AWSchat
Tweetchatting 101
By Camila R. Guetter, MD MPH The Internet and social media have expanded our ways to communicate and interact with one another. In medicine and research, the Internet facilitates discussions and scientific advancements. Social media, more specifically Twitter, is a great forum for discussions on research/innovation, clinical care, and medical education in surgery. A specific strategic way to use Twitter to connect individuals and promote discussions on predetermined topics are Tweetchats. The Association of Women Surgeons has hosted many of these, approximately one per month for the past few years. You are likely to have come across an advertisement for one of these Tweetchats, also called #AWSChats in AWS. Other societies have also been using this tool regularly. Examples of recent AWS tweetchats (and topics discussed) include: Surgical education (August 1, 2022) Dear intern: welcome to residency! (June 20, 2022) Increasing representation for LGBTQIA+ surgeons, trainees, and patients (May 23,...
THE INCREASING NEED FOR SURGICAL EDUCATION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF FUTURE SURGEON LEADERS: AN UPCOMING TWEETCHAT
By Dr. Anastasios Mitsakos Medical education has always been an integral part of our profession as physicians and surgeons. From ancient times, the Hippocratic oath binds us “to teach this art, without fee or indenture; to impart precept, oral and all other instructions, to indentured pupils who have taken the Healer’s oath.” Especially considering the combination of art and science in the field of surgery, education of medical knowledge, as well as surgical technique, leads to the evolution of successful future leaders. Furthermore, the science behind educational practices has caused more and more surgeons to consider surgical education as an up-and-coming significant component in surgical research, with a lot of studies focusing on ways to improve continuous training, mentorship, and coaching for medical students, residents, and faculty. A growing body of literature has focused on the importance of high-quality surgical education in residency training programs. In addition, constructive feedback has...
“Dear Intern”, welcome to residency!
By Camila R. Guetter Dear soon-to-be interns, congratulations on finishing medical school and welcome to residency! You are about to embark upon a very challenging but rewarding journey. In residency you will create lifelong friendships. You will also learn how to excel as a surgeon, a leader, a mentee, a mentor, an educator, and a surgeon-scientist. We all know how transition times can be tough and how they can bring a lot of anxiety, just like when you went from college to medical school, or from your pre-clinical years to clerkship years in medical school. You are here though, which means you have all it needs to succeed! A lot of the anxiety in this transition time comes from uncertainty on what to expect and what will be expected from you. Main questions new interns have include how to best organize your time, how to study during residency, how to...
Increasing LGBTQIA+ Representation in Surgery: An Upcoming TweetChat with the Association of Out Surgeons and Allies (AOSA)
By Dr. Arushi Goel What is pride? What is the importance of being able to be comfortable in your own skin, to be accepted as you are? For centuries, members of the LGBTQIA+ community have fought for their rights, their inclusion in society, and the freedom to openly express themselves as who they are. Despite improvements, the battle is far from won. Being different is never easy, but what separates members of the LGBTQIA+ community from members of other minority/identity groups is the added challenge, the “choice” to just blend in knowing that to show yourself is dangerous when the world is all too happy to show you the way out. At the core of the multitude of struggles undergone by the LGBTQIA+ community, there lies a simple need for the freedom to be… the freedom to be accepted for who they are and the freedom from fear to express...
The Changing Face of Global Surgery: An Upcoming TweetChat
By Dr. Dominique Vervoort Five billion people continue to lack access to safe, timely, and affordable surgical healthcare when needed. As a result, more than 17 million people die from surgically treatable conditions every year, more than five times as many deaths as due to HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined. Contrary to historical misperceptions, surgical healthcare is favorably cost-effective, including when compared to many common global health interventions. Moreover, without investing in surgical healthcare, low- and middle-income countries are projected to face a potential loss of socioeconomic growth of up to $12.3 trillion by 2030. Surgical healthcare was once coined the “neglected stepchild of global health” by Dr. Paul Farmer and Dr. Jim Kim. Progress in recent years, with the growth of academic global surgery and national and international policy commitments, suggests that surgery may no longer be a neglected stepchild; however, it is clear that there is much work...
