Well-being for Colorectal Surgeons

Tuesday, May 13, 2025

2:15 PM – 3:05 PM PT

Location: Ballroom 6A, Upper Level

Co-Moderator(s)

Cindy Kin, MD

Associate Professor
Stanford University

All of the relevant financial relationships listed below have been mitigated.
This individual has no financial relationships with ineligible companies.
Madhulika Varma, MD

Professor of Surgery
University of California, San Francisco
San Francisco, California, United States

All of the relevant financial relationships listed below have been mitigated.
This individual has no relevant relationships with ineligible companies.

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of this activity, participants should be able to:

Understand rationale and strategies for improving sleep habits that are practical for a surgical career, with the aim of improving overall health.
Learn stretches and exercises that help prevent common injuries and chronic musculoskeletal issues related to operating, such as neck/back pain, plantar fasciitis, knee pain, hip immobility.
Recognize signs and symptoms of mental illness, and identify mental health resources available to surgeons.

CME Credit: 0.75
Contact Hours: 0.75

Operating counts as exercise…especially if you sweat. You can sleep when you’re dead. Surgeons are superheroes. These myths justify the all-too-common pattern of allowing all other priorities to come before to come before our own health. The increasing rates of burnout and surgeons leaving the workforce are clear signs that our profession needs a more sustainable mindset. One aspect of reclaiming our well-being is prioritizing our own physical and mental health. This symposium will discuss practical ways to improve your sleep, prevent physical injury, and take advantage of mental health resources.

Presentations:

2:15 PM – 2:18 PM PT

Introduction
Faculty: Cindy Kin, MD – Stanford University
2:19 PM – 2:25 PM PT

Sleep: What Happens When You Don't Sleep, and How to Mitigate the Effects of Being on Call
Faculty: Cindy Kin, MD – Stanford University
2:26 PM – 2:36 PM PT

How to Counteract the Physical Effects of Operating in the Pelvis and Other Dark Awkward Spaces
Faculty: Joy Chen, MD – University of Washington
2:37 PM – 2:47 PM PT

Mental Health is Health: Resources for Surgeons, Including Peer Support Programs, and Strategies to Prevent Surgeon Suicide
Faculty: Sharon L. Stein, MD FACS FASCRS (she/her/hers) – Case Western Reserve School of Medicine
2:48 PM – 3:05 PM PT

Panel Discussion: Advice to My Younger Self: What I Should Have Done and What I Do Now (Panel and Q&A)
Faculty: Cindy Kin, MD – Stanford University
Faculty: Madhulika G. Varma, MD – University of California, San Francisco