education
Breaking the Taboos Around Colo-Anal Diseases: A Female Surgeon’s Perspective
By: Dr. Zeel Sheth The healthcare industries of developing countries like India have seen an enormous gain in the past few decades. Developing countries have taken up multi-track strategies, including preventative measures propagated by educational campaigns, to further this medical advancements. But that blessing can sometimes act as a vice when there is a vast, unfiltered sea of information available on the internet with unrestricted access by the patients searching their symptoms and not being able to resist the non-regulated self treatments. Surgery has been my ultimate passion. From how to use my scalpel to when to not use it, to the glory of the theatre and its humility, my surgical residency taught me everything. While it did teach me how to help those who need it, what it failed to educate me on was how to be of assistance to those who would hesitate to ask for your help....
4 Part Blog Series: Considerations as Junior Faculty: What Should I Be Doing? – Part 1: You Are Done with Training, Now What?
By: Christine Castater, MD, MBA Congratulations! You've completed surgical training and are now a junior faculty member. This is the culmination of years of research and training, and this transition changes your career and lifestyle. When I finished training, I felt like I had been running a marathon and suddenly ran face first into a wall. The sudden cessation of everything that had been my reality left me feeling stunned and confused. I seriously wondered about my identity since for 15 years, my identity was “trainee.” It took me a year to breathe and acclimate into my new job. At that point, I was able to look around and figure out my next steps. Setting Goals and Expectations: The first thing I did was to set realistic goals for my next five years. These goals partially depended on the dynamics of my new setting. Goals in academia can look quite...
Back to School Mom – A Decade Later: Trauma Surgery Fellowship with Teenagers
By: Dr. Evelyn Coile The house is silent. The house is silent for the first time in the last 16 years of training. Both kids received the news this week that they landed their first summer jobs. My husband and I finally sit staring at each other---no one to cook for or entertain. My eldest son, now a licensed driver, is taking control of the drop-offs with me closely watching a Life360 app and praying for constant safety. Previously, drop-offs were mostly handled by my husband. From community college night classes while working, to attending medical school, followed by a vigorous surgical residency, I was not available for drop-offs. It is quite ironic that as I look back now (as most parents do at this phase), I wish I had made it to more drop-offs. To wish them a “Happy Day Ahead!” To ask them “How Was Your Day?” It...
Pride in the Operating Room: How the Structure of Surgical Residency Can Keep Us in the Closet
By: W. Tyler Crawley Pride in residency is difficult, especially in surgery. How you are evaluated and how you are able to participate within the operating room are directly decided by the attending surgeon. Meaning that how you are viewed by an attending can impact not only your clinical experience but also your advancement within the program. This creates a power dynamic in which residents are put in a position to “get along” in order to “go along.” This is problematic for two reasons; the first is that it discourages residents from speaking up, whether that be an inappropriate joke, an inaccurate statement, or even something as simple as misgendering a patient. Personally, when I was an auditioning medical student and starting my surgical training, I was very discreet when it came to my personal life, especially around attendings. I heard many jokes and false narratives about the LGBTQIA+ community,...
What @womensurgeons Has Done For Me
By: Katerina Jou Setting the scene: My medical school didn’t have an AWS chapter. Surgery was just starting to become a growing presence on the school’s campus, with most students pursuing specialties like pediatrics, internal medicine, and emergency medicine, and few, in this new era, choosing surgery. For a little background, my medical school is now eight years old. I’m a student in the 7-year BS/MD Sophie Davis Program for Biomedical Education/City University of New York (CUNY) School of Medicine – we used to be a 5+2 program, where students would complete five years at Sophie Davis and “match” into affiliated medical schools to complete clerkship education. Our program historically has prioritized primary care, and despite expanding surgical presence with coordinators and advisors of practicing surgical background, a good part of my time there was spent wondering how I was going to get from point A to point B -...
