medical students
Food for Thought: Progressive Advice for Mentees
By Gabrielle Rieth I recently encountered an instance in which a mentor suggested that I and other female medical students rely on antiquated gender stereotypes to succeed in our upcoming clinical clerkship rotations. This advice was dispensed without any accompanying professional recommendations, such as pre-rounding on patients, recalling the patient’s medications and allergies, understanding the patient’s medical history, or practicing patient presentations prior to reporting to her residents or attending physicians. There is nothing amiss with possessing or utilizing “feminine” characteristics to enhance or improve one’s work environment. I personally felt the recommendation was inappropriate for the setting in which it was dispensed. It seemed, to me, to neglect other vital assets we as future physicians and surgeons will contribute to our clinical teams. I am soft-spoken and often characterized as “nice,” “sweet,” or “adorable.” I express my gender identity in a way that is traditionally ascribed to females. This...
Food for Thought: The Patient Side of Medicine
By Abigail Forbes I was diagnosed with Juvenile Idiopathic Scoliosis when I was 8 years old. After many years of driving hours away to doctor appointments, the frustration of wearing a back brace as a teenager, and increasing back pain, the decision was finally made for me to undergo spinal correction surgery. The surgeon placed rods on my upper curve during the operation, and unfortunately my lower spinal curve continued to progress over the next year as I grew. I was still hurting, my clothes still ill fitting, and we were starting to question the benefit, if any, I got from the surgery. Frustrated, my parents and I sought out second opinions regarding further treatment; it was a unanimous opinion that my surgeon should have placed rods on both of my thoracic and lumbar curves. We were disappointed with the decision by the first surgeon regarding my surgery, because I...
Inhale, Exhale, Say Yes
By Shree Agrawal Saying yes is complicated, powerful, and full of potential. Celebrities like Shonda Rhimes, known for her Thursday night television series and recent book, Year of Yes, and Ryan Seacrest, whose persona hosts many media outlets, have participated in the social experiment of saying yes to every opportunity they each are offered. They have earned success by saying yes and having the courage and ability to figure out how to fulfill each of their commitments. Medicine is no different from Hollywood. In each, only a small percentage of people achieve success. In 2013, the AAMC reported 48,000 people applied to medical school, and approximately 20,000 matriculated into their first year. In addition to international medical schools, the NRMP reported 41,334 registered applicants in 2015 for 30,212 available positions. This does not include the 80,000 people who take the MCAT each year and 13.2 million students who attend four-year...
Food For Thought: Fearing “Leaning In”
By Shree Agrawal We will now start featuring a new blog post each Sunday as well as Wednesday! Our Sunday post will be a reflection or question from AWS members. Follow our blog (enter your email below the “Subscribe to AWS Blog” on the right-hand side of the screen) and join the conversation in the comments section or on Twitter! Sheryl Sandberg’s “leaning in” has been featured, referenced, or adapted for most women in medicine/surgery events I have attended in the past year, and for good reason. Five years later, her TED talk and Lean In book continuously remind me of the complex issues we face, as women, in all environments—professional and personal. In leading my own medical school chapter of the Association of Women Surgeons*, my personal and professional interactions with my female peers have highlighted the fears many female medical students have about “leaning in” to a...
Inspiring & Encouraging Women Surgeons Blog
by Minerva Romero Arenas, MD, MPH It was only a month ago that thousands of surgeons met in Chicago for the annual American College of Surgeons Clinical Congress. Just days before, however, over 150 women gathered for yet another Association of Women Surgeons conference. Medical students, residents, and attending surgeons met to present their scientific work, celebrate accomplishments, discuss professional development, and network. An inherent part of the meeting is the ongoing development of relationships and mentoring that goes on at all levels. We learned from first-year medical student, Sarah Armenia, about the power of this experience even at such an early stage in training. The importance of mentoring is highlighted by the variety of activities specifically organized at AWS & ACS for medical students, residents, and fellows - and even a high school students. The #ILookLikeASurgeon movement was coined by surgery resident, Dr. Heather Logghe, inspired from the #ILookLikeAnEngineer...
