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How I got into Orthopaedics – Marshall Sangster: My story
EDUCATION
look after. Initially I enjoyed anaesthetics, but I soon developed an interest in surgery. It was during my third and fourth years at medical school that my career focus turned to surgery. As an undergraduate at Dundee University I took a placement in Whitehaven. The West Cumberland Hospital is a small unit that lies on the west coast of the Lake District. It was here that I was first exposed to the life of a junior surgeon. During my placement virtually all the junior general surgical doctors were off with sickness. I acted up helping on the ward, in clinic, and assisting Mr Michael Walker in theatre. Mr. Walker was an inspirational surgeon and an excellent trainer. I was hooked; I loved the pace, skill and precision of surgery. Straight away, I knew a career in surgery was for me. On returning to Dundee I attended theatre as much as I could and soon developed an interest in plastic surgery (especially hands). I secured a plastic surgery placement at the Middlesbrough General Hospital for 4 weeks, after which I arranged my elective in plastics at the Christchurch Hospital in New Zealand. This experience gave me the opportunity to develop my early surgical skills and only served to fuel my love of surgery. After finally graduating from Dundee University I took up a PRHO post (yes, I am that old) in general medicine in Glasgow, followed by six months split between General Surgery and Plastics at Ninewells in Dundee. During my surgical block my love of surgery was allowed to flourish. A local General Surgeon, Mr Lavelle-Jones took me under his wing and supported me, providing me with the confidence to apply to surgical training. I managed to persuade the Blackpool Victoria Hospital to appoint me to their basic surgical rotation. My first post was in orthopaedics with Shameem Sampath, an enigmatic surgeon with a passion for knee surgery, teaching and research. He helped me then and continues to do so. From there, I never looked back. I had a brief return to plastics but I was always more interested in the orthopaedic theatres down the corridor than breast and skin cancer work. I owe much of my career to enthusiastic, driven and passionate surgeons across the country, many of them continue to support and encourage me to this day. I have had a few obstacles along the way, and I can’t say it was easy. I’ve made sacrifices both personal and financial, moving around the country, and completing a postgraduate degree before finally settling in Bristol for my registrar training and I couldn’t be happier. My advice would be; work hard, stick to your dreams and it will be alright in the end. If it’s not alright, it’s not the end. A
told that I wouldn’t be awarded a core training job, a week later this was replaced by an offer up North, where I had a themed job in trauma and orthopaedics. CT1 was tough, in a major trauma unit, and I became disillusioned. Don’t let anyone tell you being an SHO in surgery is a good job. It isn’t. You’re the medical monkey who is responsible at times (at night mostly.), for a huge number of patients and admissions, with very little help. It’s not as if the registrar has it easy either. Most of the time when they’re on over night, they’ll have done a normal day’s duties, and will be expected to work normally the next day too. I had some real low points, but all the way through, everyone told me to stick with it and they were right. That time prepares you, in a way that you need, to be a registrar. The quick, accurate decision-making and the skills to handle trauma don’t come from a textbook, and without that experience, you just cannot be a safe surgeon. So then came ST3 applications; I fell flat. My sixteen months of trauma meant I had little elective knowledge, and I did not do myself justice on the day. In fact, I was ranked so low in national selection, that a good friend of mine pulled me to the side one day and warned me that it might be irrecoverable. Fortunately for me, he was wrong. I kept listening to everyone telling me it would work out, and I put my head down and worked hard. I love operating, but I took a year of teaching anatomy and doing research to buff my CV up (as much as I hated it), and emerged not only with offers of two numbers, but also an interest in education and psychology, that I pursue avidly. Now, I am an orthopaedic registrar, and I love it. At the end of the day, if what you really want is to be is a surgeon, along the way there will be dark times, and your partners, friends and family might not understand what you’re doing to yourself. Believe me though, there is nothing quite like the feeling of putting knife to skin and knowing that you’ve put all those extra hours in and you’re going to give that patient everything you’ve got. A
How I got into Orthopaedics e Marshall Sangster: My story Marshall Sangster
I don’t come from a family of medics. As a consequence everything at university was new and exciting. I enjoyed being in theatre but I wasn’t sure which end of the patient I wanted to Marshall Sangster MBChB MRCS MSc FRCS (Tr&Orth) Specialty Registrar in Trauma and Orthopaedics, The Bristol Royal Infirmary, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom.
