training
From Barbers to Surgeon-Scientists and Beyond: Creation of the Modern Surgeon
By Connie Shao This is a special edition blog post presented in partnership with the Society of Asian Academic Surgeons in celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. Surgery did not begin as a science. Early practitioners were barbers, monks, and battlefield medics operating without anesthesia, sterility, or formal training. In ancient Mesopotamia, surgeons drained abscesses and set fractures, blending technical skill with spiritual ritual. As outlined in the Code of Hammurabi written in 1754 BCE, this was all under the threat of severe punishment for failure[1]. By medieval Europe, surgery had been pushed even further from the practice of medicine as we know it today: physicians avoided it, while barber-surgeons, who trained through apprenticeships rather than universities, became the true procedural experts[2,3]. Paradoxically, these “lower-status” surgeons had more practical knowledge than academically trained physicians. That gap began to close during the Renaissance, when figures like Ambroise Paré...
How One Question Led Me to Surgical Research: A Guide for Women in Medicine
Author: Hala AlDabbous For many medical students, research can feel like an intimidating, distant world, something reserved for residents or those with connections. I used to think the same. What I’ve learned, however, is that research is not a privilege, it is a skill, and like any skill in medicine, it can be learned, practiced, and developed over time. My journey into research didn’t begin with confidence. It began with curiosity. The turning point came during the recent surge in the use of GLP-1 receptor agonists in Kuwait. As these medications became increasingly popular, I found myself drawn not to their well known benefits, but to their less discussed clinical effects. I began to wonder what kinds of patients we might start seeing as a result, and whether there were patterns we had yet to fully understand. That curiosity made the topic feel real and relevant, something unfolding in front...
A (Probably Too Realistic) Week in My Life as a Medical Student
Author: Tessa Paul Hi!! I’m Tessa, a second-year medical student at LSU Health Shreveport. I originally picked this week because I was heading to the Women in Surgery Career Symposium in Florida. I expected a calm start to a new class block before traveling. A productive, balanced, slightly aesthetic week in my life. That plan didn’t last long. A sudden freeze caused an unexpected schedule change. Add travel stress and burnout I didn’t want to admit, and what I thought would be calm quickly became chaotic (how my weeks normally go). So instead of a curated version of med school, this is one of the real weeks. Sunday: The Reset Day That Wasn’t Supposed to be: reset dayReality: emergency renal exam prep My renal exam got moved from Friday to Monday, and my reset day became survival mode. I woke up at 10:00 am (no weekend alarms ever), did emails...
Second Acts: Embracing Surgery as a Career Changer
By: Vaisny Balamurali Starting medical school as a “mature” student, after navigating a successful career in healthcare strategy, was both humbling and unsettling. Rather than confidence, my prior experience fueled imposter syndrome and a sense that I needed to justify my presence. Walking away from a stable career with growth opportunities was not a decision I made lightly- I was advised against taking that leap. I knew this type of career change was extremely laborious and challenging but nonetheless my desire to provide direct patient care in a clinical setting was unwavering . The skepticism became most pronounced during my clerkship years, especially when I shared my interest in pursuing a surgical career. Some words of “wisdom” I received along the way: “Are you sure? What if you change your mind again? Surgery will cost you everything, and it might not be worth it!” During moments of exhaustion, I allowed...
Issues faced by the female surgical trainees in developing countries
By Dr. Eshana Samaranayake Across South Asia, women are still a small minority in surgical training programmes, and that imbalance shapes daily experiences in ways that are easy to miss from the outside. ‘‘Surgery is for men’’ I have wanted to become a surgeon since high school, but when I prepared for the entrance exam I heard frequent warnings from family, friends, and colleagues. Much of it was well-meant, yet it rested on an assumption: surgery is too demanding for women to balance with personal life, especially where women are expected to carry most household responsibilities. Those expectations sometimes made me doubt myself, not because I lacked interest or motivation, but because I wondered how I would fit into a role society does not always picture for women. I feel fortunate to have been selected for surgical training, and I am now in my third year of general surgery residency....
