Association for Academic Surgery (AAS)
Inspiring and Developing Young Academic Surgeons
The Academic Surgeon is the official blog of the AAS. We post anywhere from one to three times a week and our contributors will focus on issues relevant to young academic surgeons, residents, fellows, and even medical students.
If you would like to contribute, please submit your post here: https://www.aasurg.org/the-academic-surgeon-blog-submission/
I’m an early adopter of technology and an eternal optimist that the next program, app, or device I try is going to be the one that gives me back time. Today, I’m going to tell you 3 ways to use technology to bring order back to the chaos that is residency and clinical practice. My …
Palliative and end-of-life care communication has been a continuous topic of discussion. It is now believed that palliative care is not just for those patients who are likely to die after trauma, but for all critical, severely injured, or terminally ill patients and their families. Surgery and trauma patients are a large group of individuals …
Well into her 90s my grandma was actively using her cellphone. She was a little slow with it – bothered by the arthritis in her fingers – but she could use it to see pictures we sent of our kids, she could answer calls, and she generally kept it with her. Now, more than ever, …
Recent articles in professional journals and the lay press have publicized episodes of unspeakable behavior by physicians directed at their patients. Virtually all of the highlighted episodes involved a patient under anesthesia, naked and incapacitated. One might think that the physicians involved were oblivious to the presence of others. Not so–they knew and wanted the …
I am honored to serve as the AAS representative to the Board of Governors of the American College of Surgeons. In this capacity, I serve as a conduit for information between the two organizations. Additionally, I feel that I have a duty to advocate for the principals and the mission of the AAS within the …
The emotional toll on a surgeon or physician after the loss of a patient is an experience rarely spoken about freely. Perhaps the one exception is during the mandatory review at morbidity and mortality conference. We are often not prepared on how to deal with this experience. There is no grief counseling after the fact …
As a junior general surgeon resident, I remember learning from one of my most respected mentors, Dr. Berne, that to be a great surgeon, I must have “the eyes of an eagle, the heart of a lion, and the hands of a woman.” I remember thinking, “Oh good, I am glad I am starting out …
As an engineer by training, it makes my ears hurt to hear about “robotic surgery.” A robot, by definition, is completely automated and does not require the real-time input of a human to perform its task. Think “Terminator”, “R2D2”, or the more common assembly line robot in an automobile factory that welds the same chassis …
Most academic surgeons strive to practice evidence-based medicine: we critically evaluate the literature and apply it to patient care in order to deliver the best possible outcomes. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for how we select our residents. For many general surgery residency programs, the process seems rather…arbitrary. With the caveat that this is …
With the official start of summer just last weekend, and so much sunny, sandy, poolside cabana-filled life waiting right outside your hospital’s sliding doors, I wanted to use this opportunity to remind you of the importance of unplugging. However, in my cursory search of Pubmed, OVID, and UpToDate, I’ve been unable to find any good …
