education
Surgery Residency is Like a Family
By AlleaBelle Bradshaw, MD There are a lot of cliches from the interview trail, most of which are at least partially true. One of them is that residents and faculty will say something about how their residency is “like a family.” Of course, it is generally a positive thing that residents view their programs as families. I don’t mean to be the person that ruins this by taking it too seriously, but we should consider the meaning of something we have started saying almost automatically. I write to share my thoughts about what family means, how residency is like a family, and considerations for both residents and applicants when using the metaphor moving forward. My thoughts are colored by my personal experience with family. My family was a mostly traditional one with two parents and three kids. I am the youngest with two older brothers. We loved, learned, fought, and...
“Why is there a dentist in the operating room?”
By Juliana Gomez, DDS I loved dentistry. The autonomy of private practice, the (relatively) shorter training, the immediate gratification when you are able to fix a problem or alleviate someone’s pain in a single visit. My path was altered when I chose to pursue Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (OMFS) residency—but I remember my time in dental school and the smiles that I fixed quite fondly. That being said, the last filling that I performed was in school about three years ago, and I do not exactly miss doing root canals. Dentists are experts in treatment of the mouth, where they cover an enormous range of disciplines- surgery, prevention, restoration, and preservation of the health of the oral cavity. We work closely, on occasion, with our dental colleagues. Oral and maxillofacial surgeons have a much different scope of practice than dentists. After graduating dental school (NYU 19’), I began an intern...
You can’t be what you can’t see.
By Sheina Theodore, MD I was born and raised in NYC. The product of two Haitian immigrant parents. I saw my parents sacrifice everything for me, just so that the playing field would be leveled. I was fortunate to have them pushing me and making it possible for me to seize many opportunities. One of which was my acceptance into The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, a B.S./M.D. program whose mission was to increase the number of minority physicians in order to care for underserved communities. Through this program, I participated in many community outreach efforts. These efforts were centered around understanding the barriers to health care, treating the patient as a whole (understanding different cultures, beliefs, socioeconomic situations, and how all this can deeply affect the overall wellbeing of our patients), and recruitment of future leaders who will aid in carrying out the mission of the school. I...
The True Cost of ABSITE Prep
By Martha Godfrey Everyone thinks in dollars and cents when it comes to the cost of preparing for the American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE): $150 for a textbook, $295 for a question bank. While there are always financial considerations made when developing a study strategy, the true cost of a better ABSITE score is quantified not in dollars, but rather in minutes. Studies have shown that residents who spend more time studying for the ABSITE tend to do better. This is certainly not surprising. Unfortunately, this means when a resident is asked to score above a certain percentile on the ABSITE, they are functionally being asked how many more minutes than their peers are they willing to devote to studying for a standardized test. It serves as an annual opportunity to demonstrate how much more a resident (and potentially their families) are willing to give up for the...
My Favorite Weekend of the Year
by Kathleen Romanowski, MD Since I attended my first Association of Women Surgeons (AWS) Annual meeting 6 years ago, the weekend before the American College of Surgeons meeting in October has become one of my favorite weekends of the year. The feeling of attending this meeting can be hard to describe to those who have never had the opportunity to attend, but I will try. Imagine walking into a surgical meeting. You look around surveying the room, looking for a place to sit, maybe trying to see if you know anyone there. As you look around you realize that this meeting has a very different look to it. Instead of the usual sea of black suits with a few pops of color, you encounter a sea of color with a few dark color suit spots. Rather than a largely male crowd, you are surrounded by a multitude of female faces...
How summer schools can fill the gap in Global Surgery knowledge of medical students and surgeons
By Gabriela Azevedo Sansoni Global Surgery is a hot topic, but is it often part of formal curricula for medical students and surgical trainees? A lot of papers have been published calling attention to gaps in education about Global Surgery, and more generally, Global Health, in medical education. In theory it would be possible to squeeze in another mandatory course and add a few more hours of lectures and seminars for the already busy students and residents. But would it be efficient? I, of course, don't have this answer. I do think, however, that Global Surgery is an important yet not-often-mentioned topic, particularly compared with other surgical specialities. Global Surgery education should guide and capacitate surgeons (and nurses, anesthesiologists, OR assistants, etc) to work in different settings with varying levels of resources. I am privileged, in a certain way, for having personal and educational experiences in low and high resource...
Adapting to Research Time During COVID
By Rachael Essig, MD May 2019 seems like a world away. I had accepted a research position following my PGY-3 year with a critical care fellowship starting July 2020 in a new city. At the time, it seemed like the start of a beautiful adventure. Yet, fast forwarding to April 2020, while deep into the first wave of the pandemic, I was attempting to view every apartment in my new metro area online. Zillow and a realtor were lifesavers! Another difficulty was the somberness I experienced leaving my surgical family without being able to say goodbye in person. They had raised me from an intern to a capable (hopefully) junior resident. Moving your life is always painful, and combined with global pandemic, it was especially dreadful. Thankfully, the stress was worth it as my fellowship has been an amazing educational experience with truly fabulous attendings and staff. Over the past...
Running from my Problems: How Exercise Kept me Moving through Medical School
By Jessa Fogel People ask me all the time how I manage to run every day in medical school, and I usually answer in the same way: “I just really love it.” But sometimes love alone can’t get you out of bed at 5:30 on a rainy Monday morning, and that’s where the answer gets longer. I started medical school two and a half years ago, leaving my gap-year job in rural Alabama to move to a city I barely knew. While I loved the excitement of starting a new chapter in my life, the change necessitated some form of continuity, something I could carry over from my former home. For me, that continuity came in the form of exercise. I’d been a competitive cross-country skier in college, and when I graduated and moved to the decidedly snow-less Alabama, I satisfied my craving for activity by running every morning before...
Residents as Teachers: Shaping the Doctors of Tomorrow
By Jane Zhao, MD, MS It’s July, which means that around the country, it’s the beginning of the academic year for medical students and surgical residents. My brand new third year medical student finally became comfortable enough to confide in me, “I chose to rotate through surgery first to get it out of the way, and I’m enjoying this experience far more than I realized. I think I want to do surgery.” I will not lie. It’s a point of personal pride every time I have a student rotate through surgery with me and successfully convince him/her to legitimately consider pursuing surgery as a career. I sincerely believe that part of being excited about surgery is being involved. Part of being involved is being invited to participate. My favorite rotations as a medical student were the ones where I was included in the resident text thread or where I held...
Transitioning into an educator
By Madeline B. Torres As a schoolkid, I associated July with hot Summer days at the pool with friends. Now, as I wrap up my research years at the National Cancer Institute, July reminds me of the transitions we experience in medicine every year. Each July, freshly minted interns start their journey into residency, and are not only tasked with the care of patients but also the education of medical students. Caring for patients can be daunting and overwhelming, yet extremely rewarding. As an intern, you will learn to place orders, do bedside procedures, and operate. You will be exhausted, and at times find yourself without the patience or desire to teach. However, I ask that you remember you were once a student, not too long ago. During times like that, think of the residents that made an impact in your education and the qualities that you treasured. Here are...