Yes, I Want to Be a Surgeon and No, I Don’t Need to Be Talked Out of It
By Lilah Kahloon Halfway through my third year of medical school, I began feeling the urge to lie whenever someone asked me what specialty I was considering. Going into rotations, I never fell prey to the urge some students have to say they are interested in whatever specialty they are on. When I walked into my first day of internal medicine and was asked what I wanted to do, I was honest. I was eager to learn about everything the internists had to teach me but I was interested in being a surgeon, and I didn’t see a reason to hide that. However, I quickly realized that there was often subtext to the reactions people had when I used the words “general surgery”. Sometimes there were looks of discomfort: the questioner scrunching up their nose as if there was a freshly opened box of blue cheese close by. Other times...
Scrubbed in for the ABSITE: Webinar Highlights
Authors: Natalia Correa MD, Alizeh Abbas MD, Camila R. Guetter MD MPH, Nensi Ruzgar MD This blog summarizes key advice, tools, and resources discussed in the AWS Resident & Fellow Committee webinar “Scrubbed for the ABSITE”. What is the ABSITE? The American Board of Surgery In-Training Examination (ABSITE) is an annual test taken by all general surgery residents across the United States. It is a four-hour, computer-based exam of approximately 250 multiple-choice questions spanning the breadth of general surgery. Recent change to ABSITE Score Reports Historically, ABSITE scores were reported percentiles; however, recently, the ABSITE has shifted to reporting only raw scores, expressed as the percentage of questions answered correctly. This change encourages emphasis on personal improvement rather than comparison and competition. While this may decrease anxiety around small fluctuations, longitudinal performance still matters. Programs expect residents to maintain or improve their score percentage over time and programs set certain...
A Common Silence: Perspectives on Pregnancy Loss During General Surgery Residency
by Cleo Siderides, MD and Caitlin J. Cain-Trivette, MD Pregnancy loss is a painfully common experience among surgical trainees, yet our institutions remain poorly equipped to respond with support and compassion. Surgical trainees are more than twice as likely to experience pregnancy loss than the general population,1 yet no formal safeguards exist to protect trainees enduring these sentinel events. Cleo’s first pregnancy ended in a missed miscarriage at 9 weeks, followed by six weeks of medical and surgical management amidst the relentless pace of residency. The day after I took medication to induce a miscarriage I was on a 24-hour trauma call, bleeding through my scrubs to the point that I tied a jacket around my waist between cases. I emphatically stated that no, I did not feel like I needed to step away from work. I saw the hardship as a way to prove my grit and worth as...
How the Joy of Volunteering Molds the Student Doctor
By Isabelle Casado Christmastime came around—I must have been about 8-years-old. My father had been collecting toys throughout the year. I remember watching him, month after month, quietly putting aside a little something here and a little something there. You can only imagine my excitement as an 8-year-old who thought she hit the ultimate gift lotto. Except—something better was soon about to happen. One evening, my father sat me down and said, ‘’Today, I am Santa’s helper. We’re going to an orphanage to deliver these gifts.” A few days before Christmas, we arrived at the orphanage. I remember seeing so many children around my age. We played, we danced, and we opened presents together. It wasn’t until years later that I truly understood the gift my father gave me that day: the joy of volunteering. Every year afterward, we volunteered together—at children’s hospitals, veteran centers, orphanages, and in various efforts...
Navigating the Transition from Residency to Fellowship
By Brienne Ryan You think one would be used to this by now. As medical professionals, we transition frequently into new environments, new roles with new responsibilities. It is the dogma of medical training that we gain graduated autonomy with each step we advance and the closer to attendingship we become. So, what makes fellowship different and why do some struggle? If you are one of the hundreds of fellows in the early months of fellowship who find yourself uneasy about your performance, uncertain about your decision, or just plain overwhelmed with your new position, please know that you are not alone. Struggling during fellowship is commonplace and these might be a few reasons why. Fellowship is an entirely different beast from residency. First and foremost, it is a much smaller cohort of peers. When I graduated from surgical residency, a friend and prior senior co-resident said something that I,...
