The Humble Scalpel

The daily musings of a female surgeon, just living life one day at a time

Surgery: the practice of treating medical problems, often by cutting into the body

Sound barbaric? Sometimes, sadly, it is, as can be the path to get there.

But it is also sometimes rewarding as well.

A method for me to decompress from my days, blogging is just something I enjoy. Read through my stream of consciousness op eds, read about an interesting patient encounter, plus my advice for medical students, residents, or anyone else interested in the surgical world.

About me

My name is Rachel, and I’m a general surgeon in the beginning years of my practice. I first started a blog when I was in my first couple years of medical school, which sadly didn’t make it very far due to time constraints and my own flagging motivation at the time. But I found the process of writing down my thoughts therapeutic and fun. I’ve now made it through medical school, residency, and am working on building a practice, and wanted to try again!

Perhaps you’ll find some commonality in some of the topics I chat about, or a sense of community or understanding in some of my musings. I’m happy to connect, answer questions, entertain recommendations for blog posts, and would be happy to read and review appropriate medical-themed books, podcasts, or other media of interest to others!

  • Classic surgical textbooks

    Here’s a list of what some would consider the “classic” general surgery textbooks for those of us that enter surgical residency. I remember when I started residency that the goal was read one of these from cover to cover during my intern year. Admittedly, I did not succeed at that, but it is a worthwhile…

    CONTINUE READING: Classic surgical textbooks

  • A bad day.

    Surgery is high stakes. Correction, medicine is high stakes. There are great days, but there are also some terrible days. Some of the most memorable parts of my training were the bad days…days where a patient died, I made a big mistake, had a major complication, or learned something the hard way. I recently had…

    CONTINUE READING: A bad day.

  • So you’re thinking about going into medicine…

    Maybe you’re from one of those families where everyone seems to have gone into medicine in some way or another. Perhaps your parents keep dropping not so subtle hints about how doctors and lawyers will always have a place in the world. Or maybe you just always found Grey’s Anatomy and Scrubs to be entertaining…

    CONTINUE READING: So you’re thinking about going into medicine…