Here are a few suggestions for helping you in dealing with team dynamics.

LOGISTICS

First of all, make sure you introduce yourself to ALL team members; not just docs but also NPs, pharmacists, social workers, translators, etc. – anyone who rounds with your group. Every team member is a potential ally who may help you. So be friendly, know everyone's name, and use it. This also applies to nurses staffing wards your patients are on.

Also, have a card for recording your R1, R2/3, and attendings' pager numbers. I also make a point of noting down my residents' institutional physician code number, as well as licence number and DEA number for attendings. These codes are needed on order forms for labs and studies, and I usually have an opportunity to collect them during the course of work in the first week or two and jot them down where I keep pager numbers. Residents and attendings like it when you fill out forms for their sign-off with the codes already filled in; it shows you're paying attention.

In most cases, students are allowed to write orders, as long as they're cosigned by an intern or resident. Talk to your team about how they want to manage this. Also, as noted elsewhere in this volume, medication orders should ALWAYS be double-checked against a reference manual. Medication errors are a common cause of bad events.