Pediatric ENT Steve Handler, MD, MBE, mentors the placement of an ear tube using a surgical microscope
What does it take to repair a motorcycle accident victim’s fractured jaw with metal plates and screws, insert ear tubes into the eardrums of a toddler with frequent infections, or sew up a cancer patient’s surgical site? For a few hours one summer morning, local high school students in the medical track of the University of Pennsylvania Provost’s Summer Mentorship Program (SMP) and in the STEM internship program at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia got to simulate just a few of the tasks otorhinolaryngologists – also known as ear, nose, and throat or head and neck surgeons – are called on to perform. D. Gregory Farwell, MD, FACS, chair of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, organized the surgical simulations, similar to what residents practice, in hopes of giving more young people from underrepresented backgrounds a taste of the specialty. He himself had not heard of the field until he got to medical school, and hopes that more early exposure will encourage students to consider head and neck surgery, as it, like many surgical subspecialties, is “woefully underrepresented with physicians of color.”
“Otolaryngology is so unique because we do surgery and we also take care of people in the clinic, we take care of babies and we take care of elderly people, we take care of people who have sinus problems, cancer, and face lifts … It’s the most rewarding field in the world, but it’s such a small field, many people don’t know about it,” Farwell said. “We’re hoping to light some fires in these students and open their eyes to careers that they may not have thought of.”
Farwell, who organized a similar program when he was at University of California–Davis, was joined by Tiffany Chao, MD, MSEd, assistant program director of the Otorhinolaryngology residency, and James Kearney, MD, associate program director of the residency program, as well as several senior department faculty, residents, and representatives of DePuy Synthes, the orthopaedics company of Johnson & Johnson, which provided simulation equipment.
“I learned a lot of cool things today. After watching 18 seasons of ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ I finally feel like I got some experience,” said Morgan McGoogin, a student at Science Leadership Academy at Beeber, a public magnet school. “After this experience, I’m more into medicine now.”
High school students got to experience many of the surgical simulations done by otorhinolaryngology residents.