This is being posted on July 31, 2021 and that is one month into the academic year for ophthalmology residency here in the USA. If you are now a senior resident, you just completed your first month of your final year of training and you are doing a lot of surgery on your own (under the supervision of your attendings and professors). And now you realize just how challenging it is to master surgery — it is far more difficult than any of us imagined. It is not, however, an insurmountable challenge. You can do it and if you’re a CataractCoach fan then you are already ahead of the pack.
You need to have eyes like a hawk — not to watch others, but to be alert during surgery and then to be your own toughest critic. After every single surgery, ask yourself: What was good? What could have been better? What needs work? What did you learn? These important questions will help you learn from each and every case. You must also prepare ahead of time before going to the operating room. This means truly studying the suggested videos as a bare minimum. Eleven months from now you want to be in a much better state in terms of your surgical skills. Hard work and determination will take you there.
click to learn how you can maximize your surgical success while in residency:
