reflection
Authenticity and Queer Joy in Surgery
By Aeryn Kangas-Dick, MD The art of surgery is the art of connection. As surgeons, we have the unique privilege to meet our patients in times of need and offer them real, concrete, often rapid solutions to their diagnoses. As vital as the surgeon’s skills in the operating room are, the surgeon’s mandate is to create an immediate connection forged with trust and understanding with our patients. We ask them to be put under general anesthesia and to place their lives in our hands. In return, we become their fierce advocates. The sense of ownership in patient care is unmatched in any other specialty. We make ourselves available to tend to their needs after typical business hours and drop everything to care for their issues whether we are on call or not, often to the neglect of our personal lives. Creating a meaningful connection requires honesty, openness, skill, confidence, and...
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,...
Progress of LGBTQ+ Rights – A View from One of America’s Youth
By: Alexis Moren The progress of LGBTQ+ rights has seen significant advancements globally, although challenges remain. Over the past few decades, there have been major milestones such as marriage equality, anti-discrimination laws, gender identity rights, parenting rights, and the LGBTQ+ community serving openly in the military. Despite these advances, challenges persist. I have been part of conversations discussing how lucky we are to live during this time. This sparked my curiosity – are we? Do LGBTQ+ kids and teens feel this way? I have the pleasure of being close to a pre-teen trans girl who dreams of becoming both a trauma surgeon and a published author. I asked her to tell us about her journey and her aspirations. “I am trans. This does not define me but it sure plays an important part in many aspects of my life; I have been bullied at school, had to keep my identity...
Being a First Generation Immigrant from India: Breaking Down Stereotypes about “Model Minorities”
By Gopika SenthilKumar, PhD I still remember the news of the 2008 economic crash playing everywhere within a few weeks of us arriving in the US. As a first-generation immigrant family, this meant the highest level of uncertainty about our jobs, residence, and place of employment. Sure enough, in the years that followed, we ended up having to move six times over six years. I have a few distinct memories of these times. I still remember the first year that we were here - I was 11 years old, and I wanted a nightstand and wardrobe and a bookshelf in my room like all the other kids,... but it was too risky to spend our savings on furniture. Instead, I used to take cardboard boxes, build them into shelves, rearrange them if I was bored, and I was a very happy kid. We didn’t have a car for a while,...
Applying to Residency as an International Student at a US Medical School
By Yoshiko Iwai Part of being an international student in the US is navigating the complex process of visa sponsorship. I have been fortunate to have had tremendous support from my various international student offices, but even now I have trouble understanding the system. One of the reasons that obtaining a visa and maintaining status is so challenging is that there are so few international students to begin with—and therefore few mentors who can provide us with meaningful guidance. These are some things I wish I knew as an international student in the US applying for residency. I applied in general surgery, so the details may be different in other specialties. This is not legal advice and does not represent the official policies or views of the institutions I have been a part of. Rather, they are things I have learned through my research or from the generous advice I’ve...
Being Vulnerable is Human; Even for Surgeons
By: Cathy Hung In the earlier years of my career, I always tried to accommodate patients’ needs anytime, all the time, whenever possible. I opened my office many times off-hours at the slightest concern of patients with complaints of bleeding or pain. One time, I rerouted my weekend day trip when my son was still a toddler. We planned to take him to a museum, but as soon as I got called, my family drove one hour back for me to see a consult while my family waited in the parking lot outside the emergency room, only to find out that it was a routine consult with no urgency what-so-ever. I jumped whenever someone called me off-hours. After all, I pride myself as a caring human and a good doctor. The fight-and-flight responses were by-products of being trained at a level-one trauma center during my residency. I would be frisked...
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 -...
Exercise and Fitness During Medical School
By: Amber Park The way physicians provide care for their patients versus the way physicians care for themselves has been one of the most controversial and puzzling concepts I have yet to grasp. The undeniable hours and extent of effort we put into our studies and work can interfere with our ability to work out. However, I have realized that much of the disconnect truly comes from what we prioritize and how we schedule our days. As a former athlete, I have the advantage of knowing what kinds of exercises I like and can do in the gym. I know what has fueled my love for fitness. Given this background, I wanted to provide some tips for medical students, residents/fellows, and attendings who might not have had the same experience as myself in terms of learning about nutrition, scheduling, and the types of workouts that we can be doing. Nutrition...
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...
Adding it to the List
By Alyssa Brown A few weeks ago, I apologized to my boyfriend for missing date night (again). I apologized that I feel like we are often just saying hi and bye and watching Bob’s Burgers in between. I apologized that even when I am physically present, I am not always emotionally present. I joked that I could add it to the list of things I can’t do right (things I can’t do right or don’t have the time and mental energy to do right). In truth, I barely feel like I can do anything right. As a PGY-2, often it feels like I am moving from crisis to crisis—like alarms in the SICU. Each small alarm or thing gets only a moment. Each upcoming deadline is finished just in time and often not the way I would like it exactly. It always feels more like a rough draft than a...
