A question about neurosurgery rotations

[cremaster2007]

Does anyone know of some good places to do a neurosurgery rotation that will help if you get good letters of recommendation from them. I am currently a 2nd year and I am going to Mt. Clemens for my hospital but I have 8 weeks of true electives this year and I would like to do a month somewhere for neuro that would be a great learning experience and worthwhile if that is what I decide to go into. I was also wondering if somebody could tell me exactly what the difference is between an orthopedic spinal surgeon and a neuro spinal surgeon. I understand the differences in residency and boards, but do they do the same thing??? Thanks so much.

 

[mpp]

Any top program will help...i.e. if you have a letter from Barrow, MGH, Hopkins, Columbia, etc., it's not going to hurt. You'll definitely need letters of recommendation from neurosurgery before your apply and the more well known the better.

For the most most part, neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons do the same thing when treating certain spine conditions. But there are conditions that an orthpedic spinal surgeon wouldn't treat (spinal tumors for example) that a neurosurgeon would treat. Likewise there are probably more bony-type things (for the lack of a better term) that orthopedic surgeons treat that neurosurgeons don't. If you want to do spine surgery, look long and hard at both fields. You better like the rest of the field beyond spine before you decide to expend the effort it takes to get through either residency since both have a lot more to it than just spine.

 

[cremaster2007]

Thanks, I liked the neuro aspect more than the orthopedic, I just wasn't sure where they "drew the line" for what surgeries could be done by either. Thanks for the info on rotations too!