Navigating Medicine: A Journey with Non-Physician Parents
By: Emma Barham Growing up in a household where medical jargon sounded like a different language and stethoscopes were sparse, my journey into medicine was an uncharted territory. My parents always valued education, and I was taught from a young age that knowledge is power and can take you far in life. Although my parents were always supportive of me pursuing medicine, but they were unfamiliar with the intricacies of embarking on a career in the medical world. Their lack of firsthand experience in medicine meant that I had to chart my own course, relying on my own determination to navigate the challenges ahead. As I started my pre-medical journey, I quickly realized the importance of seeking guidance from mentors within the medical community. I gained invaluable insights into the realities of a career in medicine through my interactions with physicians and healthcare professionals. During sophomore year of my undergraduate...
The Imprint of 3D-Printing in Health: A Students Perspective
In a technology driven world, the abundance of information and ease of communication has influenced every aspect of our lives. Not only has it affected the way we interact as humans, but it provided new outlets for skill development and creativity. One of my favorite expressive outlets is 3D-printing. From designing flower vases to replicating anatomical models, my engagement with 3D-printing allowed me to bring theoretical ideas to life by combining the natural sciences, technology, and art. When I first observed my older brother use a 3D-printer, I was fascinated by the geometric lattice in which the machine ejected thermoplastic, as it closely resembled the molecular arrangement of atoms observed in structures like crystal and bone. My curiosity with both technology and human health, led me to learn more about 3D technology and its applications in research, specifically on improving and enhancing human health. Introduced in the 1980s as a...
Basics of AI in Healthcare & Surgery
By: Brielle Ochoa On PubMed, the number of publications for “artificial intelligence” (AI) and “surgery” ten years ago was less than 100. In 2023, this number was up to nearly 3,500. But what basics should you know about AI in general in healthcare and surgery? AI is an umbrella term for a wide range of technologies, which share the goal of mimicking human intelligence and cognitive function and processing. AI includes large language models, robots, machine learning, deep learning, neural networks, and artificial general intelligence; while beyond the scope of this post, these terms are interrelated but distinct from one another. AI can be used in a variety of general healthcare and surgical applications, including algorithms for clinical decision making, as part of technology in medical devices, for pattern recognition in images and videos, and for preparation of written documents, such as research manuscripts and patient educational information. AI must...
Navigating Science Policy as a Medical Doctor: Strategies for Engaging Beyond the Clinic
By Sewar Banimusa, MS3 In the realm of healthcare, the influence of medical doctors transcends the boundaries of clinicalsettings. Beyond diagnosing ailments and administering treatments, there lies a realm wheremedical professionals wield the power to shape policies that profoundly impact the health andwell-being of entire populations. Engaging in science policy empowers medical doctors toharness their expertise and advocate for evidence-based solutions to pressing health challenges. Science policy encompasses the intersection of science, technology, and society - guidingdecisions that affect research funding, healthcare delivery, public health initiatives, and regulatory frameworks. For physicians, involvement in science policy represents an opportunity to contribute to the greater good and drive positive change beyond individual patient interactions. Navigating the landscape of science policy can seem daunting at first, but there are numerous opportunities to start navigating your passion. Here are some ways to start your science policy career: Joining professional organizations dedicated to health policy...
Tackling Imposter Syndrome by Embracing Failure
By: Rachel Akers Failure is something I’ve become intimately acquainted with throughout my career. I’m not alone in this. We can all recall instances in our professional lives where things haven’t gone our way, and we’ve failed to reach the expectations set by our educators, mentors, colleagues, families, or ourselves. Failure can be painful, embarrassing, and even harmful for those in the medical profession, and it’s not easy to talk about with others. As students transition to residents and eventually become attending physicians, our understanding of failure changes in tandem with our values. New responsibilities like parenthood, caring for your own aging parents, repaying gargantuan loans, and being directly in charge of patients’ well-being supersede the worries of passing exams or confidently blurting out a wrong answer. Regardless of the nature of a mistake or the level of training you’re at, failures shouldn’t be seen as something shameful to hide...
