How Are Your Conflict Management Skills?
On any team, conflicts will occur. As a leader, you should set the tone on how conflict should be handled, particularly before it negatively impacts your operations or, worse...
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By: Ari Collins
Published: 4/8/2021
As a child, I remember watching a newscast of Dr. Ben Carson operating to separate conjoined twins. The 1987 procedure garnered international attention and made Dr. Carson famous. I'll never forget how I felt seeing, for the first time, a Black surgeon who looked like me. I knew then that I wanted to become a doctor.
My path to medical school was derailed by a car accident after my high school graduation. The injuries I sustained ruined my chance to secure a sports scholarship to attend college, which would have eased the financial burden on my family. While recovering in a hospital bed, I saw a commercial about pursuing a career as a surgical technologist. My devastation over missing out on medical school was replaced by hope for another way into the OR.
Becoming a surgical tech sounded interesting and would require attending community college for two years instead of eight years of schooling that would saddle me with crippling student loan debt. I could begin working after a couple years of training and start earning a good salary.
I'm now well into a successful career as a surgical tech, which began because I was exposed to a Black surgeon at a young age and learned about a profession that at the time I didn't know existed. I know from personal experience that it's important for people of color to see others who look like them succeeding in surgery. There are gaps to fill with respect to the representation of minorities in perioperative departments. How can we fix this persistent problem?
Surgical professionals who represent minority communities could visit middle and high schools, church groups or recreation centers to talk about their experiences and include presentations about their profession if people are interested. These recruitment attempts could be part of career fairs or career days at schools. Let's inform the next generation of workers about the benefits of working in a variety of surgical roles.
Traditional colleges aren't for everyone. Minorities who might not have the means to attend an expensive university need to know about careers with great incomes that they can enter after attending a community college or trade school. I think more kids would be interested in working in surgery if they were aware of other ways to enter the field.
Growing up, I'd often be the only Black person involved in the extracurricular activities I chose, whether it was a childhood dance class or school volleyball team. Seeing Dr. Carson, and learning about his life story, made me feel like the sky was the limit for what I could be when I grew up — even with minimal representation. I was always good at academics, so seeing a neurosurgeon who looked like me was the confirmation moment that fueled my motivation to pursue a career in medicine. It's important for children and people of color to know they too can have the same opportunities. OSM
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