Anyone else enjoy surgery rotation but would never want to do it long term?

[ohmanwaddup]

Got diagnosed with Covid last weekend so I'm missing the last two weeks of my ortho rotation. Even though I really did not enjoy my surgery rotation (too much standing around, not alot of actual medicine for students to do), I'm getting hit hard with "not going to set foot in the OR again" vibes.

Felt the same thing after my last anatomy lab and hated anatomy lab lol. Sometimes I think about going for surg, but I'm 100% sure I have some rosy picture of what surgery is and I would actually hate it and the training.

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[FrkyBgStok]

Not once have I felt that feeling. I will be properly happy if I never set foot in an OR again.

 

[Tangerine123]

Partially. I LOVED Trauma.

Gunshot wounds, severed limbs, stab wounds, open fractures, thoracotomies. I used to see all of that daily when I rotated in a hospital dedicated to trauma. They let me do cool things. I remember doing an open heart massage, suturing pericardium, resolving a pneumothorax. They let me do part of a lobectomy too, after a gunshot wound. Laparotomies after trauma + hemoperitoneum were cool. Blood oozing everywhere while you searched and did damage control.

Also liked fetal distress C-Sections that would get resolved in a blink of an eye. I helped as the 2nd surgeon in one or two.

It was fun for a few months. But I would never ever dedicate the rest of my life to that. For starters, I HATED (yes, all caps) programmed/elective surgeries.

The same happened with Critical Care and EM. Loved the ICU/ER but I'm not ICU/ER material. In a parallel universe I either did Surgery + Trauma or EM + CC. I still remember the times I intubated, placed a central line, resucitated somebody, etc.

Ended up in Psych. The total opposite, eh. I'm really happy with my decision. I have a deep interest in suicidology as a career. Heavy into research too (Doing a PhD focusing on depression parallel to residency training). Sitting infront of a screen to run a GWAS, analyze fMRI data or run your stats might not be fast paced, but it's really rewarding

You do however get a fair share of fast paced situations in psych. Tackling and restraining severely agitated patients. I've even been bitten, the scar makes a nice conversation piece! Fun times

Just try to rotate through different surgical services if possible (corona, bah), but always keep an open mind. Many factors come into play when choosing a medical specialty.

 

[ohmanwaddup]

Partially. I LOVED Trauma.

Gunshot wounds, severed limbs, stab wounds, open fractures, thoracotomies. I used to see all of that daily when I rotated in a hospital dedicated to trauma. They let me do cool things. I remember doing an open heart massage, suturing pericardium, resolving a pneumothorax. They let me do part of a lobectomy too, after a gunshot wound. Laparotomies after trauma + hemoperitoneum were cool. Blood oozing everywhere while you searched and did damage control.

Also liked fetal distress C-Sections that would get resolved in a blink of an eye. I helped as the 2nd surgeon in one or two.

It was fun for a few months. But I would never ever dedicate the rest of my life to that. For starters, I HATED (yes, all caps) programmed/elective surgeries.

The same happened with Critical Care and EM. Loved the ICU/ER but I'm not ICU/ER material. In a parallel universe I either did Surgery + Trauma or EM + CC. I still remember the times I intubated, placed a central line, resucitated somebody, etc.

Ended up in Psych. The total opposite, eh. I'm really happy with my decision. I have a deep interest in suicidology as a career. Heavy into research too (Doing a PhD focusing on depression parallel to residency training). Sitting infront of a screen to run a GWAS, analyze fMRI data or run your stats might not be fast paced, but it's really rewarding

You do however get a fair share of fast paced situations in psych. Tackling and restraining severely agitated patients. I've even been bitten, the scar makes a nice conversation piece! Fun times

Just try to rotate through different surgical services if possible (corona, bah), but always keep an open mind. Many factors come into play when choosing a medical specialty.

Maybe I'll try to do a trauma elective.

Trauma Surg always seemed interesting to me, but I had the same issue I had with forensic path, its a fellowship and If I didnt make the cut I dont think I would be happy in just surg or just path.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Maybe I'll try to do a trauma elective.

Trauma Surg always seemed interesting to me, but I had the same issue I had with forensic path, its a fellowship and If I didnt make the cut I dont think I would be happy in just surg or just path.

Trauma is not a competitive fellowship

 

[hungrydoc710]

The idea of being a surg is cool, but yeah the medicine just isn't there. I did my lsat rotation with a GS/surg-onc guy, so at least it had the cancer clinic visits and working with the med onc doc, made it more intresting. Doing lap-choly's every other day and hernia repairs, twice a day, just seemed boring overall. Plus, too much standing around and straining in one place even during the surgery. Open >> Lap also, and it just seems like MIS is the way surgery is headed and I don't find it as interesting.

Idk, when I was like 12, I wanted to be a hand surg, and that kind of carried me thru until start of med school where I found the internal med and it's branches is the real stuff of medicine and being a doctor. That's kind of where my heads at now... IM >> Pulm/CC or something of the sort.

