Dream job as a gynecological surgery instructor physician

When Ewa Hovi worked in a health center, she found herself always looking for the next gynecological patients on the list. She looked forward to encountering and treating them. 

“What fascinated me about gynecology was that it is a sensitive area where it is important to establish a good patient-physician relationship. On the other hand, I have always liked to carry out procedures. In gynecological surgery, these two come together,” says Hovi. 

Ewa Hovi, who first considered specializing in general medicine, completed her specializing studies as a specialist in gynecology at HUS Women’s Hospital, and worked at Hyvinkää Hospital until 2017.

Becoming an instructor of specializing physicians with changes in her own specialty

The 2010s saw changes in the field of gynecological surgery. Gynecological patients in specialized healthcare started to be treated with outpatient procedures under local anesthesia and in the physician’s offices. 

“This meant that easy procedures conducted in operating rooms were reduced. This had quite an impact not only on the work of our specialists, but above all on the training of specializing physicians. For example, it takes more to learn endoscopic surgery than it does to learn open surgery or vaginal surgery,” states Hovi.

Ewa Hovi thought that the changing field of the specialty also forced a reform in the training of specializing physicians. Hovi’s initiative to incorporate the changes into medical training was welcomed by the Finnish Society of Gynecological Surgery (Gynekologisen kirurgian seura). 

“Initially, our working group compiled a basic online course in laparoscopy. That’s where this reform of teaching gynecological surgery and my career as a medical instructor started,” says Hovi.

A good medical instructor repeats and explains

As an instructor, Hovi’s goal is to be clear and consistent. She always performs and explains the routine operations in the same way, so as to leave a memory of the type of procedure performed. 

“Learning how to perform a procedure exactly the same way every time increases the specializing physician’s confidence in themselves and thus increases patient safety,” Hovi explains.

Having enjoyed crafts since childhood, the medical instructor is grateful to be paid for the meaningful work she does with colleagues and patients of all ages. It is in her nature to explain what she is doing and why. As a medical instructor, she also believes it is important to teach the process of making decisions: why am I doing this now? Hovi hopes that the specializing physicians themselves would speak out loud. 

“I’ve learned to verbalize everything I do, I like to share my know-how with others, and I love to see if I can pass something on to those in training.”