New Perspective

This week gave me so much information because I was able to interview two different centers and receive so much information on the economic, social, and the political aspects of a pediatric surgeon. With this week I definitely feel like I'm actually grasping the concepts that I have learned through research and apply it to conversation and seem more well knowledged when discussing with a medical professional. In the time I was able to conduct two interviews I myself a black eye will they want to getting more perspectives on the field and increase my knowledge and understanding of exactly what the realities of this field and holds.

My first interview was with Dr.Brenski an ENT surgeon who specializes in Pediatrics and worked at Frisco ENT. This was first time I interviewed a female surgeon and in interviews previous to this, the male surgeons had emphasized that getting a female surgeon's viewpoint would be very beneficial to me. While I did get information about being a female in the surgery field, the most rare and prized information I was able to get was about the fact that it was a private practice. Due to changing government regulations and business compose, private practices are extremely rare and Frisco ENT was one of the last private practice ENTs in the entire nation. She specifically told me how it was difficult to maintain a private practice but it does give her more leeway and helps her to maintain a more intimate relationship with each of the patients and their families. This interview was able to get me information on being a female in this industry but more importantly it gave me knowledge on how rare are private practices and how with the increase of government regulations private practices will likely be completely a thing of the past by the time I practice.

My second interview was extremely gratifying. The surgeons that worked at the Pediatric Surgical Association of Dallas were nationally ranked surgeons and were extremely sought-after and therefore they were very busy. However I was able to schedule a meeting with their RN and manager who gave me a lots of information on the field and ended up being my most informational interview. This particular meeting spurred a lot of excitement on the rare and complex surgeries I could potentially have in the future. This center had done a separation of conjoined twins which ended up getting them lots of recognition and became a source of fame for the center. Because of the fact that the surgery was so well-known, it was the first time I got to talk about a particular case without violating HIPAA laws. In addition I was able to learn about the physical struggles with being a surgeon which include long hours standing without eating or using the restroom. Another aspect that particularly benefited me was the fact that there is a need for female surgeons because some of the female patients feel more comfortable with a female doctor and because that particular association only have male doctors they were looking for a female surgeon. This contradicted previous information that being a surgeon would be difficult for females because less respect is given, but I also understand that it is a balance of both of the informations. Overall this meeting was able to give me a good understanding of the realities of a pediatric surgeon and the more grueling tasks that go along with it but made me excited for future possibilities as well.

This was the first week where I definitely was able to see the drawbacks of being a pediatric surgeon and it did make me reconsider my options. However I do think this is a good thing because I need to be aware of such difficulties if I want to be successful in the field, and it actually ended up making me feel more like this was a good fit for me because even though there were drawbacks, I still don't want to give up on becoming a pediatric surgeon. Another big thing is I did find a pediatric surgeon that I would like to study under, which would be Dr.Brenski. However I will need to consult with her and see if she's open to a mentorship program and this is a little scary because I am now aware that a pediatric surgeon is extremely busy, so I know it's not going to be the easiest thing to get her to sign on. However I hope by next week I'm at least able to contact her and at least try to get her to say yes to the program but if not I am going to need to look into other options and contact more surgeons for me to interview so that I am finally able to decide on a mentor.