That being said, I've had a tickle of interest in GAS recently (the pay and lifestyle, and surprisingly uncomp)... so again moving back towards OR but still knowning a lot of the medicine stuff... might be perfect medium btwn the two. Also very procedural.

 

[Neopolymath]

Professionally and trait-wise, I'm meant to be a surgeon. I won't bore you with the reasons. For me, it is by far the best type of work in healthcare and the only way I would put up with talking to patients or doing clinic ever. It shares a lot in common with my other interests and previous jobs. It was by far my favorite time in med school.

All that said, none of that matters because it's largely and very likely incompatible with the life I have and want to maintain outside the hospital . I went into medicine as a risk averse choice so I also chose between two risk averse specialties regarding the ability to get the job I wanted at the end of training. Everyone, including me, has 5 anecdotes about xyz surgeon living some unique life that is different than all the other surgeons. I don't count on anecdata like that to commit to a lifelong career.

Basically, I'm saying that you need to examine what you want in life and then what you want professionally. Then decide if that is also compatible with your personality. That's far more important than your impression of the field in third year. Third year consists of a lot of pining for the previous rotation because we like what we finally got good at (med student role for each service) and we like what is familiar. If I had to bet money I would say you feel this way about other rotations too even if not as much because of the pageantry of the OR.

 

[ohmanwaddup]

Professionally and trait-wise, I'm meant to be a surgeon. I won't bore you with the reasons. For me, it is by far the best type of work in healthcare and the only way I would put up with talking to patients or doing clinic ever. It shares a lot in common with my other interests and previous jobs. It was by far my favorite time in med school.

All that said, none of that matters because it's largely and very likely incompatible with the life I have and want to maintain outside the hospital . I went into medicine as a risk averse choice so I also chose between two risk averse specialties regarding the ability to get the job I wanted at the end of training. Everyone, including me, has 5 anecdotes about xyz surgeon living some unique life that is different than all the other surgeons. I don't count on anecdata like that to commit to a lifelong career.

Basically, I'm saying that you need to examine what you want in life and then what you want professionally. Then decide if that is also compatible with your personality. That's far more important than your impression of the field in third year. Third year consists of a lot of pining for the previous rotation because we like what we finally got good at (med student role for each service) and we like what is familiar. If I had to bet money I would say you feel this way about other rotations too even if not as much because of the pageantry of the OR.

This is all a really going point. I really disliked my gen surg preceptor, but when I changed to a different hospital to do my next surg rotation, I found myself missing a lot of the familiarity I had developed in that first month.

I don't have the personality for surgery, nor do I think that a surgeon's life aligns with what I want in my professional and personal life.

Knee replacements are still cool as hell though lol.

 

[bigindian4891]

Professionally and trait-wise, I'm meant to be a surgeon. I won't bore you with the reasons. For me, it is by far the best type of work in healthcare and the only way I would put up with talking to patients or doing clinic ever. It shares a lot in common with my other interests and previous jobs. It was by far my favorite time in med school.

All that said, none of that matters because it's largely and very likely incompatible with the life I have and want to maintain outside the hospital . I went into medicine as a risk averse choice so I also chose between two risk averse specialties regarding the ability to get the job I wanted at the end of training. Everyone, including me, has 5 anecdotes about xyz surgeon living some unique life that is different than all the other surgeons. I don't count on anecdata like that to commit to a lifelong career.

Basically, I'm saying that you need to examine what you want in life and then what you want professionally. Then decide if that is also compatible with your personality. That's far more important than your impression of the field in third year. Third year consists of a lot of pining for the previous rotation because we like what we finally got good at (med student role for each service) and we like what is familiar. If I had to bet money I would say you feel this way about other rotations too even if not as much because of the pageantry of the OR.

Preach. Its cool, I feel like I would be good at it too. But man oh man, did the personalities and lifestyle turn me off. I didn't enjoy the medicine enough to put up with the bs of the specialty.

 

[sloh]

The flow state achieved by surgeons is probably unparalleled. That said, I can’t hack the lifestyle, hours, call, nights (yes, I know there are exceptions)

 

[Neopolymath]

This is all a really going point. I really disliked my gen surg preceptor, but when I changed to a different hospital to do my next surg rotation, I found myself missing a lot of the familiarity I had developed in that first month.

I don't have the personality for surgery, nor do I think that a surgeon's life aligns with what I want in my professional and personal life.

Knee replacements are still cool as hell though lol.

You will figure it out. Try not to worry.maybe keep a brief journal of your impressions of the fields and the workflow throughout your rotations to review later.

 

[CocoMelon0531]

I crossed it off my list when I saw my attending during my third year coming in on a Saturday during one of his off days to check up on his patients for 2-3 hours. That’s not who I want to be in the future.

 

[ciestar]

As a FM resident i have to do OB and Surg rotations.... i had to assist on two c sections (not first assist hahahahah) and didn’t set foot in the OR on my month-long surgery rotation. Surgeon told me I’d regret it.... nope, I don’t. Not even a little.

That said, some of my fellow residents did like the OR and did want to try and get involved with cases (super hard to do as an intern...)