Dear Students,

Welcome to the Morehouse School of Medicine Clerkship in Surgery:

This eight-weeks rotation will be the most strenuous and demanding of your medical school career.  We also hope it will be the most satisfying. It is our obligation to teach/instruct, and yours to learn.  For this to work, each group must come to the table prepared and ready to work.  “Teaching is like selling commodities; no one can sell unless someone buys” (Dewey).

Whether you are interested in a career in Surgery or not, we expect you to be a “Surgery Doc” while on this rotation.  Those characteristics of a Surgery student (Docs) are as follows:

1. Read what we tell you to read.
2. Show up on time with a smile on your face and eager to learn.
3. Follow the “Bumpers rule i.e. if you can’t be on time be early.
4. Read on your patients.
5. Be assertive.  Ask questions.
6. Participate in every learning opportunity.
7. Remember there are no stupid questions.
8. Read on your colleagues’ patients.
9. Read.

James A. McCoy, MD, FACS
Director, Surgical Education
Professor, Clinical Surgery