Behind the Knife

A US-based surgical education podcast running since 2015, created by Dr Kevin Kniery, Dr Scott Steele, Dr Jason Bingham, and Dr John McClellan. It covers surgical training, procedures, clinical updates, and interviews with surgical experts across various specialties.

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September 18, 2026

Beyond the Match, Episode 3: Working Conditions, Resident Mobility, and Accountability

Resident working conditions reflect staffing, training culture and accountability as well as the match itself; meaningful reform requires safe reporting, accurate work-hour data, realistic transfer pathways and backup systems that do not rely on residents routinely absorbing service gaps.

September 15, 2026

Beyond the Match, Episode 2: Application Chaos, Transparency, and the Cost of Uncertainty

Residency over-application is fuelled by uncertainty about competitiveness and programme fit, while preference signals, application caps and interview formats create uneven trade-offs; clearer programme information and properly resourced holistic review may improve decision-making without assuming one uniform solution.

September 14, 2026

Beyond the Match, Episode 1: Pay, Benefits, and Bargaining Power

US residency combines postgraduate education with essential clinical labour, while public funding, institutional costs and limited bargaining power complicate assumptions about pay; usable benefits, funding transparency, resident representation and collective bargaining offer different routes towards reform.

September 12, 2026

Surgical Critical Care Review: Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

ARDS management centres on lung-protective ventilation, early proning in selected severe disease and careful adjustment of PEEP, fluids and rescue therapies, while sudden deterioration should prompt a search for ventilator problems, pneumothorax, haemodynamic effects and uncontrolled surgical sources.

September 11, 2026

Surgical Critical Care Review: Traumatic Brain Injury

Severe traumatic brain injury care prioritises airway protection, circulation and prevention of secondary injury before CT, followed by recognition of intracranial haemorrhage, cerebral perfusion management, stepwise intracranial pressure control, repeated neurological assessment and early neurosurgical collaboration.

September 10, 2026

Surgical Critical Care Review: Liver Failure

Liver failure assessment requires distinction between acute liver failure, decompensated cirrhosis and acute-on-chronic disease, while bilirubin, INR, organ-failure trends, infection, encephalopathy and haemodynamic response guide treatment and escalation more reliably than aminotransferases or ammonia alone.

September 9, 2026

Surgical Critical Care Review: Mechanical Circulatory Support

Intra-aortic balloon pumps, Impella, TandemHeart and durable left ventricular assist devices support different circulatory problems, with device position, ventricular filling, right ventricular function, suction events and the limitations of calculated flow readings shaping critical care management.

September 4, 2026

Clinical Challenges in Colorectal Surgery: Managing the Tough Stoma

Difficult stoma formation in obesity, foreshortened mesentery and markedly dilated bowel requires careful siting, stepwise mobilisation, tension-free delivery and perfusion assessment, with alternative configurations and postoperative evaluation used to reduce necrosis, retraction, leakage and prolapse.

September 1, 2026

Building the House of Surgical Education: The Legacy of Dr. Ajit Sachdeva

Surgical training is framed as a continuum from competence towards expertise and mastery, with emphasis on faculty development, simulation standards, structured preceptoring and proctoring, and showing organisational leaders how education improves safety, retention and performance.

August 28, 2026

Clinical Challenges in Trauma Surgery: Organ Retrieval to Trauma Survival - Challenging Trauma Steps Made Familiar

Organ retrieval provides repeated, supervised exposure to rare live-tissue trauma manoeuvres, including thoracic aortic clamping and major vascular control. Speed comes from rehearsal, anatomical landmarks, role clarity and equipment readiness rather than hurried hand movements.