Month: February 2021
When a Surgery Resident Gets COVID Pneumonia
By Dr. Sara Parmiter I awaken fatigued with body aches, not abnormal for a surgery intern. No one would think twice about taking acetaminophen and going to work. That is how I justify it to myself now. Hurrying to the clinic, I force myself to walk faster. I sit and catch my breath feeling the sweat roll down my back. I’m just tired. Walking back to the hospital, I stop and take a break; my legs are filled with sand. By the days end, I struggle to concentrate; it is physically taxing to keep my eyelids open and type. I have a cold, thinking to myself it cannot be COVID. That evening my temperature rose to 101; I reluctantly scheduled an appointment for testing the next morning. I am tough. My entire life I have been the strong girl, the one who can grin and bear it. I pride myself...
One of these things (is not like the other)
Patricia Martinez Quinones Remember joyfully singing to the Sesame Street tune “one of these things is not like the others, [...] just doesn’t belong, can you tell which is not like the others [...]?” Did you ever play it as a game, trying to guess the answer before the song was finished? What if this song played while you were in medical school, during your rotations, throughout your residency, or even during a committee or faculty meeting? Would you answer: “it’s me!”? For many students, residents, and faculty members in surgery this is likely their answer. According to the AAMC, underrepresented in medicine (UiM) are individuals whose race/ethnicity are underrepresented in the medical profession relative to their numbers in the general population. UiM females in surgery are also a minority in terms of gender. Although women account for over 40% of all surgery residents, according to a recent study by...
Diversity and Inclusion in Surgery
By Yewande Alimi As we progress through the month of February, the month also dedicated to Black History, I reflect on the notion of diversity and inclusion in the field of surgery. After the gut-wrenching year of 2020 that laid to bear a once in a lifetime pandemic that continues to ravage the world at large and the civil unrest that towered throughout the United States, it’s important that we acknowledge the need for practitioners, allies, administrators, and leaders that look like the composition of the world that we live in. That we are in 2021, and that academic black surgeons only comprise 2.7% of all academic surgeons, and that we have yet to reach parity when we look at black academic female surgeons in the field of medicine (0.78% vs 1.93%) is disappointing. The United States is comprised of 12.8% African Americans, 18.4% Hispanic, yet they remain substantially underrepresented...
How COVID-19 has enhanced work-life integration
By Mara Antonoff, MD As the world continues to grapple with the ongoing challenges of a global pandemic, the day-to-day work life for us as surgeons continues to evolve. While some professions enable individuals to convert their previous job duties to complete work-from-home settings, the nature of our job requires a certain extent of live interaction. Nonetheless, there are certain aspects of our jobs—particularly in the areas of research and administration—which readily adapt to a home environment, especially given our recent collective gains in knowledge and experience with remote telecommunication applications. Moreover, for many of us and our patients, there are a large number of visit types which are amenable to telemedicine. As a thoracic oncologic surgeon, a large part of my evaluation of patients relies on our discussion and my review of the imaging—neither of which require face-to-face visit. In recent months, I have heard concerns expressed related to...
My saggy ovaries: A surgical trainee’s experience with egg freezing
By Tiffany Sinclair, MD My saggy ovaries – that is what I’ve been calling them since I found out that I have “diminished ovarian reserve,” a term used to describe decreased reproductive potential based on the number of available ovarian follicles. Like many female surgical trainees, I prioritized my education and training over getting married or starting a family. I naively thought that I could get through medical school and residency and then start thinking about those things. During medical school, I still felt so young and not emotionally ready. During general surgery residency, the thought of having and raising a child while working 80 hours per week seemed impossible. But after seeing the steady stream of adorable baby pictures on social media from my friends and colleagues, my own biological clock started ticking and I thought that I should reconsider my baby-making plans. With a significantly reduced clinical load...