Should I become a Neurosurgeon?

[keyboard3]

I'm confused about my career choice and need a very biased, non-sugar coated answer.

I had originally wanted to become a Bioinformatics Engineer - I love Biology, Programming, and Math. The salaries seem to be all over place and honestly? I want a nice, stable pay. I've seen some say they only make 60k, and others 300k? None of that really sounds accurate to me.

But being a Neurosurgeon seems to have a nice paycheck and neurology is something I've always been naturally good with. Psychology and Neurology always came to me easier than Biology.

I just can't find any solid information on being a Neurosurgeon - everything is so fluffed up with "my life is great! I love my patients! I make money! I go on business trips!". That part is great. But I need to know the really ignorant sounding questions - how gory is it? How much risk is involved? How patient do you have to be and what are the hours? Is it scary? What happens if things go sour? Those types of things are what makes Bioinformatics Engineering sound safer to me, but I love to experience and learn about new things. I just like knowing what I'm getting into before I jump right in.

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[typhoonegator]

Oh my. Maybe start by reading some of the neurosurgery forum.

 

[SpartanWolverine]

Are you currently in high school? undergrad? It sounds like you currently have no realistic idea of what neurosurgery is... I've never met a neurosurgeon who pretended to have a fluffy, happy, easy life. The hours are long, the call is grueling, and work-life balance is very difficult.

How gory is it? Compared to what? Perhaps start out by watching a few procedures on Youtube. Reach out to a local neurosurgeon to see if you can shadow them.
How patient do you have to be? Well, some surgeries can take 12+ hours...
Scary? Compared to what? Spiders?
What happens if things go sour? Well... people can die or be permanently disabled.

 

[kchan99]

I went to med school because of an interest in a particular specialty, but I ended up choosing a career in a different specialty, neurology. Neurosurgeons are my colleagues, but I cannot tell you exactly what a career in neurosurgery entails. I do know that the hours in neurosurgery are long, training is long (7 years of residency, longer if pursuing a subspecialty fellowship), and there is less neurology in neurosurgery than in neurology.

Goriness... that would be in the eye of the beholder. I scrubbed in various surgeries during med school. I never had a issue with "gore." If you have fear of blood, then medicine may not be a good career choice. All physicians, even those without patient or patient specimen contact, such as radiologists, will be exposed to blood at some point in their training.

When you are making a decision on whether to apply to med school, I recommend looking beyond the paycheck. A career in medicine is a substantial commitment in terms of lifestyle, time, energy, finances, etc. I suppose that if one were pursuing medicine for the wrong reason, one could be prone to burn out.

 

[keyboard3]

Thanks again everyone for putting up with my ignorance to the subject. I've never met anyone in the neurology field (I've been with family to neurologist appointments and spoken to the neurologist but never about their job) and Google is just a cluster of unorganized information.

It sounds like you currently have no realistic idea of what neurosurgery is...

I don't, unfortunately. I just can't really find any solid information on it no matter how hard or how long I do research for.

I've watched a few procedures on YouTube, but all the videos were pretty old. What are more "modern" neurosurgeries like, that involve computers/equipment controlled through the computer? Is there anyway to go into Neurosurgery as someone who ONLY does surgeries through computer equipment? Is there even a title for that, or is it all done through computers now? Do spinal neurosurgeons really have more relaxed hours?

I'm not really that squeamish at all, but I do like to know just how gory it gets so I'm not shocked my first time around (again, those videos don't do it much justice).

What are other Neurology careers like? Job description wise, and salary wise?

I wouldn't be going into it entirely for the salary, but I'm not going to sit here and lie - I like money! Who doesn't? I want to be able to support myself and those around me/just have an idea of what the lifestyle is like.

 

[URMD]

you will have money, but no life

lol jk i know nothing about the field.

Check out the neurosurgery forum. There are a couple of threads where people answer questions about their experiences

 

[thepretender67]

Neurosurgery: Day in and Day out, you are in the operating room. You are not much of a diagnostician, but more a mechanic of the brain and spine. You will look at neuroimaging often. Private practice will be predominantly spine operation ( 75%), though I suppose in certain large practices you may be able to find a cranial heavy niche (50%). Academics will allow you to pursue a more specialized area of neurosurgery. Malpractice and risk will be high, emergencies will be routine, stress will be frequent. Pay will be higher than neurosurgery (>500k private practice, probably less for academics)

Neurology: Day in and Day out, you are in the clinic. You are a diagnostician, more like an engineer of the brain and spine. You will look at neuroimaging often. Procedures will be limited, but can be increased with different subspecialties - pain, interventional, headache, Neurocritical care. Private practice will be many routine diseases- stroke, epilepsy, dementia, peripheral neuropathy, back pain, etc. You should be able to make $200k- $350k in private practice depending on how hard you work. Academics will pay less, but will allow more specialized clinics and research opportunities. Malpractice will be moderate, risk will be moderate, stress will be there but not nearly as bad as neurosurgery.

 

[spektre]

I'm confused about my career choice and need a very biased, non-sugar coated answer.

I had originally wanted to become a Bioinformatics Engineer - I love Biology, Programming, and Math. The salaries seem to be all over place and honestly? I want a nice, stable pay. I've seen some say they only make 60k, and others 300k? None of that really sounds accurate to me.

But being a Neurosurgeon seems to have a nice paycheck and neurology is something I've always been naturally good with. Psychology and Neurology always came to me easier than Biology.

