awareness
Optimizing Your 3rd and 4th Years of Medical School: Resources for Networking, Mentorships, and Continuing Research
By Kayla Martinez, MS4 Approaching the final years of medical school is a paradox of fulfillment and stress. While students eagerly anticipate the conclusion of their academic journey, the looming task of applying for residency introduces a new layer of reality and pressure. Third and fourth years of medical school are opportunities to further your career by networking, finding mentors, and continuing research. Drawing from my experience as a current general surgery applicant, I have curated valuable resources that I believe can greatly assist prospective applicants navigating the uncertainties of what steps to take next. Networking: Networking provides access to various opportunities, such as research collaborations, clinical experiences, and mentorship. Building a network allows medical students to connect with professionals who can offer valuable insights and guidance. Attempt to make strong connections with residents and attendings in your specialty of choice. For example, if you connect or bond with a...
Beating Burnout: Tips
By Dra. Elizabeth Perazza Valentin, FACS Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication- Leonardo Da Vinci Greetings esteemed colleagues: Surgeons have long experienced a culture of silence when it comes to their personal pain. We have a reputation as stoic, determined, and driven. What can we do to prevent burnout and more importantly if we have suffered it what do we do to recover? How do we heal? In a field where we dedicate ourselves to caring for others, it's easy to overlook our own needs. Over the next few moments, I invite you to explore a series of transformative tips designed not only to manage burnout but to invigorate our commitment to exceptional patient care and personal fulfillment. Let's embark on this journey together, discovering how we can cultivate resilience, restore balance and ultimately enhance the quality of both our professional lives. Welcome to our discussion that I believe will resonate...
Fear of Applying or Fear of Rejection: Finding The Courage to Apply to New Opportunities: Part 2
By Denise Nemeth Rejection, once an unwelcome guest, has transformed into a catalyst for growth and redirection in my career. While my initial reaction to rejection was reluctance, I now am incredibly grateful for the role rejection has played in shaping my professional journey. I have evolved to not only make peace with it but actively seek and advocate for it among others. Growing up under the influence of my brilliant mother, who consistently expected nothing but the best from me, I naturally became an overachiever, albeit sometimes to my own detriment. As a child, I constantly strove to be at the top of my class and even school, including upperclassmen. Truthfully, I never struggled with academics, but I was not one to not put in the work. As my mother would say, it was my “only job”. And so, when the time to perform well in college came, I...
Fear of Applying or Fear of Rejection: Finding The Courage to Apply to New Opportunities: Part 1
By Morgan Hopp Applications for on-campus opportunities, national opportunities, tuition scholarships, travel stipends, research, the list of applications goes on and on. As a medical student, the opportunities sound wonderful and important for matching into the right residency program, but there is limited time to take advantage of all the opportunities, even if you are selected for them. After a few rejections, it becomes overwhelming just to figure out if you are a reasonable candidate and should put the effort in to apply. It is overwhelming to ask your mentor to submit another letter for an opportunity you are applying for…especially when the last few were straight rejections. Then, you might hit a spiral - one I wish I was not as familiar with - if none of these applications turn into opportunities. Without any of these amazing opportunities, will I have a chance in the match, let alone match...
Navigating Medical School, Residency and the Wild World of Medical Networking.
By Charoo Piplani Remember the days when the medical journey seemed like a straightforward path of applications and interviews? Ha! In retrospect, however, it was never nearly as straightforward as it appeared. We have always needed our networks or people with whom we built connections on our journey. Remember the high school teacher who wrote you that letter of recommendation, or the attending who made that phone call, or even your peers who were kind enough to introduce you to another superior at a new institution? They were all very much a part of networking. Networking in healthcare has traditionally revolved around in-person collaborations, mentorship, and shared research interests—amidst those awkward elevator rides with experts in the field. However, in the era of virtual connections, platforms like LinkedIn and Twitter have emerged as powerful gateways. Who knew that these platforms weren't just for memes and job postings? And thankfully so,...