SURGICAL INNOVATION: AN UPCOMING TWEETCHAT
By Dr. Mark Cohen Surgeons are frequently engaged in the incorporation of new technologies in their practice. In the operating room, the clinic, and even the board room, they combine technical skill with creative problem solving to improve tools and techniques for patient care, making them natural innovators. Surgeons are also keenly aware of how healthcare delivery and patient workflow can affect outcomes and overall costs. While surgical training and faculty development continue to evolve, one area that remains a challenge is educating surgeons how to navigate innovation, commercialization, and entrepreneurship more effectively. Even surgeons who have had a lifetime of clinical training and experience may lack the necessary tools, skills, and network to successfully take an innovation from an idea to an actual product or service that can impact patient care. Moreover, with increasing pressure to meet productivity metrics, a surgeon’s ability and bandwidth to learn the complexities of...
Surgical Ergonomics and the Surgeon: An Upcoming TweetChat
By Dr. Talar Tejirian The medical field is considered to be intellectually challenging and demanding of time. Physicians are expected to be available for patient care with little consideration of their personal time. As surgeons, we chose our specialty knowing that we would be dedicating a large portion of our time to our career. However, we rarely consider the high physical demands of our job. Surgery is a mentally, emotionally, and physically demanding career. Unfortunately, the physical demands of operating have long been ignored both by individual surgeons and surgical societies at-large. Finally, we are now discussing the health of us surgeons. A surgeon’s physical health is an important part of our overall well being and career longevity. Ergonomics is a key factor in our success, as is physical preparedness, training, and recovery. Studies show that almost three quarters of surgeons report some form of physical pain, most commonly with...
Mental Health and Wellness in Surgery: An Upcoming Tweetchat
By Dr. Scarlett Hao and Dr. Halle Ellison A critical point to address when discussing wellness is the lack of shared understanding in the language we use to think and talk about wellness. We use words like wellness and well-being interchangeably. There are similarities, yet each term has a different meaning. Wellness, the focus of this post is, “the quality or state of being in good health especially as an actively sought goal.” We suggest considering wellness holistically, with eight interrelated domains coming together to form a whole. These domains include physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, occupational, financial, and environmental wellness (Figure 1). They are preferred for being broad, multidimensional, and naming areas not traditionally included in discussions about surgeon wellness. We have unique needs and values. Wellness domains may not have equal importance for individuals, and can vary over time, reflecting that wellness is not “one size fits all.”...
Behind the Knife’s Take on ABSITE Preparation
By Shanaz Hossain and Shreya Gupta With the arrival of December, ABSITE (American Board of Surgery In-Training Exam) looms on the mind of every general surgery resident. For interns taking the exam for the first time, the ABSITE is a 5-hour standardized exam that consists of ~250 multiple-choice questions and is taken at the end of January. The test is graded on a percentile curve specific to each year of graduation. Behind the Knife’s surgical education fellows, Dr. Shreya Gupta (S.G.) and Dr. Shanaz Hossain (S.H.), discuss test preparation strategies to #dominate the ABSITE. Shreya is currently a PGY-4 at Case Western Reserve/University Hospitals while Shanaz is a PGY-3 research resident at the Cleveland Clinic. There is a plethora of available resources, such that it can be overwhelming for surgical residents with limited time outside of the hospital. How do you figure out what to use? S.H.: There are so...
Being a Surgeon and a Mother
By Allison Letica-Kriegel and Erika Rangel From a young age, I wanted to be a doctor. First a veterinarian, then a pediatrician, and finally a surgeon. I think, actually, I’ve always identified as a doctor, well before I was one. Shortly after I stepped into the operating room, I knew this was where I wanted to spend my career. And from that moment, my identity as a surgeon started to form. As the years of medical school and residency passed by, my identity became so strongly tied to being a surgeon, and being a resident, that it was hard to imagine there was space for anything else, although I also always knew that I wanted to have kids. The mantra in my head, whether self- or externally-imposed, had always been work first, everything else after. I imagine many of us in surgery share this sentiment, and sometimes that makes it...
