Episode 24: Perspectives from a surgery program director with Dr. Jonathan Dort

The latest podcast episode features Dr. Jonathan Dort, the Director of Surgical Education for the Inova Health System and Program Director of the Surgical Residency for the Department of Surgery at the Inova Fairfax Medical Campus.

“I never understood how surgeons had egos, because it is the most continuously humbling business I can imagine being in…”

Dr. Dort left private practice to join an academic program. As program director, he has seen residency education change significantly over the years with increasing regulations and requirements. 

Residents are changing, too, and learning in different ways. Gone are the days of “go read a textbook.” Residents are learning from online sources, SCORE, podcast for example. 

He had great advice for those interested in applying for residency:

- There is no magic formula for getting into residency

- Do the activities you are passionate about

- Be yourself on the application. He is looking for the real you. You will be appreciated by the program you are the best fit for, and that is a path that is sustainable

-When the blood is welling in the OR, the name on your certificate is not going to bail you out  

Tips for succeeding as a resident:

- “Your attitude more than your aptitude will determine your altitude”

- Wake up and decide what kind of day you are going to have

- Reminding yourself, “This is hard, I will learn from my mistakes, I am going to make mistakes, I am going to use the support from the people around me, and I am going to support the people around me, and those are the people succeed. It is a team approach”

-Burnout is not caused by hard work, it is caused by futility

If you are interested in becoming a program director: 

- You have to love to teach and mentor

- The relationships you form with the mentorship last a lifetime

- You have to see three steps ahead- considering new technology (like robotics), conscious of the needed rotations

- There is gratification from taking a resident from “unconsciously incompetent to consciously incompetent, to consciously competent, then unconsciously competent.”