Ask me anything - DO Orthopedic Trauma Surgeon

[Spyder3188]

I am a osteopathic orthopedic trauma surgeon.

For undergrad I went to the State University of New York at Oswego. I was a biology major with chemistry minor. I took the MCAT in my senior year and applied the summer after I graduated. I felt my MCAT was good enough to apply with for DO schools, but a reach for MD. I applied to both MD and DO schools. I only received a handful of interviews, so I spent part of my gap year studying again for the MCAT and retook in early Spring. I got a significantly higher score and was preparing to reapply to schools when I got a late April interview for LECOM - Erie. I got an acceptance notification two weeks later and accepted it to start in Fall-2011.

I was in the LECOM - LDP program. I knew that I was interested in pursuing a surgical specialty. Because of the low acceptance rate of DO's into MD surgical programs I focused all of my efforts of the COMLEX and did not take USMLE. I was able to setup my early 3rd year rotations to explore a few different surgical subspecialties. I did clinical rotations in multiple locations in Pennsylvania and New York. I ultimately decided on orthopedics. I was able to audition at three programs. I matched at Millcreek Community Hospital in Erie. I completed my fellowship in Orthopedic Trauma at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, OH. I am now practicing at a Level 1 trauma center in Virginia.

I have been a member of SDN for 11 years now with 5 posts. Over the years this forum has been extremely helpful to me in regards to applications, clinical rotations, and residency selection.

Ask me anything!

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[saiyanstrong117]

I just got accepted to a DO school and am super excited about attending! I do have major interest in surgery and know that getting into a residency is going to be a challenge so I was just wondering if you could share any advice you wish you knew going into your first year about how to set yourself up to be a competitive candidate for a tough to get into residency.

Also, congrats on getting into such a great field!

 

[RN-2-Medicine]

Whats the lifestyle like of an orthopedic surgeon? Are there any nurses turned physicians that you went to school with?

 

[Spyder3188]

I just got accepted to a DO school and am super excited about attending! I do have major interest in surgery and know that getting into a residency is going to be a challenge so I was just wondering if you could share any advice you wish you knew going into your first year about how to set yourself up to be a competitive candidate for a tough to get into residency.

Also, congrats on getting into such a great field!

There are many factors that go into successfully matching whether it is primary care or a surgical subspecialty. Its a combination of pre clinical grades, step scores, research, extra curricular activities, personal connections and mentorship. The hardest part of the first two years is finding a way to learn and process the enormous amount of information you are expected to learn. The second year students at your school will be an incredible resource as they will have just made it through the first year and will have tips specific for your school. Take advantage of every high yield resource out there anki, pathoma, sketchy, ect.

 

[Spyder3188]

Whats the lifestyle like of an orthopedic surgeon? Are there any nurses turned physicians that you went to school with?

Orthopedic surgeon lifestyle: This is entirely dependent on the practice environment. It can be anything from 100 hour work weeks to surgicalists with 12-24 hour shift work. Generally most surgeons will have 2-3 clinic days per week and 2-3 operative days per week. As a trauma surgeon I generally take one weekend of call per month (Friday 7a to Monday 7a) and 1-2 call days per week. The rest of my schedule is filled with office time seeing either new patients, ER follow ups, or post operative patients.

Nurses: My medical school class had a few nurses who chose to go back to school. Your prior clinical experiences will give you a head start when it comes to sorting out patient interactions and your early clinical rotations.

 

[premedpl]

Thank you for all of the advice and fantastic story!

I recently received an offer from LECOM's newest campus in Elmira and am having trouble deciding between DO acceptances. I was curious if you could offer some input about LECOM & the clinical rotations (Erie/Seton Hill/Elmira).

I am trying to decide between DO programs and wanted to hear some insight from past LECOM grads.

 

[Spyder3188]

Thank you for all of the advice and fantastic story!

I recently received an offer from LECOM's newest campus in Elmira and am having trouble deciding between DO acceptances. I was curious if you could offer some input about LECOM & the clinical rotations (Erie/Seton Hill/Elmira).

