School Student
What's surgery like?
Dr Antonella De Rosa
Academic Foundation Trainee
I graduated from the University of Leeds in 2008 and completed my house jobs at the West Middlesex Hospital, West London. Currently I am undertaking my Surgical Foundation Academic post at St Mary’s Hospital. In parallel to my medical career I have been in the British Army for four years, having recently being promoted to captain and I am looking forward to deploying on operations.
I will never forget my first dissection class. Whilst I was absolutely fascinated by the anatomy of the human body and excited by the idea of dissecting and exploring it, my colleagues were either fainting around me or making their way to the nearest exit. Soon enough, my passion for surgery was reinforced during my first clinical attachment in general surgery.
For my medical school elective, I went to Zambia to work with Professor Jellis. Professor John Jellis OBE FRCS (eng & edin), an Orthopaedic Surgeon come pilot, had spent about 40 years in the country working at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka. In 1982, he set up ‘FlySpec,’ an outreach programme, funded by donations, where he flies himself, along with a trainee orthopaedic surgeon weekly to Government and Mission Hospitals around the county to provide orthopaedic surgery and follow-up. I accompanied him on numerous weekly visits and admired him for his technical ability and stamina, both in the operating theatre and hundreds of feet in the air! Professor Jellis was able to perform challenging operative procedures in a far from ideal environment, and at the end of an exhausting weekend, was able to fly us home safely. Professor Jellis demonstrated immense commitment, endurance, skill, focus and passion for surgery, qualities of a good surgeon.
For me, the best thing about surgery is being in theatre, even though at my grade this usually means retracting tissues, cutting when ordered to or holding the laparoscopy camera with your back to the screen! But the more you do, the better you become, and the more the surgeon will trust you; it’s well worth enduring the length of the procedure if you get to close!
If you want to be a surgeon, make the most of the opportunities offered to you, act on constructive criticism, but most of all, believe in yourself and your dream and don’t give up trying to achieve it!
