Why did I choose Orthopaedics?
Ari – I fell in love with orthopedics in my fifth year of medical school. I had completed a few clinical rotations and was still unsure which specialty to pursue when a junior orthopedic registrar took me under his wing. Orthopedics brought together everything I enjoyed: anatomy, physics, and time in theatre. Since then, I have been determined to be part of this speciality because it offers the opportunity to give patients their lives back. We help a 70-year-old grandmother walk again after a hip fracture. A child born with bilateral club feet can run at his school athletics tryouts. To be alive is to be in motion, and orthopaedics gives that to our patients. I am grateful to be part of the PIOA family, which is helping me achieve my dreams and bring motion to my patients.
Jacky – My decision to pursue orthopaedics is also strongly influenced by a personal experience from childhood. I sustained a fracture as a child which, in retrospect, I now understand to have been a supracondylar fracture of the humerus. Unfortunately, the injury was inadequately managed, resulting in a residual gunstock deformity. This experience has had a lasting influence on my commitment to orthopaedic surgery. It has particularly strengthened my desire to improve the management of paediatric fractures and to help ensure that children receive timely, appropriate treatment so that preventable deformities and lifelong functional consequences can be avoided.
Oralae – Firstly, I chose Orthopaedics because it gives me a lot of satisfaction when I see my patients regain function and maintain their quality of life. Secondly, because Orthopaedics in my country is male dominated and I hope to provide representation and inspire other females out there who would one day want to pursue Orthopaedics as their career.
Agnes – my passion for Orthopaedics developed during my 2019 internship at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara. I was inspired by the teamwork, dedication, and commitment to patient care, and seeing patients recover and regain function was priceless. I found myself spending every opportunity I had in Orthopaedics.