{"id":15857,"date":"2021-02-04T11:01:19","date_gmt":"2021-02-04T16:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/1780\/?p=15857"},"modified":"2021-03-08T15:44:43","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T20:44:43","slug":"every-day-is-different-surgeon-in-the-making-embraces-liberal-arts-foundation-from-transylvania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transy.edu\/1780\/2021\/02\/every-day-is-different-surgeon-in-the-making-embraces-liberal-arts-foundation-from-transylvania\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Every day is different\u2019: Surgeon-in-the-making embraces liberal arts foundation from Transylvania"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Raisa Tikhtman, ear, nose and throat surgeon in residence<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Consider the demands of becoming a surgeon specializing in otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat): the intellectual rigor; the artistry to reconstruct parts of the human body so integral to experiencing the world; and the physical and emotional stamina required to complete the grueling days that begin before dawn and unfold alongside the lives and needs of people from every walk of life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raisa Tikhtman \u201914, who grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, is in her second year as a resident physician in Cincinnati. She can\u2019t imagine a better foundation for her medical career than her multifaceted liberal arts education at Transylvania University, including a dual major in French and biochemistry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s a common misconception that you have to get a bachelor\u2019s in science or have a mostly science-focused undergraduate experience in order to be a viable candidate for medical school and a strong medical student once you\u2019re there,\u201d Tikhtman says. \u201cI would argue that\u2019s a very narrow way to approach the field of medicine. It\u2019s so much more dynamic. It\u2019s a field that encompasses all aspects of the human experience.\u201d What better preparation than a rigorous exploration of humanities and science?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Out of the vast discipline of medicine, Tikhtman says she chose otolaryngology because it offers the opportunity to work with people of all ages and at all levels of medical complexity. She decided to specialize in surgery because of the creativity it offers and the opportunity to work with her hands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe reconstructive side of ENT [ear, nose and throat] is very unique,\u201d she says. No patient is the same. \u201cThere\u2019s this aspect of critical thinking that\u2019s different than if you\u2019re not in a surgical field, which I find fascinating, and hopefully will be able to do it well one day.\u201d When asked to describe how the critical thinking works in surgery, she explains being in that moment:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“You have an anatomic issue you have to approach, and you have to think about it from a mechanistic standpoint (how their body will work once you\u2019ve done what you do). You have to think about it from a visual standpoint, particularly when you\u2019re doing surgery that affects somebody\u2019s face and neck and their mouth and the things that other people see, and will be how the patients present themselves to the world. You have to think of it, depending on the problem you\u2019re dealing with, from a management standpoint \u2014 so you approach a cancer surgery different from another surgery. So all of those things feed into the ultimate decision-making that you do when a patient is asleep on the table in the operating room. So it\u2019s not formulaic. There are algorithms we follow in treatment guidelines, but you can\u2019t think every patient is the same because they\u2019re definitely not.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tikhtman reveals how it\u2019s not only the challenge of this specialization, but also the sense of purpose and the relationship with her patients that drive and energize her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
ENT surgeons are called upon to treat critically ill COVID-19 patients. Here, Tikhtman receives the COVID-19 vaccine.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEvery day is different,\u201d Tikhtman says of her residency that takes her from surgeries to clinics, hospital rounds to lectures, and basic cases to critical care. She describes a recent sampling of rotations through the head and neck cancer service and the voice clinic, along with care for critically ill COVID-19 patients requiring tracheostomies for long-term ventilation. Each challenge requires particular knowledge, skills and levels of human understanding. In the laryngology clinic a singer struggling with a voice disorder is diagnosed as having vocal cord paralysis and is treated. A patient with hearing loss receives surgical and medical help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other patients are dealing with life and death situations, some of them chronic. Tikhtman describes a recent patient with neck cancer who, after receiving life-altering surgery, is being helped to learn a new way to speak. \u201cFiguring out how to help patients readjust to the world after the surgery is certainly part of our role as the surgical team. I find that really, really rewarding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being responsive and able to function and communicate on so many levels is crucial to her work. Tikhtman sees an \u201cabsolute\u201d link between her abilities and Transy, where \u201cthe goal is to foster an open-mindedness and a flexibility in your ability to perceive and approach different problems.\u201d She points to the effectiveness of taking science-focused courses, language courses and more of the humanities \u2014 and seeing the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Transy experience prepares you to approach problems from many perspectives,\u201d she explains. And the intimate learning environment makes certain that all students verbally articulate their thinking. There\u2019s no hiding in the back of the room. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDeveloping that ability to articulate my thoughts and defend them, as well as to be an effective writer, are critical to my career in medicine,\u201d Tikhtman says. She feels their relevance every day in how she is \u201cable to speak to patients at a level that\u2019s appropriate for their understanding and at the same time communicate with other medical providers effectively,\u201d she explains, \u201cand then to be able to express myself through writing, through medical documentation, through research and everything else.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Raisa
Tikhtman feeding a lemur during her undergraduate travel in Madagascar, where she studied traditional medicine<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Tikhtman sees all of this as \u201cthe product of having a very, very strong undergraduate foundation.\u201d It\u2019s difficult to imagine thriving as a physician without it. \u201cOne doesn\u2019t know how critical effective communication is as a medical provider until you\u2019re in it,\u201d she notes. \u201cI\u2019m always like, wow, if I didn\u2019t have this ability to speak to people, this would be so much harder.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People are drawn to the medical profession for different reasons, Tikhtman reflects. For her, it\u2019s the human interaction. She enjoys and derives true purpose from stepping in to support them when they are at their most vulnerable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love talking to people. I love trying to be a source of comfort in a time of need. It\u2019s obviously very challenging at times, but I think it\u2019s a worthwhile challenge,\u201d she says, \u201cand certainly you feel like you\u2019ve done a world of good when you are successful. It\u2019s the feeling that you are making an impact for this individual in what seems to be a profound way \u2014 if you\u2019re able to be effective as part of that care team at that moment in their life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once Tikhtman finishes her five-year residency, she will likely specialize further in a one- to two-year fellowship, possibly in head and neck cancer or pediatrics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, she\u2019d like to be part of the academic world as well as a practicing surgeon. She values the lively, ever-changing environment of new learners circulating in and out, and the variety of human interaction. Even now, when offering advice to prospective pre-med students, she emphasizes the reasons for and the importance of pursuing an expansive grounding in the liberal arts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou have to have a very broad understanding of the world to be able to be an effective provider for patients of all different backgrounds,\u201d she tells them, but also in order to navigate \u201ca field that is affected by politics and the economy and everything else. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always reflect on my dual background and how I would never take away that humanities focus that I had at Transy.\u201d If there is one regret, she muses, it\u2019s that \u201cin retrospect, I wish I had been able to take more classes that were not in the science field \u2014 like economics. I think all of those things would have been applicable in some way to this career.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also:\u00a0Transylvania graduate receives top national leadership honor from Omicron Delta Kappa\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A surgeon in residence shares just how much she relies on the humanities part of her liberal arts education from Transy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":15881,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"15300,1774,1619,43,1444,1349","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[25,49,190],"tags":[553,509,655,174,273],"feeds":[670,577],"class_list":["post-15857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-alumni-outcomes","tag-biology","tag-french","tag-intimate-classroom-learning","tag-liberal-arts","tag-pre-med","feeds-liberal-arts","feeds-outcomes"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018Every day is different\u2019: Surgeon-in-the-making embraces liberal arts foundation from Transylvania - 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