Pre-Clinical Years
Networking and Mentorship
Mentorship can come from more senior medical students, residents, and attendings. Below are some resources on general mentorship, and we also discuss mentorship in the context of research on our research page.
Read about building and maintaining an effective research mentor-mentee relationship from the linked MSOS resources.
Mentorship Tips from Dr. Amiethab Aiyer, on the Inside the Match Podcast
Everything you always wanted to know, but were afraid to ask, about the importance of mentorship and ways to find a mentor (with Dr. Amiethab Aiyer). 38 min.
Learn the importance of mentorship + ways to mentor medical students. 14 min.
Women Working in Male-Dominated Specialties, an Inside the Match Article
Entering one of the “male-dominated” fields presents its own challenges that can sometimes be hard to overcome on your own. This article provides organizations, resources, and advice to help overcome this.
The Value of Mentorship with Dr. Amiethab Aiyer, on the Surviving Medicine Spotify Playlist
This podcast discusses the tragic loss of his mother and how it shaped his path to medicine, why he chose orthopedic surgery, why he thinks mentorship is one of the most important parts of our medical training, and how he uses self-reflection to learn from the negative experiences in his life. 1hr 5min.
Shadowing
Shadowing exposes you to the clinical, surgical, and inpatient settings of orthopedic surgery. You can learn about the differences between sub-specialties in this practice. You also get to build relationships with attendings and begin to apply what you have learned to patient care.
Work with your hospital’s orthopedic departments and your school’s orthopedic surgery interest to set up time to shadow. Normally, schools have a pathway to signing up for shadowing, however, this is not always the case. You may not have an ortho department or interest group at your school! Regardless, you can also reach out to surgeons at nearby hospitals and practices to set up shadowing experiences.
Resource on how to email?
Keep a record of who you shadowed and what you saw.
Build relationships with attendings and residents by asking questions related to orthopedic management, careers in orthopedics, and their interests/research opportunities.
Shadowing
Research
Short videos on suturing and tying techniques
10 Surgical Instruments to Know for your Ortho Rotation - Nailed It Ortho Article
A basic list of 10 instruments you’re likely to encounter on your orthopedics rotation. It’s not exhaustive, but hopefully it will make the learning process a bit less overwhelming.
We have a whole section on the topic (Clickable Link Here), but this is the best time to get involved in research!
Get involved asap
Best way to get and maintain mentorship, build relationships
Showcase time management, communication, team player, all those things
ADVICE - don’t overcommit, which could lead to not following through on projects. Bad look. Don’t suck.
Value: relationships/letters, build knowledge, demonstrate proactivity and longitudinal interest in ortho, build a competitive application
Extracurriculars
Interest groups are great ways to get to know a specialty. I recommend joining a couple different groups at first to help discern your career path. These groups are great ways to get access to faculty, attend events, and show leadership in occupying a board position.
Join national organizations (link to resources page) that interest you
Check out the AAOS student membership, SAOAO, RJOS, etc.
Volunteering - fulfilling/centering
Personal interests
Apply for an MSOS Committee, obviously