advice

[omelette1230]

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I was wondering, how difficult are the actual procedures? (do they become routine after a while)

I know that hemispherectomies used to be really risky but do they take less time now and are they more straightforward to do?

How long does an average procedure take?

Ive been working in an epilepsy lab for a few years and what i do is implant electrodes into epileptic mice. so im recording intrancranial EEG after drilling burr holes in the skull. I use a microscope and slide electrodes over the cortex. on some occasions i take electrodes and place them in the hippocampus. you can imagine, i work in a tiny space.

On several occasions, ive done ~6 in a row and it takes me about 6-7 hours to do this, and i think nothing of it. On most days i work 10 hours and come in on the weekends to check on my "patients". Its a lot of fun and i dont consider it "work". My work has led to ~15 papers.

I'm just wondering if this is the mentality it takes to take on neurosurgery. I think i have the manual dexterity to do it, and the work ethic. When i picture myself operating on a person with the big equipment though, it makes me nervous.

I dont mind the hard work nor the hours as long as im confident about what im doing.

any input you have would be appreciated. thanks.

 

[mpp]

When you do anything enough it becomes routine, so some common procedures can become routine. However, in neurosurgery there are many pathologies that are rare enough that it is never routine if you decide to take it on. There are few if any neurosurgeons for which a hemispherectomy is routine. It's just not done that often. And then, every once in a while even the most routine procedure can go wrong and then it's not routine.

I can't answer the question 'how long does the average procedure take'. Neurosurgeons do all sorts of procedures. A routine carpal tunnel release where everything goes well can take 15 minutes. A routine acoustic neuroma case where everything goes well can take 8 hours. With complications, everything is longer. Clipping an aneurysm can take anywhere from one hour to six. And it can sometimes be difficult to predict.

During neurosurgery residency, a 10-hour day would be considered a short day...11-12 hours is more the "normal day" with plenty of 14-16 hour days. Not to mention the "30-hour" days every few days.

All medical specialties require hard work and a good work ethic to be good at it. You can also be lazy and do a poor job. Just as in life.

If you like technical/manual aspects of surgery, and the nervous system and its diseases is interesting to you, then give it a shot. Do some rotations to get a better feel for it and make sure you like it.