When LIONZ was first initiated in 2017, approximately 5% of vocationally trained orthopaedic surgeons were female in New Zealand. My first impression of an Orthopaedic surgeon was a well-built, rugby-sized man, typically in the style of any Grey’s Anatomy male character; however, my trip down to Wellington last weekend shattered that stereotype.
Tl;dr: The three things I learnt:
1. Take advocacy of increasing diversity into your own hands.
2. Bring your own ‘flavour’ to the table, and let it shine.
3. If you feel challenged or lost in a field, find your community.
As the elevator doors slid open, I walked into a crowded room full of female medical students, registrars, and consultants. Every single one of them represents a small step towards increasing diversity within the orthopaedic field. What I saw that day were unique souls, each with their own sparks — there were mothers, students graduating and entering honours programs, students who worked in a different field for over a decade before deciding to switch careers, medical students and registrars from rural areas, they each had their own paths, yet orthopaedics is what brought this room full of women together. And I happened to be one more that joined the crowd.
But wait, just getting to this point was not easy.
Around two months ago, I was just another high school student panicking about what to do after graduating high school. Not only was I panicking, but I was also confused. I have always said that I wanted to pursue a career in healthcare, but I couldn’t find my why. As I started Year 13 I finally gathered the courage to reach out to local hospitals and clinics, hoping to get a chance to see various roles. I was privileged to come across Georgina on one of my ‘brave’ attempts at outreaching, and I was even more stoked when she revealed herself as an orthopaedic surgeon.
Finding a female orthopaedic surgeon in the medical field is like trying to find a four-leaf clover out of a 15-acre field of shamrocks.
And somehow the first ever surgeon I meet was Georgina, a female orthopaedic surgeon. I was absolutely stoked to find out more about such a unique position in healthcare, and she truly shone a light on a field that was slightly less exposed to peers my age. Stereotypes that portray the Orthopaedic field as a high stamina-costing, muscular, masculine field often deterred many others from even attempting to get to know more about the field. I know that for me personally, I wouldn’t think of Orthopaedics as one of my career paths when people mention medicine.
Nevertheless, after emailing almost every clinic across the bay, I landed myself a two-way plane ticket to Wellington and a place at the LIONZ (Ladies in Orthopaedics New Zealand) Forum.
At the forum
On Saturday morning, as I stepped into the hall and faced a room full of cordiality, all my worries and reservations were blown away along with the wind. Curiosity soon took over as I saw the various station set up across the floor: drill sets, nails, saws, and of course, bones nicely organised on tables, all of which looks oddly familiar, yet a closer look would tell you that those aren’t your typical at-home hardware appliances, but intricate surgical tools. It’s those drills that gave another person the opportunity to move pain-free again, and those are the set nails that gave another sports player a chance to shine out on the field once more. Without even fully understanding their uses, I already feel a great sense of pride and respect towards seeing those tools coming to life in front of me.
We started off with the ‘sawbones workshop’, which gave an opportunity to medical students and registrars interested in specialising in Orthopaedics to have a go at all sorts of surgeries they can perform as an Orthopaedic surgeon. My first time touching a knee scope was incredible! Navigating inside and around the patella, having a little ‘pinch’ on the meniscus and recognising the tendons (which you really shouldn’t touch at all) made everything we learn in an anatomy class even more so real. The real-life applications of what we learn in lectures are vastly different from our expectations, so I think gaining first-hand experiences like taking a knee scope is not only a refreshing change from learning textbook anatomy but also a chance to appreciate how intricate and beautiful the art of surgery truly is!
The stations seemed to flow as I carry what I’d learnt from the previous stations onto the next one. All of the surgical procedures demonstrated are around vastly different structures (i.e. various joints and large bones), yet they all connect together in different ways. I felt like I was collecting jigsaw pieces from each station, then putting it all together in the end, giving me a really clear view of what Orthopaedic surgeries are like, even as someone less equipped with medical knowledge and more filled with curiosity.
The highlight of the trip must be when I held the bone saw. As it vibrates furiously in my hands, I was quite surprised by how difficult it is to control with precision. My idea of surgery always involved delicate instruments and careful calibration, not holding down a drill the same size as my forearm from various very odd angles. But here I am, trying to cut a piece of knee out on my tippy-toes.
I was also truly fascinated by the talk that followed the bone-saw station, a representative of Depuy explained to us the evolution of orthopaedic surgical tools in the last few decades, and how an increase in diversity in the field has brought on several innovations that made Orthopaedic surgery less intimidating for female students. She showed us several recent prototypes of a surgical mallet, which usually fits a size 7–8 hand. Many of the people in my group had only size 6 hands and would struggle with those large tools. From my brief experience with using drills and bone saws, it would really help if those handles are a bit more lenient for my hand size. As I gave those new, 3-D printed prototypes a go, they felt more moulded around my hands, and I heard plenty of appreciation from surrounding students as well.
For me, there were lots of takeaways from that one session, here are the top 3 lessons I gained from that day:
- Take advocacy of increasing diversity into your own hands. Throughout the day, I encountered lots more individuals just like Georgina who decided to increase female representation in Orthopaedics to action. Some consultants brought their female registrars to the forum, and some hospitals and managers recommended their med students to come and check this field out. I was extremely delighted to see the unity of women in medicine at the forum, and I was inspired by the courage some took to challenge themselves to a field where even the tools were designed for bigger men.
- Bring your own ‘flavour’ to the table, and let it shine. I never met anyone who is quite the same at the forum. Students who worked in a totally different job for most of their lives and decided to start fresh and pursue surgery; Registrars that decided to stay on for another year before applying to specialise; Consultants that brought along family members so they have a deeper understanding of their work; incredible wāhine who have more that just the role of a medical student, but they are also business owners, trampers, swimmers, runners. I met students and academics who are at different stages of their lives, yet all gathered here that day to represent progressive diversity in medicine.
- If you feel challenged or lost in a field, find your community. After the sawbones workshop, we had a separate interview prep session where past female registrars who went on to specialise in Orthopaedic surgery came back to share their experiences and insights to applying for a position. We also had a few keynote speakers who discussed Māori diversity and history, which helped many of us on the day to go home with a fresh, and deeper understanding of providing public health options to different communities in New Zealand.
If there was one thing I learnt that day, it was that you can always reach out to someone else if you are confused, lost, or in need of some encouragement. What’s incredible about medicine are its extraordinary history, and its nature as a life-long journey for people that pursued it. Someone would’ve walked your path before you, and they will always be able to give you advice on how to proceed. I, in particular, am extremely grateful for all the members at the forum who helped me understand terminologies and patiently explained to me the logistics behind every surgical procedure, the passion and love they have for medicine sparkled in their eyes as they walked me through absolutely mind-boggling parts of Orthopaedic surgery. And that makes a difference in my life.
Special thanks to Georgina and her team for making this forum a 1000000/10-star experience for all of us. You’ve truly made a phenomenal contribution to women in medicine, and women in surgery. And I am so proud to be a part of this journey!
