During training, some of our most important lessons come from conversations among peers. Residency is a social as much as a technical experience. We can all recall pearls from our seniors or co-residents that changed our perspectives or behaviors, yet there are few spaces for trainees to openly reflect on their experiences and share ideas to help each other grow. So, emulating the success of the Career Development Blog, we decided to create the Aspiring CT Surgeons Blog as a home for content that is written for trainees, by trainees.
Our hope is for the Aspiring CT Surgeons Blog to be a forum for wide-ranging topics relevant to success as a cardiothoracic trainee, from optimizing technical performance in the operating room, to balancing childcare or exercise with training, to navigating both successful and unsuccessful mentor relationships. It will be a space to promote frank discussion of the challenges we collectively face as well as to celebrate the rewards of caring for the cardiothoracic patient while training amongst an elite cohort of peers, a joy that we can uniquely share with each other.
As the field of cardiothoracic surgery evolves, both in its makeup as well as its values, our mission is to showcase viewpoints from a diverse range of backgrounds and stages of training.
If you are interested in writing an article for the Aspiring CT Surgeons Blog, email Dr. Jason Han or Dr. Linda Schulte at communications@sts.org.
The opinions expressed in this blog are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.
The List That Got Me through the Match
By Lauren Levy, MD | December 12, 2022
“I also loved the person I have grown to become, and didn’t—and don’t—want to lose that trajectory. My final rank decisions were as much about the minute differences in training experience as about culture and fit. The environment and the surgeons who would shape me into who I would be—in addition to what I would be—as a CT surgeon."
What Will You Make of the Next 30 Years?
By Jason. J Han, MD | November 1, 2022
“He has been doing this operation for more than 30 years,” the nurse anesthetist said to me about the surgeon I was observing that morning. He was performing a triple bypass operation."
Coping with Complications in Cardiothoracic Surgery: How Do We Grow as Trainees?
By Linda Schulte, MD | July 25, 2022
"As a PGY5, I caused an iatrogenic aortic dissection during cannulation."
The Scenic Route to Cardiothoracic Surgery
By Mahnoor Imran, MD | June 23, 2022
"My journey to becoming an Integrated cardiothoracic surgery resident can be defined by one overarching truth: when people told me I couldn’t, I did it anyway."
Feed the Joy
By Anna Olds, MD | June 23, 2022
"It is intern year. My pager is beeping uncontrollably as I wait on hold with radiology to expedite a scan."