Making a surgery residency easier and more lifestyle-friendly is causing more residents to drop out:
First of all, making an educational experience less rigorous does not necessarily make it more attractive. I subscribe to the idea that things worth having are worth working hard to get . . . Secondly, when surgery residency is advertised as “fun, and now easier!” it does not necessarily attract the type of applicant willing to put in the hard work it takes to end up as a practicing surgeon. After all, if “anyone can do it” is a good way to advertise for applicants, why isn’t that posted on a sign at the base of Mt. Everest?