ORTHOPAEDICS AND TRAUMA 30:3
278
look after. Initially I enjoyed anaesthetics, but I soon developed an interest in surgery. It was during my third and fourth years at medical school that my career focus turned to surgery. As an undergraduate at Dundee University I took a placement in Whitehaven. The West Cumberland Hospital is a small unit that lies on the west coast of the Lake District. It was here that I was first exposed to the life of a junior surgeon. During my placement virtually all the junior general surgical doctors were off with sickness. I acted up helping on the ward, in clinic, and assisting Mr Michael Walker in theatre. Mr. Walker was an inspirational surgeon and an excellent trainer. I was hooked; I loved the pace, skill and precision of surgery. Straight away, I knew a career in surgery was for me. On returning to Dundee I attended theatre as much as I could and soon developed an interest in plastic surgery (especially hands). I secured a plastic surgery placement at the Middlesbrough General Hospital for 4 weeks, after which I arranged my elective in plastics at the Christchurch Hospital in New Zealand. This experience gave me the opportunity to develop my early surgical skills and only served to fuel my love of surgery. After finally graduating from Dundee University I took up a PRHO post (yes, I am that old) in general medicine in Glasgow, followed by six months split between General Surgery and Plastics at Ninewells in Dundee. During my surgical block my love of surgery was allowed to flourish. A local General Surgeon, Mr Lavelle-Jones took me under his wing and supported me, providing me with the confidence to apply to surgical training. I managed to persuade the Blackpool Victoria Hospital to appoint me to their basic surgical rotation. My first post was in orthopaedics with Shameem Sampath, an enigmatic surgeon with a passion for knee surgery, teaching and research. He helped me then and continues to do so. From there, I never looked back. I had a brief return to plastics but I was always more interested in the orthopaedic theatres down the corridor than breast and skin cancer work. I owe much of my career to enthusiastic, driven and passionate surgeons across the country, many of them continue to support and encourage me to this day. I have had a few obstacles along the way, and I can’t say it was easy. I’ve made sacrifices both personal and financial, moving around the country, and completing a postgraduate degree before finally settling in Bristol for my registrar training and I couldn’t be happier. My advice would be; work hard, stick to your dreams and it will be alright in the end. If it’s not alright, it’s not the end. A
told that I wouldn’t be awarded a core training job, a week later this was replaced by an offer up North, where I had a themed job in trauma and orthopaedics. CT1 was tough, in a major trauma unit, and I became disillusioned. Don’t let anyone tell you being an SHO in surgery is a good job. It isn’t. You’re the medical monkey who is responsible at times (at night mostly.), for a huge number of patients and admissions, with very little help. It’s not as if the registrar has it easy either. Most of the time when they’re on over night, they’ll have done a normal day’s duties, and will be expected to work normally the next day too. I had some real low points, but all the way through, everyone told me to stick with it and they were right. That time prepares you, in a way that you need, to be a registrar. The quick, accurate decision-making and the skills to handle trauma don’t come from a textbook, and without that experience, you just cannot be a safe surgeon. So then came ST3 applications; I fell flat. My sixteen months of trauma meant I had little elective knowledge, and I did not do myself justice on the day. In fact, I was ranked so low in national selection, that a good friend of mine pulled me to the side one day and warned me that it might be irrecoverable. Fortunately for me, he was wrong. I kept listening to everyone telling me it would work out, and I put my head down and worked hard. I love operating, but I took a year of teaching anatomy and doing research to buff my CV up (as much as I hated it), and emerged not only with offers of two numbers, but also an interest in education and psychology, that I pursue avidly. Now, I am an orthopaedic registrar, and I love it. At the end of the day, if what you really want is to be is a surgeon, along the way there will be dark times, and your partners, friends and family might not understand what you’re doing to yourself. Believe me though, there is nothing quite like the feeling of putting knife to skin and knowing that you’ve put all those extra hours in and you’re going to give that patient everything you’ve got. A
How I got into Orthopaedics e Marshall Sangster: My story Marshall Sangster
I don’t come from a family of medics. As a consequence everything at university was new and exciting. I enjoyed being in theatre but I wasn’t sure which end of the patient I wanted to Marshall Sangster MBChB MRCS MSc FRCS (Tr&Orth) Specialty Registrar in Trauma and Orthopaedics, The Bristol Royal Infirmary, University Hospitals Bristol NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom.
ORTHOPAEDICS AND TRAUMA 30:3
278