“The whole week for O week, and the whole week with buddies, was really helpful. I am so grateful to the junior medical staff unit (JMSU), contacting us, making sure our paperwork is done – I’m very grateful.
“Being at home has helped me personally: coming home to my family, not having to worry about cooking, which is something I had to do last year, is really nice, especially food that tastes much better than what I was making. I truly feel blessed to be back.”
While starting a medical career can be daunting, Tanveer said his placement in aged care has given him an understanding of what it is to be a clinician.
“Aged care exposes you to a broad variety of medicine, so we’re getting our heads around how doctors deal with issues in a clinical setting, both little and big,” he said.
“Putting your knowledge to the test and now being responsible for your patient’s health, you start to feel like ‘this is what it’s like to be a doctor’ whereas before you felt ‘this is what it’s like as a student’.”
While adrenaline flows for many as they fulfil their dream of working as a doctors, Tanveer said it was important to ‘fill your own bucket.’
“The first few weeks of internship really hits you, you mentally prepare for it, everyone’s ready for it but it still hits you,” he said.
“My strategy is keeping time aside, a little bit every day, just for doing the things that really ground me, whether that means calling my friends or my partner or doing some meditation or reading, or keeping up my exercise with bhangra.
“The time that I have off, I make sure I use it to do things that really fill up my bucket.”