The weather could not have been more perfect, 70 and sunny with a light breeze, which made it even more enjoyable to learn that I matched into the Harvard Combined Orthopaedic Residency Program!

UMMS had six orthopaedic surgery applicants this year and all six of us successfully matched! Here we are on Match Day along with two of our orthopaedic mentors and UMMS alumni, Drs. Craig and Caird.

In other news, next week I’m pumped to be heading down to NASA/Johnson Space Center in Houston for a month of aerospace medicine/surgery. Everyone grows up wanting to be an astronaut, right?

Residency interviews:  Done!

Rank Order List due:  T-minus 10 days

Match Day:  Friday, 3/16

I ended up going on around 15 interviews encompassing both coasts and a few in between. I certainly racked up a good number of miles over the last couple months. Too bad I wasn’t able to stick to one airline carrier… having 5K miles on 5 different airlines is as useful as a snooze button on a smoke alarm. The best part of going on interviews was meeting other applicants from across the country that will soon be my colleagues and maybe even co-residents. We had a group of around 7-10 guys that were at mostly the same interviews, which made travelling around more enjoyable and lent a sense of camaraderie through the lengthy process. In fact, I write this post from the airport after presenting some research at the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons annual meeting in San Francisco with many of the same people I met on the interview circuit.

The M4s have returned to clerkships this week after the long hiatus for boards/online courses/interviews. I personally have not seen a patient since August, so this should be interesting…

One of the hundreds of exhibits at the AAOS conference.

The Chinese New Year Parade took place during the AAOS meeting, the first night parade I've seen.

I attended a Sports Medicine Conference last month, which happened to be at Joe Louis Arena, the home of my all-time favorite sports team, the Red Wings. We were able to tour the facilities after the conference.

One of my life goals complete: center ice at Joe Louis Arena.

A couple of my friends and I finally had a chance to check out the North American International Auto Show. This model was one of the many highlights.

Sunset in San Francisco.

As surprising as it may seem, my cohort is already more than halfway finished with our final year of medical school! Since my last post, I completed a month of adult cardiac surgery, which was a great experience, because, come on, it’s heart surgery. Also during the past month, I found out I passed both parts of our USMLE Step 2 board exams, meaning I am now done with all board exams for the rest of medical school, which does feel pretty awesome. Now it’s time for the M4 promise land, right?

One of the many San Francisco beaches.

Last week a group of us senior med students applying to surgical residency programs attended the American College of Surgeons conference in San Francisco. This was my fourth year in a row attending the conference, which always has a great atmosphere and learning environment. San Francisco was also a great venue for the conference, with lots to do outside of the conference. I had a chance to catch up with some friends in the Bay Area, enjoy the terrific weather, and go to prison. Yes, that’s correct. We took a ferry over to Alcatraz Island and toured the facilities, which were as good as they sound, because, come on, it’s prison. It was worth it though for the ferry ride under sunny skies and getting a view of San Francisco from the Island, which is a nice sight.

Bill and I in front of one of our presentations at the conference.

Alcatraz Island

On the residency application front, I’ve started receiving invitations from programs and am looking forward to the interview season. After reviewing medical school applications and interviewing applicants for the past couple years, I can appreciate how much time and effort selection committees are required to input. Furthermore, I understand there will be always be biases and preconceived notions, but I think it is most fair for both the applicant and the program to keep an open mind until after the interview process. As such, I’m going to try to not make any fixed decisions until after interviews, but am excited at the possibilities!

Dr. Michael Englesbe (far left), who has had a large influence on my medical education and career goals. Also, and perhaps more importantly, he is great to golf with.

The below excerpt comes from an interesting piece I read today by Dr. Atul Gawande in which he describes the concept of coaching and its role among professionals, surgeons included (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/03/111003fa_fact_gawande#ixzz1ZCyiCQrh). If even the most elite performers such as athletes and musicians have coaches, why should surgeons be any different?

“Who’s that?” a patient asked me as she awaited anesthesia and noticed Osteen standing off to the side of the operating room, notebook in hand.

I was flummoxed for a moment. He wasn’t a student or a visiting professor. Calling him “an observer” didn’t sound quite right, either.

“He’s a colleague,” I said. “I asked him along to observe and see if he saw things I could improve.”

The patient gave me a look that was somewhere between puzzlement and alarm.

“He’s like a coach,” I finally said.

She did not seem reassured.

I am still relatively early in my education and training, but I can certainly appreciate the role of coaching, teaching, and mentorship. Much of who I am today both personally and professionally has been cultivated by great coaches, ranging from my parents to my current medical school professors. I cannot imagine where I would be without the priceless guidance and wisdom provided by those more experienced. Particularly with respect to medicine and surgery, I think mentorship is one of the most important aspects of an excellent education and is perhaps even undervalued by younger trainees. I have been incredibly fortunate to have so many terrific mentors throughout my years at the University of Michigan with whom I hope to have lifelong relationships. After all, there will always be something that I can improve on!

