Joseph Lin

Why Was I interested in this T32?

This was the perfect opportunity to think about surgical oncology beyond the traditional paths. I was interested in palliative care and its integration into surgical oncology, and had just completed a clinical fellowship in palliative care. The T32 program provided me opportunities to pursue health services to study research questions, surgical education research to develop a curriculum to address gaps in surgical training, and leadership skills to implement new ideas.

What did I work on in my T32 research project?

I performed a qualitative needs assessment of residents for surgical palliative care skills (Lin JA*, Im CJ*, O’Sullivan P, Kirkwood KS, Cook AC. “The surgical resident experience in serious illness communication: A qualitative needs assessment with proposed solutions.” Am J Surg 2021). I developed a vertical curriculum for surgical palliative care spanning the surgery residency. It incorporates serious illness communication, symptom management, advance care planning, and training-the-trainer components. The curriculum builds in a graduated manner and is meant to cultivate practical clinical skills for surgical residents. A publication of this curriculum is in process.

Additionally, I worked on a health services project in response to the pandemic's disparate impact on access to surgery (Lin JA, Braun HJ, Schwab ME, Pierce L, Sosa JA, Wick EC. “Pandemic Recovery: Persistent Disparities in Access to Elective Surgical Procedures.” Ann Surg 2021). I also studied a method of estimating resident duty hours using EHR activity (Lin JA, Pierce L, Murray SG, Soleimani H, Wick EC, Sosa JA, Hirose K. “Estimation of Surgical Resident Duty Hours and Workload in Real Time Using Electronic Health Record Data.” J Surg Education 2021).

Important lessons I learned from the T32 program and the I2I Leadership course

The need for a unifying vision that can be readily communicated to cultivate support from stakeholders

This is an incredible opportunity to learn about surgical oncology from an institutional perspective