Learning to Lead & Lean In: A Medical Student Perspective on AWS.
1st year Medical Student Sarah Armenia at the AWS Conference 2015. Author: Sarah Armenia I first became familiar with the Association of Women Surgeons after a simple Google search of “women in surgery.” After becoming a physician assistant a year prior, I had decided to apply to medical school instead of entering practice in order to become a surgeon. I was already aware of the American College of Surgeons from reading the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, but I had yet to discover an organization like the Association of Women Surgeons. As a member of the national medical student committee, I was given the opportunity to collect recordings and photos of AWS members discussing why they loved being a part of the AWS. I initially thought interviewing women who have spent their careers shaping surgery and medical education might be intimidating. However, this fear...
Cold hands, bright eyes, and tuberculosis… Happy New Year!
We asked our Women Surgeons to share with us their Holiday traditions and some of their favorite memories of the holidays. Please enjoy these delightful stories from fellow AWS members -- and feel free to share your own in the Comments. Happy Holidays from all of us on the Blog team and the AWS! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lauren Poindexter MD Candidate, Class of 2015 Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine Nearly every child lining the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade route on New Year’s Day in Southern California is bundled up to their noses in oversized parkas, gripping onto their parents hands tightly so as not to get lost in the excitable mass of humanity. Long before the start of the parade at 8:00am, bright-eyed children pull adults this way and that in attempts to touch the vibrant flowers, seeds, and grasses of the floats, stare at the huge costumed parade horses,...
Happy Holidays from the AWS!
We asked our Women Surgeons to share with us their Holiday traditions and some of their favorite memories of the holidays. Please enjoy these delightful stories from fellow AWS members -- and feel free to share your own in the Comments.Happy Holidays from all of us on the Blog team and the AWS! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Minerva Romero Arenas, MD, MPHResidentWhat holiday do you celebrate and what is the special meaning of thisholiday to you?We celebrate Christmas Eve because in the Catholic faith it is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. My family traditionally gave us kids gifts on Día de Los Reyes Magos (The 3 Wise Men), which correlates to the gifts presented to Jesus. In addition to reflecting on the spiritual meaning of the Christmas holidays, I also like to take time to think about the previous and upcoming years and to remind my family and friends how special...
The Art and Science of Touch
Recently one of our own Women Surgeons, Dr. Carla Pugh, was an invited speaker at the popular TEDMED 2014 event. In the session “Play is not a waste of time,” Dr. Pugh discussed Haptic Learning – the Art and Science of Touch – and her own experience with integrating this concept in surgical education. Dr. Pugh started her talk with a powerful recollection of a difficult procedure in the emergency room – a thoracotomy. Dr. Pugh noted something made her seriously worried: the resident working with her seemed to have missed a critical finding while leading the thoracotomy, cardiac massage, and evaluation of the patient. “As a surgical educator I am worried why my resident missed the blood clot around the heart, and things were moving so quickly that there was no time to discuss this great learning opportunity.” I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Pugh to discuss her...
“You’ve matched to a Preliminary position.”
by Brittany Bankhead-Kendall, M.D, M.Sc. Every medical student looks forward to "Match Day." Even non-medical people know what this "match day" is . . . . they hear about it from us, read it on our Facebook posts, and see our blogs about it. We're obsessed with it. What happens, though, when "match day" isn't all you hoped and dreamed it would be? As I've written before, my husband and I tried to couple's match our fourth year in medical school and were unsuccessful. He obtained a residency position outside the match, and I matched to a preliminary position. To any hopeful medical student, matching a preliminary position is bittersweet. It's devastating that no one "wanted" you long term. It's frustrating because you will, quite literally, be starting the match all over again in a few months time. And mostly, for me, you will go for another year of your...
