Research shows that many medical students view surgeons as intimidating, competitive and predominantly male workaholics -- and these stereotypes can deter students from a surgical career. As a result, there has been a relative drop in applications for surgical residencies.
James Lau, MD, a clinical professor of surgery and the director of the Goodman Surgical Educational Center at Stanford, is working to combat this trend by spearheading educational initiatives. I caught up with him recently.
Why is there a declining interest in surgical careers?
Medical students are becoming more sophisticated in choosing specialties, and a lot likely has to do with lifestyle issues. I think there's a misconception that surgeons work all the time and can't have a work-life balance.
Medical schools are also getting shorter -- some are even going to three years and some schools are emphasizing primary care -- so students aren't exposed early on to surgery. So we've built a mentorship component into our SURG 205 surgical training course to give first- and second-year medical students at Stanford the opportunity to go into the operating room and learn what surgery is like. And it sparks the flame and shows them more accurately the collegiality and dedication of those in surgery.
What do your students learn in SURG 205?
Previously the students would have to find a mentor and negotiate the system on their own to get the training to be allowed in the operating room. This course brings it all together -- training them on technical skills, facilitating finding them a mentor, experiencing one or two operations and hopefully building an ongoing mentor relationship with an attending surgeon.
We want them to participate when they are in the OR so we train them on technical skills -- from the simple skills like knot-tying and basic suturing to performing a full case on a cadaver. As we explained in a recent paper, we also teach them nontechnical skills, such as coaching them on how to get along with the operating team, so they feel more comfortable when they go to the OR.
What other educational efforts are underway?
Surgery residents and surgeons have to know more than technical skills to do operations. They also have to work well together in teams in different settings. They have to be able to interact well with patients and make clinical decisions. And the techniques are changing all the time. So we provide a skills and simulation center with a curriculum -- to help teach and mentor these skills.
We also must train inter-professionally in surgery. The nurses, anesthesiologists and surgeons all work together but traditionally train separately, which makes no sense. In a new program, we're having monthly simulations in the operating room with surgeons, surgery residents, anesthesiologists, anesthesiology residents, OR assistants, scrub technicians, circulating nurses, and anyone else that would normally be in the operating room. We want people to understand that everyone has a role and should speak up in crisis. We're trying to change the culture by training together.
We also have a resident as educator program, because our residents are automatically teachers and mentors to the medical students. To be a good teacher, you have to be a constant learner and create a safe learning environment. A good teacher is a good communicator and their learners include the patients.
Why did you recently get a Master's Degree in Health Professions Education?
I oversee a two-year surgical education fellowship that has surgery residents teach, create curricula and evaluate the work that they do in the clerkships and residency education programs here at Stanford. Our goal is to prepare them to be thoughtful program directors, helping to make them the next generation's education leaders in surgery. As part of the program, we encourage them to complete a master's degree in education. To be a mentor for them, I decided to 'walk the walk' and get a masters degree in education. After a decade in education, I wanted to inform myself in the formal discipline of education to become more effective in the programs that we create for learners here at Stanford.
Previously: Practice, practice, and more practice: A med student reflects on his surgery rotation, Stanford surgery chair Mary Hawn and the changing face of the OR and Keeping and even keel: Stanford surgery residents learn to balance work and life
Photo by Rachel Baker