I am trying to decide between DO programs and wanted to hear some insight from past LECOM grads.

I think that one area that DO schools in general struggle with is providing consistent clinical rotations. Some students may get sent to excellent clinical experiences where other students end up going glorified shadowing experiences. For LECOM specifically this is the case, a mixture of great rotation sites and some less desirable ones. I would direct you towards some current LECOM 3rd/4th year students to get an idea of where their rotations are at currently. At the end of the day it matters less which school you go to and more how much you are willing to put in to maximize the experience.

 

[premedpl]

I think that one area that DO schools in general struggle with is providing consistent clinical rotations. Some students may get sent to excellent clinical experiences where other students end up going glorified shadowing experiences. For LECOM specifically this is the case, a mixture of great rotation sites and some less desirable ones. I would direct you towards some current LECOM 3rd/4th year students to get an idea of where their rotations are at currently. At the end of the day it matters less which school you go to and more how much you are willing to put in to maximize the experience.

Sounds great!

I will reach out to Erie & Seton Hill for 3/4th years, the Elmira campus only has two cohorts to date, but there was mention during our tour that the Arnot Odgen hospital would be prioritized for Elmira students as is right next to the program.

 

[Spyder3188]

Sounds great!

I will reach out to Erie & Seton Hill for 3/4th years, the Elmira campus only has two cohorts to date, but there was mention during our tour that the Arnot Odgen hospital would be prioritized for Elmira students as is right next to the program.

I was part of the first group of students that LECOM sent to Arnot when they opened the site for clinical rotations. I would not pick the Elmira campus solely on its relationship to the hospital. Id argue going to Seton Hill or Erie would give you more choices for rotation sites.

 

[premedpl]

I was part of the first group of students that LECOM sent to Arnot when they opened the site for clinical rotations. I would not pick the Elmira campus solely on its relationship to the hospital. Id argue going to Seton Hill or Erie would give you more choices for rotation sites.

Oh man, that's a little concerning then.

Would you advise depositing at other DO programs instead of Elmira then? (Waiting to hear back from KCU, accepted NOVA, UIWSOM, ATSU-SOMA, ICOM)

The main thing that drew me to Elmira was its proximity to home and LECOM clinical sites, but it seems like the rotation aspect might not be the strongest at Elmira.

Thanks for all the support here!

 

[Spyder3188]

Oh man, that's a little concerning then.

Would you advise depositing at other DO programs instead of Elmira then? (Waiting to hear back from KCU, accepted NOVA, UIWSOM, ATSU-SOMA, ICOM)

The main thing that drew me to Elmira was its proximity to home and LECOM clinical sites, but it seems like the rotation aspect might not be the strongest at Elmira.

Thanks for all the support here!

Picking a school depends on many factors, you have to weigh them all (location, tuition, clinical affiliations, extra curriculars). Out of the choices you seem to have I don't know that it would be my first. But if your true love is waterfalls and white wines then Elmira is within an hours drive of 50+ wineries and amazing hiking.

 

[premedpl]

Picking a school depends on many factors, you have to weigh them all (location, tuition, clinical affiliations, extra curriculars). Out of the choices you seem to have I don't know that it would be my first. But if your true love is waterfalls and white wines then Elmira is within an hours drive of 50+ wineries and amazing hiking.

Thanks again for the help!

 

[PapaGuava]

Thank you for sharing @Spyder3188 ! I’ll be sure to add your thread to the AMA sticky for both the Pre-medical DO and Medical Students DO forums.

 

[yuhh]

i hope im not too late in asking, but im interested in ortho! please dont waste ur time answering in great depth

1. what do you think the lifestyle is of a shoulder ortho specialist?

2. i absolutely have 0 passion for research and computer analysis. can i find ortho research where i am conducting studies or talking to patients?

3. what is the difference between a general ortho vs sports medicine ortho?

4. besides stellar grades in all 4 yrs, stellar research, and stellar LoR’s, is there anything else needed to match into a competitive program?

