Resident Training

There is a huge difference between China and the US in resident training programs. I am an attending physician  now. I just went through the hard part of my career in China, as a resident. In the US, doctors are also good teachers, and they have to be. In the so called teaching hospitals, teaching is an important part of doctors' daily work. Senior doctors have the responsibility to teach their residents basic theories, clinical skills and operative tips. I talked to a surgeon several days ago to discuss the operating methods he used to a on his patients. I just wondered why he chose that simple technique instead of an advance one, which I though would be better. He told me the truth. Basicly the differences caused by those method were not that obvious, and the other reason is he has to teach the resident with this kind of technique. I was shocked by his words. In China, no one cares what the resident wants. Surgeons do what they want to do, and they are too tiered to avoid being suit sued by the patients. I still remember when I first enter the OR. I was scared. I made a lot of mistakes for which I was let me being blamed all day. No one teach taught me how and what to do there. When you get in, you are a surgeon and you  are supposed to know everything they think you should know. You have to work really hard to watch, trying to understand every step other people do. Finally, we grow up, but we still make mistakes, maybe the same mistakes our teachers have make. In the US, teachers will tell you how to perform, how to avoid complications, what mistakes they experienced. I am a little bit jealous here. Residents deserve this training, they really need someone to tell them the key points of every single procedure. So, I hope I can be a good resident trainer in China. To teach them, let them know everything I know, and everything I learned here, that should be helpful to them.

Very good essay, Andy. Maybe you'll get up high enough in the hierarchy that you will be able to change the way the medical system works in China. Here's a link that will help you understand when to use the indefinite articles "a" and "an". You only make one error there, but it's important to get it right.

Keep writing, and I wish you much success in the States and China.