Dr. James Goulet, who played a large role in my decision to pursue orthopaedic surgery.

Perfect weather. ESPN College GameDay on campus. First night game ever at Michigan Stadium. NCAA collegiate football record attendance of 114,804.

End of the 3rd quarter - Michigan 7, Notre Dame 24

What is happening?? No worries, 28 amazing 4th quarter points and 1 ridiculously amazing comeback later…

FINAL SCORE - MICHIGAN 35, NOTRE DAME 31

Epic.

Front row!

Turns out we had many appearances during the national ESPN TV broadcast... bottom left.

Check out a glimpse of the post-game celebration from my phone. We didn’t leave the stadium until an hour after the game ended:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxWd_sg84kc

Front row view of College GameDay's Post-Game Show

Times Square

Hello from New York, where I am in the middle of a 4-week visiting clerkship at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS). It is the oldest orthopaedic surgery hospital in the country (1863) and completes more than 25,000 surgeries annually. It’s been educational to see how a hospital other than the University of Michigan functions and there certainly have been numerous differences ranging from charting systems to operating room logistics. I also chose to do an external clerkship to increase my exposure to orthopaedic surgery in other parts of the country and continue building a frame of reference for comparing residency programs. In just a few short weeks, as surprising as it may be, I’ll have to submit my residency applications (it seems like just yesterday that I submitted medical school applications!) Anyway, residency interviews take place November through January and then Match Day will be in mid-March where we find out where our next stage of training will occur. Though I am looking forward to this whole process and visiting other programs, I am more looking forward to knowing where I will ultimately end up!

Another benefit of rotating at HSS is that it is located in Upper East Side Manhattan (read: endless supply of things to do). While a pricey region, I’ve been enjoying living in the area this month. During a recent day off, I meandered over to the Rockefeller Center, toured the NBC Studios, hung out in Times Square, and visited Madame Tussauds Wax Museum (a giant collection of life size celebrity wax figures). The one knock I do have on this area is that there is very little space for gyms, tennis courts, and golf courses, all very crucial elements…

Rockefeller Center

I'm over 6 feet tall, but Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is just ridiculous. At least I have the jockey beat.

Oh yeah Kareem? I found someone that has you beat - The Hulk.

In other news, this Friday marks the start of medical school interviewing season at Michigan. I am looking forward to continuing being a part of the Admissions Committee this year and meeting another diverse group of applicants. For those prospective applicants, good luck to you and enjoy the process! It will soon be over and you will suddenly find yourself applying for residency…

I "volunteered" both my arms at a practice casting session for us M4s.

While shadowing was useful in college and earlier in medical school, I’ve noticed that it is no longer very interesting to me as it’s not very proactive or hands-on. Whether it is the nature of the orthopaedic services or the fact that I am now a senior medical student, I have enjoyed having the opportunity to participate to a greater degree in patient care, both in the operating room and on the floor. Nevertheless, as with any field, with more responsibility comes more… paperwork… progress notes, operation notes, discharge summaries, follow-up requests, etc. These are equally important as direct patient care but not quite as glamorous…

Additionally, the amount and quality of teaching on the orthopaedic services has been wonderful. Even on busy surgical services, the residents, fellows, and attendings still take the time to teach students, which I similarly hope to do in the future.

Dr. Ward, orthopaedic intern extraordinaire, who will now believe that I was only half joking when I said I would be posting his picture up.

M2 Comprehensive Clinical Assessment… Check.

M2 Year… Check.

USMLE Step 1… Check.

M3 YEAR… CHECK.

And now on to my final year of medical school, a land rumored to be full of promises and glory.

Let’s hope the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t a train.

I am now two weeks into my six week Psychiatry rotation. At Michigan, we spend two weeks on the consult/liaison (C/L) service, two weeks on the inpatient service, and two weeks in outpatient clinics. I started off on the C/L service, which involved going to see patients on other non-Psychiatry services in the hospital if they had any psych-related issues for which their primary team wanted recommendations. While I am most likely not going into Psychiatry, my experience on this service will undoubtedly be useful in the future when taking care of my own patients, many of whom will have psych-related issues. In particular, as I will likely be going into a surgical specialty, I now feel more comfortable dealing with post-operative delirium, a common ailment on many surgical services.

In other news, I did get a chance to briefly escape the Michigan winter and head down to Dallas, TX for another NRMP Board Meeting. We stayed at the Mansion on Turtle Creek (http://www.mansiononturtlecreek.com/) which I would recommend if you are ever in the area. Pictures below: