CHANGE

WOMEN IN
SURGERY
even though I didn’t take the usual pathway to get where I
am, I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s all shaped me to who I am
today.
What are your future plans?
I’m going to head overseas to North America to gain some
new skills and see how their hospitals work, especially for
heart and lung transplantation. I’ll also keep up with medical
education by teaching and examining junior surgeons. I love
teaching because it keeps me sharp and I really enjoy being
able to help someone else learn.
I volunteer with Operation Open Heart. They do overseas
trips to developing countries in the Pacific and Africa to
perform heart surgery on children and adults. I was in Fiji
recently and it was such an amazing, rewarding experience.
What advice would you give for other women considering a
career as a surgeon?
Work hard and go for it. It won’t be smooth sailing, but
if you really love it, it will be its own reward. And keep a
toothbrush in your locker.
What do you feel needs to be done in order to see an increase
in females pursuing careers in surgery?
It’s important to mentor young women into surgery. It’s
somewhat unchartered territory still and it’s lovely to give
advice from the lessons we have already learned. It’s important
for women surgeons to be more visible as mentors, as
clinicians and in leadership positions in surgery to say to the
younger generation ‘I’ve done it so you can too!’.
We also need to address some of the main obstacles for
women entering a surgical career which includes looking at
ways to offer interrupted and part time training (especially if
a family factors into their plans) and by continuing to stamp
out bullying and harassment.
What advice would you give to women starting their careers?
Women in professions should be themselves. What you have
is what makes you different and an asset. I love this quote
from the film Working Girl – “You’re the first woman I’ve seen
at one of these things that dresses like a woman, not like a
woman thinks a man would dress if he was a woman.”
Other than that – I say go for it! Work hard, learn a lot and
kick ass.
#GirlsCanDoAnything
References
1. What junior doctors think about choosing a surgical career http://www98.griffith.edu.au/dspace/bitstream
/handle/10072/47209/79288_1.pdf?sequence=1
The University of Notre Dame Australia
School of Medicine
Advanced Clinical
Anatomy Course
16 February – 12 May 2016
Open to doctors who wish to further develop their knowledge in clinical anatomy, particularly those
about to undergo specialist training in surgery, radiology or preparing for a Fellowship examination.
To reserve your place and for further information go to nd.edu.au/advancedclinicalanatomy
Registrations required by 15th December 2015
Fremantle
Broome
Sydney
CRICOS PROVIDER CODE: 01032F - ND1509C
Letters to the Editor
How far have we come?
Dear Sir,
In the August edition of Surgical News, in the article on
“Women in Surgical Training” the question is asked “how far
have we come?”
The answer is - clearly – not far enough!
For the photograph on the front page of the journal, of a young
woman in theatre garb, is not of a woman surgeon but of a
nurse – one that I routinely work with, in my theatre.
All women surgeons have experienced being mistaken
for nurses – to have the college magazine ratify this, is
contemptible.
Dr Karen Smith
Orthopaedic Surgeon
Middlemore Hospital
Auckland
New Zealand
I am a Surgeon!
Dear Editors,
I read with interest your letter: “When is a surgeon not a
surgeon” by Dr Fred Betros in the September 2015 issue of
Surgical News.
I was able to read this letter because I receive this journal, as
I am a Fellow of the College of Surgeons (FRACS), as well as
being a Fellow of the College of Ophthalmologists (FRANZCO).
I receive very little in return for the money I pay every year – as
I have done since 1992 – and to add insult to injury, I now find I
am not even acknowledged as a surgeon by the College!
The arrogant old boys club that is this College could do with a
good spring clean on Spring St!
This is the kind of attitude that has us almost universally hated,
except when people are in dire need of our services.
If I am no longer considered a surgeon, I no longer see the need
to pay my annual subscription!
Perhaps it is time for a change of heart – as in opening them to
embrace all surgeons – rather than judging some as more or less
deserving of the title.
Yours truly,
Anne Malatt
MBBS,MS, FRANZCO, FRACS (for now).
Cold Packs - Is a Climate Change
Necessary?
For many years it has been customary to put an ice pack on the
site of a minor injury. This may control swelling and hopefully
provide some pain relief. Repeated application of ice packs on a
developed swelling has been used for some obscure reason.
What is the evidence for and the physio-pathological basis of
these practices? Should they be reconsidered and their value
reassessed?
We all learnt the characteristics of damage with its
inflammatory response: Rubor, Calor. Tumor. Dolor and Functio
lassa. We have all seen that the progress of healing requires a
good blood supply, to wind back the features of inflammation
until normality returns. We all know that poor or no blood
supply slows or stops these processes.
So what does the ice pack achieve? By inducing vaso-constriction
most of the inflammatory changes may be stopped or nearly so,
including the beginning of recovery. What is gained by delaying
the onset of swelling immediately after injury for it will develop
as soon as a normal blood supply returns to produce a capillary
source of fluid and an adequate perfusing pressure? Pain
appreciation may be interfered with for the duration of effective
cooling by reducing nerve transmission, Local bleeding is usually
dealt with by the clotting mechanism before the ice pack effects
reach the site. Larger vessel injury may need more than cold for
its control.
Perhaps application of an ice pack for a local injury is of no
great value, or even counter–productive. Would not gentle
warming allow the normal responses to develop without
interruption and also provide comfort to the patient? May we
not assume that the evolution of the inflammation/healing cycle
is not without purpose and that we don’t need to be bemused by
any aspects of it?
I should be interested in Fellows’ views on whether we should
begin to encourage a climate change!
B.N.Catchpole, M.D.,F.R.A.C.S.
E.Prof. of Surgery,UWA.
18/10/15
18 SURGICAL NEWS OCTOBER 2015 SURGICAL NEWS OCTOBER 2015 19