How to Support New Doctors

Kelly McGuigan, MD
Posted on September 22, 2025

What can we do to make better doctors and keep more of them in medicine? Although the work begins with medical students, it certainly doesn’t end there.

Intern year is a pivotal time. The way we support doctors during this first intense chapter can shape the rest of their careers, for better or worse. I’ve talked with many fellow interns and residents about what helped them most and what they wish they had. Some of the most valuable insights came from aspects I hadn’t even considered. So, if you’ve made it through intern year already—especially if you're an upper-level resident, attending, or mentor—this post is for you.

Seven ways to support new doctors during one of the hardest years of their lives.

1. Normalize the struggle

This isn’t a normal life. Most people don’t work 60 to 80 hours a week with only one day off, rotating between nights and 24-hour shifts. Most people don’t experience suffering and death firsthand, only to go home and try to show up fully for their own families. We need to say out loud: This is hard. And it’s okay that it feels hard.

Normalize the emotional labor of medicine. Validate someone’s struggle after a tough rotation or heartbreaking case. Share your own stories of when you felt overwhelmed or unsure. Remind them that struggling doesn’t mean they’re failing; it means they’re learning.

2. Check-in

A simple “How are you really doing?” can go a long way. Whether you’re a co-resident, attending, mentor, or friend, make the time to check-in with the interns around you. I remember how much it meant when mentors or leadership contacted me, just to ask how I was doing as a person. Even brief conversations can remind someone they’re not alone. Also realize that if you do ask this question, you should be prepared for a possibly emotional answer.

3. Debrief the difficult moments

There will be many. Deaths, codes, bad outcomes, harsh feedback, moral distress—they can happen on any rotation, at any time. Take a few minutes to debrief, one-on-one or as a team. Even a short pause to reflect can help someone process the moment and begin to heal. You don’t always need to offer answers. Sometimes just holding space is enough to begin the process.

4. Break the cycle

Just because you experienced a grueling rotation or toxic tradition doesn’t mean the next generation needs to. Let’s not gatekeep resilience or glorify burnout. We can choose to do better.

5. Celebrate small wins

Intern year often feels like a series of sprints, with barely a moment to catch one’s breath. Help interns pause and recognize their growth. Say something when they do a good job. Celebrate when they finally master a task or navigate a tough conversation. I’ve made it a personal mission to compliment my peers and students when I see them thrive, and I journal about my own progress to acknowledge it in myself.

6. Step in

Notice when someone is struggling, and act. Take a note off their list. Grab them a coffee. Tell them to go home if things are under control. My class talks a lot about this: advocating for a cultural shift where stepping in is the norm, not the exception. Some days you’ll need help, and some days you’ll have extra to give. Let’s take care of each other, too.

7. Model wellness and boundaries

Speak up when a system isn’t working. Push for humane call structures, sustainable schedules, and space for residents to rest. More and more, I’m learning to model boundaries in my own life: actually taking breaks, leaving work behind when I’m off, and remembering that our patients benefit when we’re well.

We bend over backward for our patients—but we don’t owe medicine our entire selves. We get to be whole people.

Intern year is a shared trek every new doctor must face, but it doesn’t have to break us to be transformative. After we’ve climbed that mountain, we owe it to others to reach back, lend a hand, and make the climb less treacherous.

Supporting interns makes us better teachers, better teammates, and ultimately better doctors. The kind our patients—our profession—need and deserve.

Dr. Kelly McGuigan is a second-year family medicine resident at Thomas Jefferson University with a passion for maternal and child health and innovative approaches to medical education.