As I visit Yale University again with my son who is attending undergraduate college here, I am reminded of the time I spent on this beautiful campus while completing my Plastic Surgery residency. I have trained in many wonderful places including Bellevue Hospital in New York, Charity Hospital in New Orleans with Tulane University, the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, the University of Wisconsin… All great places, but there’s something different about Yale that I always appreciated and I love it best out of all the places I’ve trained.
At Bellevue in New York and at Hopkins here in Baltimore, the teaching tradition is based more on learning from the masters. There are people there that have done great things in surgery and the approach is more or less learning the techniques from the masters. It’s an old approach and there’s a lot to be said for that method of learning.
However, at Yale the approach was more of a Socratic method where you’re encourage to find your own way. Questions are answered with questions. It was sort of a training to be always questioning yourself, always trying to improve, always trying to find a better way. I believe this method creates the best foundation for approaching new techniques in plastic surgery.
Over the years I believe that training has helped me continue to evolve my technique as I go along. The Socratic teaching method allows me to confidently try new innovative techniques to complement the tried and true techniques of plastic surgery. I owe that to Yale, a tradition that keeps renewing itself.
Yale Plastic Surgery training utilizes the Socratic method of teaching and I believe this method creates the best foundation for approaching new techniques in plastic surgery. Experiencing the Socratic teaching method allows me to confidently try new innovative techniques to complement the tried and true techniques of plastic surgery. I owe that to Yale.
Transcript
Hi, I’m Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez from CosmeticSurg.net, and today I’m doing my blog from Yale University. Why? Well, because I just came her to drop off my son. He studies here. But I also trained here.
Now, during my training I went to many places. I’ve been at Bellevue Hospital in New York, Charity Hospital in New Orleans with Tulane University, the Royal Marsden Hospital in London, the University of Wisconsin… all great places, but there’s something different about Yale that I always appreciated and I loved it best of all the places I trained.
For example, at Bellevue and at Hopkins, the teaching tradition is based more on the Masters. There have been people there that have done great things in surgery, they have spent a lot of time perfecting techniques and the approach is more or less learning from the Masters. It’s an old approach, it’s like learning from the Great Painters and there’s a lot to be said for that.
However, at Yale the approach was always a little bit different. It was more of a Socratic method. You’re supposed to find your own way. For example, whenever I came to a case early in the morning, and I would ask a question, I would get a question back. I never got a straight answer, and it was sort of a training to always be questioning yourself, always trying to improve, always trying to find a better way.
Now over the years, what I think that has helped me do is evolve my technique as I go along. I remember my professor, Dr. Arian, who told me, “20 years out of training, you won’t be doing anything like you learned here.” And to a great extent it’s true, and I owe that to Yale. It’s a tradition that keeps renewing itself and I am extremely proud to have been a part of it. I’m really happy to have trained at Yale.
Anyways, the place is beautiful as you can see and like they say, those were some of the best years of my life.
Thank you!