• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Association for Academic Surgery (AAS)

  • Home
  • About
    • AAS Staff
    • Contact Us
    • Foundation
  • Membership
    • Apply For Membership
    • New Member List
    • Membership Directory
    • Check Dues Balance / Pay Dues
  • Jobs
    • AAS Job Board
    • Post a Job
  • Resources
    • Assistant Professor Playbook
    • Partners
    • AAS Resources
    • Resident Research Funding Primer
  • Grants/Awards
    • AAS/AASF Fall Courses Award
    • AAS/AASF Research Awards
      • Basic Science/Translational Research Award
      • Clinical Outcomes/Health Services Research Award
      • Trainee Research Fellowship Award in Education
      • Global Surgery Research Fellowship Award
      • Joel J. Roslyn Faculty Research Award
    • Travel Awards
      • AAS/AASF Student Diversity Travel Award
      • Senior Medical Student Travel Award
      • Visiting Professorships
    • Awards FAQ’s
  • Meetings
    • Academic Surgical Congress
    • Surgical Investigators’ Course
    • AAS Fall Courses
    • International Courses
      • Fundamentals of Surgical Research Course and Scientific Writing Workshop
    • Resident Research Funding Primer
  • Publications
  • Webinars
    • Fireside Chat – Maintaining Balance & Control
    • Diversity, Inclusion & Equity Series
      • Allyship
      • PRIDE: The LGBTQ+ Community in Academic Surgery
      • Racial Discrimination in Academic Surgery
    • Academic Surgery in the Time of COVID-19 Series
      • How to Optimize your Research During the Pandemic
      • How to Optimize Educational Experiences During the Pandemic
      • Virtual Interviews
    • The Transition to Practice – Presented by Intuitive
  • Leadership
    • Current AAS Leadership
    • AAS Past Presidents
    • How to Chair
    • Committee Missions & Objectives
    • AAS Officer Descriptions
  • Blog
    • Submit a Post
  • Log In

April 3, 2020 by Anji Wall, MD, PhD

Resist the Urge

Surgeons fix things. That’s what we do. We take patients broken from trauma, cancer, end stage organ disease or a myriad of other problems, we cut, and most of the time we cure. We are in a profession of action. So, what happens when we are called to the opposite; when we are asked to sit on the sidelines of our hospitals; when we are asked to cancel cases rather than ramp up surgical volume?

Part of the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic is a call to halt all elective and non-urgent surgical procedures in order to preserve hospital capacity, personnel and equipment for a potential surge of COVID-19 patients. In many areas, such as my home city of Dallas, this is not merely a suggestion, but a legal mandate. All over the country, surgical volume is dropping and surgeons are putting many, if not all, cases on hold. Acute care, critical care, trauma and other urgent and emergent surgical practices continue.

While this is a good start, we can do more. And we can do more by “doing” less. My plea to each and every surgeon who is not performing urgent or emergent cases or redeployed to help medical and emergency room colleagues in this unprecedented time is to resist the urge. Resist the urge to go into the hospital to see your patients if someone else who is already there can see them for you. Resist the urge to do group rounds. Instead, designate one provider to round on a weekly basis to decrease the use of personal protective equipment and the risk of exposure to COVID-19. You can group round via teleconference. Resist the urge to physically see patients in clinic unless they need an intervention or exam that cannot be done via video visit. Resist the urge to go to the office to get work done. Find a space in your home where you can create an environment amendable to continuing your work while maintaining social distancing.

Resist the urge to do and to show up. Embrace the discomfort of sitting on the sidelines, staying at home and having meetings over video-conferencing platforms. Because those of us on the sidelines today may be called in as reinforcements tomorrow. We have the drive, skills and expertise to take the reins of patient management if our front-line medical and surgical colleagues become overwhelmed or even worse, infected. But we cannot do so if we ourselves are infected or quarantined because of exposure to COVID-19. All signals point to this pandemic as a marathon, not a sprint. We have an obligation to our patients and our institutions to do what is best for the long-term management of this pandemic. For now, that means some of us must do our part by staying home and staying healthy so that we are available to continue taking care of patients when the call comes. For those of you who have already been redeployed, we thank you for the essential work you are doing.

  • Bio
  • Twitter
  • Latest Posts
Anji Wall, MD, PhD

Anji Wall, MD, PhD

Anji E. Wall, MD, PhD is a transplant surgeon and bioethicist at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas and an Adjunct Associate Professor at Texas A&M Medical School. Her research focuses on ethics in surgery and transplantation using qualitative methodology.
Anji Wall, MD, PhD

@https://twitter.com/anjiwall

Anji Wall, MD, PhD

Latest posts by Anji Wall, MD, PhD (see all)

  • How to Increase Organization and Enhance Productivity as an Academic Surgeon - September 3, 2021
  • Resist the Urge - April 3, 2020
  • Pregnancy, New Moms, and Surgical Residency - March 30, 2018

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Print

Other Posts from The Academic Surgeon:

AASChat for March 31st – Discrimination, Abuse, Harassment, and Burnout in Surgical Residency Training
The Resident Research Experience: Perspectives From a Mentee and Mentor

Primary Sidebar

Log In

  • Lost your password?

AAS Commitment to Diversity in Academic Surgery

Save the Date: 2023 Academic Surgical Congress

Save the date for the 18th ASC!
February 7-9, 2023
Hilton Americas-Houston
Houston, TX
More information coming soon.  Learn more>>

2023 AAS Fall Courses

Save the Date! Saturday, October 21, 2023 Boston , MA Courses will take place immediately prior to the ACS Clinical … More Information » about Fall Courses

Footer

Association for Academic Surgery
11300 W. Olympic Blvd, Suite 600
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Phone: (310) 437-1606
Email: [email protected]

Follow Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

© 2023 · AAS - Association for Academic Surgery