Gender Inequalities in Surgery in Low-Middle Income Countries
By Maymona J. Choudry Gender inequality is a pervasive issue in many fields, including the surgical field, particularly in low-middle-income countries. Surgery has long been regarded as a man’s field, with only a few women physicians proceeding to surgical residency. This has resulted in a significant disparity in the number of male and female surgeons, which has implications for healthcare and surgical education. Firstly, cultural and societal norms play a significant role in this issue. Women are still viewed as caregivers and homemakers, with little emphasis placed on their professional pursuits. This has led to a lack of support and encouragement for women to enter into fields such as surgery, which are traditionally male-dominated. I remember at the beginning of my journey as a surgical resident, every time I would make rounds in a non-surgical ward, I was usually asked by the nurses or staff, whether I am a pediatrician...
Art and Humanities in Surgical Education: A Necessity or a Luxury in the Age of AI?
By Razan M. Baabdullah, BDS, MS, FRCDC They say empathy is the cornerstone of a compassionate healthcare provider. They say that you must approach your patients as sentient beings. They say that you have to foster the patient-doctor relationship. But they time you, they love efficiency, and they like to see numbers and figures, big ones. Quality? Well, not so much. They like ubiquitous monitors, electronic medical records, and certainly a screen in the room where it soon becomes the focal point and more valued than the patient in the room, stealing attention from the very humans we swore to prioritize, and now we are turning our backs to them to face the screen. Now, we are spending more time, not with human beings, but with insurance papers, to face once again screens, forms, and emails. Let me be clear: I’m no Luddite. I’m not averse to technology or contend...
On Being Latina Enough
By Sarah Suhood I was born on the island of Sri Lanka in the middle of the Indian Ocean, but I was also born Latina, thanks to my Guatemalan mom. Growing up bi-racial, I experienced the casual identity crisis many immigrants feel. I’ve lived in the states since I was five, so am I American? We make tamales for Christmas, so am I Latina? I don’t eat pork since my dad is Muslim, does that make me more South Asian? It was only in the last couple of years that I began to understand and embrace that I am all of the above. With the rise of the “no sabo” kids in social media, we are seeing a beautiful move to embrace the second and third generation Latin-Americans. Both earlier and current generations faced much discrimination for having accents or not speaking English “well enough.” I remember my ESL (English...
Heels of Steel, Hands of a Healer, Heart of a Mother
By Dr. Smruti K Patel 7:30 am. 15 blade. Incision. Bovie. Bipolar. Number one Penfield. Drill. Irrigation. Suction. Bipolar. 11 blade. 7 suction. Bipolar. The words, the commands, they are automatic. The muscle memory of opening, turning a craniotomy, hemostasis, irrigation, closing - it is all automatic. From start to finish, before every surgery, I am prepared. I have played this out in my mind. What I need, what I want, what the anatomy is supposed to look like, what I’m supposed to do if something untoward happens, what all the possibilities are. These are what neurosurgeons’ dreams are made of. These are what our nightmares are made of. Some may say it is unhealthy. I say - for some of us, the night before surgery is the when I can close my eyes and see what I need my hands to do tomorrow. 3:30 am - I hear the...
From Barbies to Blades: Reflections on a Barbie Society
By: Shannon Small “Mommy, so does Barbie have a vagina now?” My 3.5-year-old daughter has been excited to see the Barbie movie since we saw the first preview last summer. So when it came out, we both dressed in our Barbie best and went to see what I can only describe as a tragically accurate depiction of the life of women in this country both as my inner child dreamt of, and as my 42 year old grown self now inhabits. My daughter saw everything I could have wished for- Barbies as scientists, doctors, writers, Supreme Court Justices, and her personal favorite, (especially as a little brown skinned girl), President. She gasped in righteous indignation as Ken took over Barbie’s dream house “that is BARBIE’S house- he needs to LEAVE Mommy!”, and applauded when Barbie rebuked an advance from Ken “no one should touch you without permission!”. Her excitement at...