I just can't find any solid information on being a Neurosurgeon - everything is so fluffed up with "my life is great! I love my patients! I make money! I go on business trips!". That part is great. But I need to know the really ignorant sounding questions - how gory is it? How much risk is involved? How patient do you have to be and what are the hours? Is it scary? What happens if things go sour? Those types of things are what makes Bioinformatics Engineering sound safer to me, but I love to experience and learn about new things. I just like knowing what I'm getting into before I jump right in.

My mother is a neurosurgeon for Mayo. She would probably laugh at what you just wrote. It sounds like you're interested for the money and not the practice. Neurosurgery is hard, kid. If you're primarily in it for the money, you're gonna burnout so fast. As a child, I barely saw either of my parents due to their lives as surgeons. They work long, hard and unglamorous lives saving people's lives. The reason why they get paid so much is because medical malpractice is extremely high in their respected fields. Essentially a good load of your pay check is going to the insurance company in case if a patient/ family wants to sue you. I have no idea what kind of neurosurgeons you've met. Besides, neurology and neurosurgery are two completely different faculties. Neurology is part of internal med while neurosurgery is part of, well, surgery.
Hate to tell you this, but most college level courses in Neuroscience are quite basic compared to what you will learn in medicine, particularly in functional neuroanatomy and physiology.
1.) How gory is it? Not as gory as cardiothoracic surgery, that's for sure. The most gore you're looking at is in stroke victims, ruptured aneurisms, haemorrhaging of the meninges or hematoma (like from TBI and whatnot)
2.) How much risk is involved? Um, like a **** ton. You're operating on one of the most complex protoplasms known to man. The nervous system is remarkable but neurosurgery is risky because of the delicate nature of the brain.
3.) How patient do you have to be and what are the hours? You have to be incredibly patient- You're going to deal with people suffering with behavioural disorders like schizophrenia, depression, epilepsy and whatnot. Plus, post-surgical complications can be disturbing and quite hard to take on. I think it depends on your practice, but my mom works around 80-95 hour work weeks depending on several factors like seasons (winter- more cases of TBI due to car accidents that sorta thing). You virtually have no social life is what I'm getting at.
4.) Is it scary? What happens if things go sour? It becomes less scary over time and the more practice you get holding a scalpel. As for if things go wrong during surgery- comatose, vegetable or death- what is worse is up to you.

If you want money and job security then look into something else like accounting or business. Your effort and will in medicine should be like an action potential- all or nothing (see what I did there)

 

[Suit]

Pretty simple really. Choose 1:

Life OR Neurosurgery. Can't have both.

 

[Jimmy B]

DO NOT go into Neurosurgery for money-you won't last one week. The residency is tough physically, emotionally, and mentally for 7 long years (which is why 1-2 med students actually go into it in a class of about 100+ and not 20 people). You really can't have a life and Neurosurgery together. When I was a 3rd year med student I rotated on the NSGY service and had to go into the hospital at 5am and didn't leave until 6-6:30pm (which apparently is early!). The residents had to come in by 4am and sometimes didn't leave the hospital until 9:30/10pm. This was after the work hour limit changes by the way as they started a nightfloat system.

 

[UltraFrequency]

I'm confused about my career choice and need a very biased, non-sugar coated answer.

I had originally wanted to become a Bioinformatics Engineer - I love Biology, Programming, and Math. The salaries seem to be all over place and honestly? I want a nice, stable pay. I've seen some say they only make 60k, and others 300k? None of that really sounds accurate to me.

But being a Neurosurgeon seems to have a nice paycheck and neurology is something I've always been naturally good with. Psychology and Neurology always came to me easier than Biology.

I just can't find any solid information on being a Neurosurgeon - everything is so fluffed up with "my life is great! I love my patients! I make money! I go on business trips!". That part is great. But I need to know the really ignorant sounding questions - how gory is it? How much risk is involved? How patient do you have to be and what are the hours? Is it scary? What happens if things go sour? Those types of things are what makes Bioinformatics Engineering sound safer to me, but I love to experience and learn about new things. I just like knowing what I'm getting into before I jump right in.

If you love biology, programming, and math, then don't go to med school and don't even think about surgery. You jump from engineer to neurosurgeon. Nobody should ever make that jump, and you can't make that jump realistically. You get to neurosurgery gradually during med school, after suffering through terrible hours, blood, sweat, and tears. You can make big money in medicine in much more forgiving fields.

I suggest you look at investment banking.

 

[sommerwing]

If you love biology, programming, and math, then don't go to med school and don't even think about surgery. You jump from engineer to neurosurgeon. Nobody should ever make that jump, and you can't make that jump realistically. You get to neurosurgery gradually during med school, after suffering through terrible hours, blood, sweat, and tears. You can make big money in medicine in much more forgiving fields.

I suggest you look at investment banking.

I know plenty of friends who were from other fields (engineering major from MIT, wallstreet, theater actor, etc) who decided on becoming a surgeon prior to entering medical school and are very successful now.

But seriously to OP, if you're into neurosurgery for the money, lol. You will get your first paycheck when you're basically in your mid 30s (training is basically 15 years including college) with maybe 300,00K in student loan debt. You will see all your family and friends making money and enjoying their youth around you while you are basically broke and slave away working ~14 hours a day/6 days a week until everyone has kids.


Please no more neurosurgery posts here. This is the neurology forum.