Blog from the Chair: Bring in the New Year!

I have always loved any excuse to celebrate successes.  But one party that I have always questioned is the celebration of New Years in December.  Growing up in rural Colorado, I always loved the winter, but New Years Eve and Day felt no different.  Both were ski days and taxes really aren’t due until April; hence, New Years in my view was simply a different date on the calendar.  But being in academic medicine, I really see a more important date that we definitely need to celebrate as the ‘real’ New Year, and that is June 30^th to July 1^st. Let me explain...

Orthopaedic Residents and Med Students

July 1^st has real meaning for us as the ‘New Year’ and we really need to celebrate:  it is special for everyone.  Graduating residents move to a fellowship or to a ‘real job’ and we welcome our newest group of resident physicians and interns.  The interns are always excited to begin their careers as ‘doctors,’ and current faculty and residents get to welcome the best and brightest whom we worked so hard to recruit.  If you look carefully, the current residents themselves have the opportunity to change a bit.  The 4^th year residents in Orthopaedics now arrive at their final year and can become a ‘chief,’ or ‘senior’ resident, depending upon the institution’s vernacular.  Every resident sees a different experience from the year before, beginning on July 1.  And as I discussed with the Orthopaedic Interns and Residents this past ‘New Year,’ July gives us a great opportunity for self-reflection, that is, a chance to look at our current situations, and make changes, as each person sees fit.

Dr. Schenck with Dr. Keith Gill and Dr. Katherine Gavin

I remember my own transition from General Surgery Intern to Orthopaedic Resident in 1985.  In addition to meeting two important people that year (Wife & Mother-in-law), I critically looked at my interactions with staff, residents, and faculty at Hopkins and decided to make some small changes.  Internship in general surgery in the 80’s was fun but grueling, and I had found that I had become short with people, especially at 3am when I was on call every other night (Hopkins Surgery had an interesting call configuration:  in order to get a weekend off, interns were on call back to back Thursday/Friday or Saturday/Sunday, so ‘every other’ applied only to Monday through Wednesday).  As an attending, I was grateful for the changes made in 2003 with the institution of the 80-hour workweek, and I applaud the additional resident duty hour rules that the ACGME has further refined.  But that being said, in 1985, I looked at “Bob Schenck, PGY-II, and decided that I needed to make some small changes in how I treated people, and work to become more like the person I was in high school, college, and even medical school.  My first step was to start smiling more often, and with some small changes, I saw my ‘intern interactions’ become much more positive.

2013 Crawfish Boil Spread

So I welcome everyone at UNM to focus on this opportunity of ‘bringing in the new’ and make minor changes to improve your own personal situation, be it staff, medical student, mid-level, resident, fellow, or faculty.  It is our New Year’s party, the Annual Orthopaedic Crawfish Boil (it is both New Year’s Eve & Day in my mind) that reminds me to focus on the great lifestyle and what I like to call ‘workstyle’ that academic medicine provides for me and many others who call a health science center their home.  The opportunity to work and learn with medical students, staff, residents, all providers, and faculty is truly what makes academics and UNM, a great place to work.

Residency Program Director - Dr. Gehron Treme and family

So let’s change our calendars for the ‘real’ New Year, and use this opportunity to reflect on where we are, and where we are headed.  And most importantly make subtle little changes to improve our individual personal circumstances.  And everyone should all smile a little more.

Bob Schenck
P&C

UNM Department of Orthopaedics & Rehabilitation