It was quite a personal speech. The professor talked about why he became a doctor and assured that if he had to choose his professional path again - he would make the same decision. He argued how diverse medicine is, how many specialties there are to choose from. He also spoke about the specification of surgical specialties.
Prof. Artur Ludwin: Procedural medicine combines two things: an efficient mind and something that is very difficult to train - manual talent. In the course of a procedure, we have to make decisions, often ones that determine the life of another person. You have to be poised and act very quickly.
Why gynecological surgery
Decisions about choosing a specialty are not easy. Prof. Ludwin recalled that he first wanted to be a psychiatrist. Then, once he was leaning toward surgical specialties - he thought about neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, and eventually he chose gynecology. Why? The professor showed a photo of a heart and uterus - asking which organ was more important.
Prof. Artur Ludwin: Without the heart I could not live, but without the uterus none of us would exist. The uterus is our first home. It is an important organ that is worth taking care of.
The professor also recalled that when he started working as a doctor, "keyhole" or minimally invasive surgeries were only in their infancy. He learned these methods, matured with them, and then began to develop them himself.
High school students were able to see - in figures and photos - how operations were performed in the past. The lecture also talked about access pathways in gynecology and types of minimally invasive surgery.
Prof. Artur Ludwin: Modern gynecology, when it comes to surgery, mostly uses minimally invasive methods. We have a laparoscopic method, thanks to which we can operate on, among other things, lesions that occur outside the organ, or the entire organ, ovaries or fallopian tubes. However, just as often there is a need to treat lesions that are inside the uterus, in which case we have transvaginal access and perform hysteroscopy.
Videos of "keyhole" surgeries
The professor showed videos of minimally invasive surgeries such as removing cancerous lesions, or removing myomas, removing a polyp from the uterus, or eliminating a congenital defect in the form of an unnecessary septum in the uterus. Presenting videos, he explained what the operations consisted of.
In the videos, high school students were also able to see how laparoscopic trainer exercises are performed. The professor also recalled how he taught himself, using a shoebox, a mirror, a camera and borrowed laparoscopic tools.
Is it worth to be a virtuoso in minimally invasive surgery?
Prof. Artur Ludwin: Because it benefits the patient. We have a better cosmetic effect, less pain after surgery (infections, inflammation, etc. are less frequent). The patient can go home as early as 2-3 hours after surgery, sometimes the next day. The patient returns to normal activities and work faster.
It is known that it is not easy to become a doctor, a virtuoso of minimally invasive surgery. What to do to increase your chances? According to Prof. Ludwin, it's worth studying selected subjects (you don't have to be good at everything), you need to get into medicine at a good university, practice a lot on trainers, play computer games (research shows that this helps surgeons) and always try to do more and better than others.
Łucja Zaborowska, a resident in the 1st Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University Center for Women's and Newborn Health MUW, also spoke at the meeting. She talked about what a residency in gynecology is like. Afterwards, there was still time for a question-and-answer session.
The meeting was held at the Collegium Anatomicum. It was attended by students from: Władysław IV High School No. VIII, Stefan Batory High School No. II with Bilingual Branches, Tadeusz Czacki High School No. XXVII, Stefan Żeromski High School No. XL with Bilingual Branches.
