Bitter MDs discouraging career-changers?

[Beau Geste]

Surprised to see General Surgery in there. I thought their stereotype was to be miserable. Guess you've seen the opposite.

The general surgeon I know works at a small hospital in a rural southern Illinois town. There's enough work to keep him busy in the OR + office hours, but not so much to keep him from having a life. He's a neighbor of my parents, and works with them, too (my mom's an FP, dad CRNA - not the gas I was referring to though!), and I've shadowed him before, so I have a good feel for what his job is like. Not the most amazing cases, but not a bad gig if you ask me. He's happy with it, anyway. I'm going to shadow him again for a week over Spring Break, so I'll see if that still holds true

I can't really comment though on Gen. Surg. in an urban/suburban area though, since I don't really know any, except a friend in a Gen. Surg. residency (PGY-5), and he loves it.

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[Playmakur42]

Not the most amazing cases.

Taking out infected appendixes (?appendices?), gallbladders, sections of colon cancer, breast cancers, and faulty thyroids is amazing enough for me.

 

[Beau Geste]

Taking out infected appendixes (?appendices?), gallbladders, sections of colon cancer, breast cancers, and faulty thyroids is amazing enough for me.

true! I actually have FUN when I shadow that particular OR. In this hospital, though, there are some specialists that come from regional big cities (St. Louis, Carbondale/Marion, etc) and have OR/office time. I had my cancerous thyroid taken out there by a fantastic St. Louis ENT.

I've definitely seen lap appys and choles by the gen surg. though. I'm definitely going to write in my blog after my shadow in March on what I see from gen. surg. in a rural hospital.