards for sub-interns, since you'll only have to recopy onto a note. Pre-round directly onto a note. If you want to keep a record, you can photocopy the note before popping it in the chart.

As a sub-I, you will have an order of magnitude more responsibility for your patients. Your resident should be working very closely with you, and expects to do so, so don't be nervous. They want to help you.

The following are some special topics I feel could bear going over, having observed UCSF sub-I's on the wards.

Sign out. Please read this section, since I have witnessed UCSF sub-Is make multiple faux pas in giving sign out on their patients, which can easily be avoided with a little guidance. Unlike a clerk, a sub-I signs out the overnight care of their patient to the on-call team, who (on medicine, anyway) later sign out this task to the nightfloat intern.