This book originally was written as an aid to medical students at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), during the start of their MS3 year, the first year of intensive clinical training. I wrote it at the end of my own MS3 year, based on notes I'd kept of all my “bonehead” moments. I made many errors that easily could have been avoided if I'd only known one or two simple facts. My feeling at the time was that despite excellent work by the UCSF School of Medicine in preparing us for the wards, there were still practical points that had not been covered ahead of time. I try to cover a few here.

The Guide is a starter kit to help MS3s “hit the ground running” during the first months of clerkships – especially for the inpatient months of medicine and surgery. There is nothing here that a thoughtful MS3 wouldn't eventually pick up on his or her own. The point of the Guide is to reduce the number of potholes in your road or at least make you aware of the common craters into which your predecessors have all too often strayed. Why repeat our mistakes, when you can make ones of your own? (That is a joke.)

Just as important as its practical tools for doing well on the wards, the Guide offers advice on how to maintain your well being – physical, mental, and emotional – during the often-arduous trials of medical training.