Getting Cut: Failing to Survive Surgical Residency Training
Books / Paperback
Books › Medical › Education & Training
ISBN: 0761836624 / Publisher: UPA, February 2007
O'Connell (sociology and anthropology, Swarthmore College) considers the factors that lead to dropping out or being terminated from surgical residency programs. She examines the interplay between the institution and individual residents through data collected from a 1990 survey of 556 certified residency programs in the US in anesthesiology, general surgery, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, and plastic surgery, as well as interviews with attendings, nurses, and residents from five neurosurgery programs. Factors such as the culture, structure, and organization of the programs are considered, including surgery as an "old boy's network" and how it impacts attrition among female and minority residents. In addition, she looks at the evaluation of non-quantifiable traits such as honesty and how this can lead to discrimination. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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The national withdrawal rate from medical school averages about 1%, but withdrawal from surgical residency programs is much higher, roughly 16%. The drop out risk is greater for white women and minorities than for white males. Getting Cut examines the factors which lead to resignation from these graduate residency programs by observing the dynamic interplay between the institution and individual residents. Professor O'Connell analyzes the current shortcomings in the process of selection, and looks at how the culture, structure, and organization of these educational programs affect the drop out rate once residents have been accepted. An analysis of the 'old boy's network' culture of these surgical programs exposes the greater risk of withdrawal among female and minority residents. Further examination of the process of resident evaluation reveals that in addition to being graded on cognitive knowledge and critical judgment, residents are also evaluated on personal characteristics, the most important being 'honesty.' Professor O'Connell demonstrates how the medical faculty's subjective assessment of these elusive and contestable qualities not only aid in identifying the morally deficient among the technically proficient, but also how these practices promote discrimination as well.
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