Shadowing

All –

Though we are close to overcoming the threat of COVID-19 and the subsequent challenges that have impacted our daily lives, we are still not in a position to safely offer meaningful shadowing experiences for non-clinical students. Being cautiously optimistic for the new year, we are extending the suspension of our shadowing program until May 31st, 2021 in hopes to return in the summer months.

We will continue to update the department, our campus collaborators, and students as our situation continues to develop for better, or for worse. Our website continue to be updated at this time so please feel free to check this for any changes as well.

Looking ahead to 2021 – we will be offering more virtual experiences

• For members of our Surgery Interest Group and undergraduate student organizations
• On a monthly, recurring, basis – the second Tuesday of the month from 5-6pm.

Some virtual experiences we are actively planning are provided below and we are actively seeking faculty, resident, student, and administrative leaders to participate.

Please follow this link to express your interest in helping sustain connections with our pre-clinical students as a facilitator or participant

• Operative Experiences
  Review and moderate two recorded surgical procedures (5-10 minutes long) and discuss disease progression, perioperative plan, anatomy, and procedural steps. A formal guide will be provided and volunteers can identify their own videos or request the SIG team to find some based on particular procedures.
• SIG Carnival
  Informal and friendly network opportunity for students to learn about surgical specialties they are interested in small groups with some friendly trivia competition
• Suturing Skills
  Put your skills to the test and walk students through the basics of suturing
• Lifestyle Panels
  Offer your personal and professional insights of pursuing your career and your life experiences along the way. We love to offer diverse perspectives in this panel so all specialties and personal testimonies are welcome
• Peer-Learning Panels
  Opportunities for Medical Students and undergraduate students to learn from one another on next steps in their near future
• Other?
  Please share any and all ideas you may have to facilitate meaningful virtual connections with our pre-clinical students!

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns regarding this information. All replies will be forwarded to our department shadowing team at shadowing@surgery.wisc.edu

Thank you,
Paul

Paul DiMusto, MD
Director of Surgical Shadowing Program
Department of Surgery
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

All-

After careful consideration, we have made the very difficult decision to suspend the Department of Surgery OR and Clinic Shadowing Programs for the remainder of the 2020 calendar year. As you may be aware, we have made significant strides to improve the program for our faculty volunteers and student shadowers, which makes us especially disappointed to have to postpone each of these programs.

However, as we continue to navigate these difficult times, we can come to the agreement that each day, week, and month are subject to the status of the COVID-19 pandemic. With this level of variability, we do not anticipate that we will be able continue to offer this program for the foreseeable future and feel that it is crucial to prioritize the health of our students, members of our department, and the community at this time.

As our efforts will help us flatten the curve, and hopefully land us on the winning side of this, we still do not anticipate that our services will be a conducive learning or exploratory environment for shadowing. Eventually, as we are able to transition our current mindset towards normalcy, and catching up, we must also provide meaningful experiences for our UWSMPH clinical medical students.

Our current plan is to lift the suspension in January 2021 and send communication in November if we feel that this is still feasible as determined at that time.  If we determine that we are indeed able to proceed with the program in the new year, both clinic and shadowing applications will be reopened by the end of November. Of course, if we are able to return to our baseline sooner than expected, we will lift the restrictions and send an update before then to reinstate the programs.

We recognize the disappointment that prospective students and members of our department are sure to feel given this information, but we are hopeful that by making the difficult decision now will help us plan for a better program in 2021. For students specifically, we hope that given this information in advance, you can plan your summer and fall schedules accordingly, in hopes to better accommodate a shadowing opportunity in the spring.

We will continue to keep our website updated at this time so please feel free to check this for any changes.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns regarding this information. All replies will be forwarded to our department shadowing team at shadowing@surgery.wisc.edu.

Thank you,

Paul

Paul DiMusto, MD
Director of Surgical Shadowing Program
Department of Surgery
University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health