Alyssa Burgart, MD, MA Profile picture
Jan 10, 2023 10 tweets 2 min read Read on X
No one tells pre-meds to work in fast food.

But maybe we should.

As a doctor, I'm still using lessons I learned working at In-N-Out as a college student.

Here are six fast food lessons I'll keep forever:
1 - Show Up Ready to Work, Early

Do I have everything I need for my shift?
Am I dressed, fed, and watered?
Do I have my name badge?
Better be 5 minutes early!
2 - Sweep the Floor and Shuck the Lettuce

I'm not "too good" or "too smart" or "too special" for any aspect of the job.

• I clean up my messes
• When needed, I mop the OR floors.
• Patient needs a blanket? I grab it.
• Pre-op nurse running behind? I pull the pre-med.
3 - Actively Listen to the Customer

In fast food, you have to listen closely to get a customer's food order correctly.

If I'm busy thinking of the next thing I'm going to say, I'm not listening and will miss something important that matters to the patient.
4 - Repeat Back the Customer's Order

Knowing the patient's priorities makes a huge difference. Make sure you got everything right by repeating the order.

Miss something that matters to the patient? Now is the time to correct it - not later.
5 - Work Hard, Still Struggle To Make Ends Meet

I worked 38 hrs/week on top of a full course load in junior college. No benefits because I wasn't "full-time." I learned how hard it was to work while in school, pay rent, and stay afloat.
My patients and their parents often struggle to make ends meet, working in the service industry. Having little insight into those struggles helps me avoid assumptions about what financial worries a family may be facing.
6 - Team Work Makes All the Difference

Every day, my feet hurt & I smelled like a grill, but I was happy to go back each shift.

Who you work with matters.
Having a great manager and team makes every tough job easier and more fun. It makes every hard day a little better.
What valuable lessons did you learn in an entry-level job? Drop them in the comments below!
Enjoyed this thread? Here's a link to the first tweet. 🍔

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
 

Keep Current with Alyssa Burgart, MD, MA

Alyssa Burgart, MD, MA Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @BurgartBioethix

Apr 24, 2024
My stomach is in knots over the EMTALA case in the Supreme Court today.

Here’s what’s at stake:
EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act) requires hospitals to provide emergency treatment to people, even if they don’t have insurance.

The law enacted by congress in 1986, requires hospitals that receive federal funds to stabilize patients.

EMTALA is a
backbone of medical ethics and necessary to protect patients from corporate greed.

Codifying protections like this into law is supposed to protect patients from laws like Idaho’s near total abortion ban.
Read 19 tweets
Aug 18, 2023
Ever wondered how to pen your first op-ed as a HCW?

My top 5 tips for writing your first op-ed style essay ✍️😷
1. One Strong Opinion

Strong opinion essays have one thing to say & say it succinctly
2. Why you?

Why is your perspective the exact one needed for this topic?

A pediatrician specializing in asthma? A knitting med-surg nurse? An RT raising teenagers? A radiology tech and whiskey connoisseur?
Read 7 tweets
Jan 16, 2023
I mentor a lot of junior faculty at work. The number one process question they have is "how do I organize my life"?

One key process that helps me:

I synchronize my Amion schedule with my digital calendar and my family's shared calendar.
It's critical that when I'm on a shift or on-call, my partner knows:
• I won't be home when the family wakes up
• They are 100% in charge of the kids
• Not to expect me for dinner
• Not to expect me home by bedtime
• Don't schedule any other responsibilities for me that day
Unfortunately, the inertia of figuring out calendar integration is enough to shut some of us down completely!

But it's super simple. You can do it!
Read 11 tweets
Jan 16, 2023
US healthcare workers must be prepared to care for incarcerated people.

Unfortunately, few of us are taught how to do this.

For 19 years, I have answered ethics questions, including re: patients in prison.

Here are 7 pieces of ethical advice to protect your patients.

🧵👇
Advice #1: Incarcerated people get to make their own medical decisions.

We are used to adult patients making their own decisions.

Having an armed guard at the bedside confuses the usual bedside dynamic.

Focus on the patient's goals and values.
Advice #2: This includes Advance Care Planning

Fortunately, incarcerated people retain the right to make advanced care planning decisions.

This includes appointing a surrogate decision-maker (such as a family, friend, etc.)
Read 18 tweets
Jan 9, 2023
I have been interested in preventing workplace violence in surgical settings for a long time.

And over the past eight years, I have come across strong opinions about workplace violence (WPV) in pediatric surgery.
But the more I learned & educated myself - I realized many of these beliefs were completely wrong.

Eventually, I realized these workplace violence beliefs were commonly accepted because most people - even experienced
nurses and physicians - knew so little about the patient and HCW dynamics that contribute to injuries.
Read 24 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us!

:(