5. how was residency? is it as hectic and time consuming as ppl say? is it mostly surgery or charting? Should residency workload deter students from pursuing a certain specialty?

 

[RN-2-Medicine]

Anyone of your colleagues went the DO-MBA route?

 

[Spyder3188]

i hope im not too late in asking, but im interested in ortho! please dont waste ur time answering in great depth

1. what do you think the lifestyle is of a shoulder ortho specialist?

It is entirely dependent on your practice environment. It can take time to build a dedicated shoulder practice. You would likely supplement your practice initially with more general orthopedic coverage. End result it typically two to three OR days per week and 2-3 office clinic days. If you are heavily involved in sports coverage there may be weekend / nights sports coverage time as well.

2. i absolutely have 0 passion for research and computer analysis. can i find ortho research where i am conducting studies or talking to patients?

Find the closest orthopedic residency program and ask to get involved in research. Sometimes there's no way around the more tedious data mining chart review.

3. what is the difference between a general ortho vs sports medicine ortho?

Sports medicine typically has a greater focus on more advanced arthroscopic techniques. It is really is dependant on what type of sports fellowship you do and overall background training in residency.

4. besides stellar grades in all 4 yrs, stellar research, and stellar LoR’s, is there anything else needed to match into a competitive program?

Be a reasonable person who is easy to get along with. The residency program has you for five years. They want people they get along with.

5. how was residency? is it as hectic and time consuming as ppl say?

You will work longer hours in any surgical specialty. Part of the territory.

is it mostly surgery or charting?

It depends on the rotation you are on and your level. Junior residents typically spend more time managing floor issues and time in office, more senior residents will spend more time in the OR.

Should residency workload deter students from pursuing a certain specialty?

Every specialty has positives and negatives. You have to ask yourself if those specific negatives overrule your decision to pursue the specialty .

 

[Spyder3188]

Anyone of your colleagues went the DO-MBA route?

I don't know any specific MBA / DO who did it through their school. I think the biggest question to ask is how good is the MBA program affiliated with the school or would you be better off pursuing a separate degree at a better / more prestigious program.

 

[yuhh]

I am a osteopathic orthopedic trauma surgeon.

For undergrad I went to the State University of New York at Oswego. I was a biology major with chemistry minor. I took the MCAT in my senior year and applied the summer after I graduated. I felt my MCAT was good enough to apply with for DO schools, but a reach for MD. I applied to both MD and DO schools. I only received a handful of interviews, so I spent part of my gap year studying again for the MCAT and retook in early Spring. I got a significantly higher score and was preparing to reapply to schools when I got a late April interview for LECOM - Erie. I got an acceptance notification two weeks later and accepted it to start in Fall-2011.

I was in the LECOM - LDP program. I knew that I was interested in pursuing a surgical specialty. Because of the low acceptance rate of DO's into MD surgical programs I focused all of my efforts of the COMLEX and did not take USMLE. I was able to setup my early 3rd year rotations to explore a few different surgical subspecialties. I did clinical rotations in multiple locations in Pennsylvania and New York. I ultimately decided on orthopedics. I was able to audition at three programs. I matched at Millcreek Community Hospital in Erie. I completed my fellowship in Orthopedic Trauma at Grant Medical Center in Columbus, OH. I am now practicing at a Level 1 trauma center in Virginia.

I have been a member of SDN for 11 years now with 5 posts. Over the years this forum has been extremely helpful to me in regards to applications, clinical rotations, and residency selection.

Ask me anything!

Do you recommend I learn coding/programming like ‘R’ before i begin medical school. I’m scared of how important research is now with Step 1 P/F… or can I find scut research without it

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Do you recommend I learn coding/programming like ‘R’ before i begin medical school. I’m scared of how important research is now with Step 1 P/F… or can I find scut research without it

Not op, but I’ve had zero issues getting tons of research without using any sort of coding. I learned some coding in undergrad and have not used it once in med school. That said, if you have free time, more skills will make you more versatile. It won’t hurt to know R, but you can get plenty of research without it.