contd One of my older friend told me a story about F.M.G. His son had applied for a surgical residency at a prestigious medical school surgery residency program. When he arrived for his interview for selection, the professor looked at him and said, "Who asked you for this interview? We don't take F.M.G.s in our program." But Sir! I graduated from Colombia University," his son replied. Seeing a brown face he had assumed that the applicant was a F.M.G.!
The training programs had changed drastically. There were mores choices. applicants sometimes had to travel to several places for interviews. A residency matching program was set up. The reduction in allowable hours of continuous work hurt the surgical specialties more as close follow up of a patient after surgery became difficult. residents no longer lived or stayed in the hospital overnight when on call. The salaries were vastly improved and there was no more 'scut work' mentioned earlier. There were no 'service' patients without insurance and everyone was a private patient. There was therefore loss of 'independent' surgery by the resident with the mentor assisting or supervising. Now the attending scrubbed on every case. This lead to loss of confidence as an 'independent' operator as the surgeon was right there to help or even take over'. A recent survey showed that a significant number of residents were graduating with lack of confidence as independent surgeons.
