All great surgeons are students for life: continually learning and evolving surgical techniques to keep up with the latest techniques and technologies and also to hone surgical skill. Remember that life is not fair and once you enter practice, you will realize that it is very competitive. I assure you that your first few years in practice will be much more challenging that your residency. You will look back at residency and it will seem so easy in comparison. There is so much to be learned and it is important to understand the surgical learning curve and the process by which you will continue to improve. If you are reading this post, then you are already committed to becoming the best that you can achieve. These posts and videos will serve as a good foundation for your continued surgical learning.
The title says it all — I am giving you all of the pearls and secrets that I learned over the past 25 years. If you take this advice to heart, work incredibly hard, and surpass me in life then I will congratulate you and celebrate with you. And one of the young surgeons who is reading this will one day do cataract surgery on my eyes!
You can start off at the lower end of the bell curve of surgical skill and then with hard work and determination, you can advance to become a far better surgeon. Don’t be stuck at the bottom of the curve, a standard deviation or two below the mean. You can absolutely advance your skills.
This shows a step-wise approach to learning cataract surgery for each level of training in your residency program. It also shows the difference between 200 cases, 2000 cases, and 20k cases.
Your mindset will determine your career path. You have already spent 4 years earning a bachelor’s degree, then 4 more for your MD degree, then another 4 years for internship and residency, and maybe even another 1 or 2 years for a fellowship. Do not let all of those years go to waste. Those years are your foundation but now it is time to build on that and advance your skills.
Professor Uday Devgan MD is a Los Angeles Cataract Surgeon who authors CataractCoach.com to teach the best techniques of Cataract Surgery to Eye Surgeons from around the world.
View all posts by Uday Devgan MD
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