As medical students it can be hard at times to find ways to contribute to the care of our patients and teams. Sure, we see and evaluate patients on our own, but that doesn't preclude a more senior member from also doing their own evaluation, work-up, and note. Most everything we do needs to be approved or observed: our orders must be signed, procedures must often be carried out under watchful eyes, and patients are sometimes (understandably so!) unwilling to let the junior members of the team practice basic skills on them. When you know that asserting yourself in the care of your patient requires everyone else to chip in, it is easy to feel like a burden rather than a team player, especially in the fast-paced and busy environment of the emergency room. The flip side, of course, is that if you can find a way to carve out a niche for yourself by owning certain areas of your patients' care, you can work within the team to ease the workload of everyone around you and drive patie