Preserving david C sabiston jr's legacy in medical students' surgical education

摘要

In one study, up to 50% of medical students believed that they were an inconvenience to the service on surgical rotations, but almost all faculty and residents (more than 95%) wanted medical students on the service.1 What gives medical students the feeling that we are the "space-occupying lesions" in the operating room? And how do we overcome this feeling? For those of us pursuing a career in surgery, mentorship has played a central role. The quest to find the resident or attending physician who we can look up to is not a recent phenomenon, but has been the center of clerkships (surgery or otherwise) for decades. Research has also pointed to "a passion for the art of surgery" as a leading factor in selection of candidates with lower likelihood of attrition.2 Where does a passion for the art of surgery arise? According to some, "personalized education and mentorship practiced at top programs...entices medical students to train to be general surgeons.It is difficult to escape the tradition of mentorship at our institution. The entire hall of the first floor of the Hospital Addition for Surgery building is lined with pictures of residents thanking, mainly, Dr David C Sabiston Jr. I often wondered about his role in our surgical clerkship in the past, and whether the aspiring surgeons from our institution have changed now that his era is a tradition of the past. However, his influence lives on—through his trainees, his authoritative text, and his support for the medical student research year at Duke University. I am unsure of whether attendings posthumously contribute to grand rounds at other institutions, but Dr Sabiston contributes regularly to our grand rounds