Cardiothoracic Surgery rotation coming up how do I prepare?

[phd89]

I have a CT surgery sub-I is coming up, how do I best prepare for it besides the usual text studying. This is my first time doing a CT surgery rotation. I haven't had prior exposure to the field as I wasn't sure about the sub-specialty but I wish to make a good impression in this one in case I decide to go for CT surgery.

Any text in particular aside from TRSA?
Any other advice that would be helpful. thanks

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[Winged Scapula]

Moving to Clinical Rotations.

 

[evilbooyaa]

Same thing as always. Be enthusiastic, helpful, not in the way, know your anatomy prior to the case. Know your patients in and out. Nothing super new specifically for CT surgery.

Whatever else that is expected of you, the fellow(s)/attendings will likely go over with you. Depending on the fellow/resident/PA coverage of that service, you may or may not get to actually do much of anything. At the academic hospital I did rotations at, the CT service had 2 fellows, intermittent resident coverage, and an army of PAs, who usually had students. The medical student on the service (luckily wasn't me) was routinely the 4th or 5th person scrubbed in on a case (usually at the foot of the bed during a cardiac case) and didn't get to do much of anything. Another person at a different hospital which didn't have fellows/resident coverage for that service was routinely 1st or 2nd assist on multiple heart transplants (not bread and butter for CT surgeons).

 

[Suncrusher]

Know how a heart and lungs machine works and why each tube is connected to where it is connected on the heart. And know the anatomy very, very well because it is much more confusing inside patients than in textbooks. I never have problems getting pimped on anatomy elsewhere but i get burned every time i get pimped during a heart surg. Be sure to not neglect neck anatomy in case your attendings also do things like a carotid endarterectomy or something like that.

 

[badasshairday]

Don't drink a lot of fluids before a case. A quadruple bypass, Aortic valve replacement combo case can be a 5+ hour affair.

 

[Buzz Me]

Are you going to be just mainly scrubbing into cases, or are you expected to help out on the floors/in the ICU as well? Any call responsibilities?

Have you had the chance to scrub into ANY CT cases before (heart, lungs, esophagus, etc.)?

 

[phd89]

I'm not entirely sure about my schedule, but I know most of the days I'll be in the OR and there are clinic days, where I'll have to present patients to the attending which at this stage is a concern because I suck at Auscultation for the various heart sounds, taking a succinct history to rule out the various valvular disease and etc. There probably will be call-days. As far as I know im probably suppose to follow around the fellows and help with whatever I can.

Can anyone recommend a better book than TRSA, which is more like a prose than a review/text

btw, as stated before this is my first CT rotation, so no prior experience, I have seen some Esophageal Cancer cases, not scrubbed into any, no CT experience

 

[WhitJord85]

This is kinda the blind leading the blind here because I haven't technically had a CT rotation either but I have scrubbed some cases and watched quite a few others plus researched the heck out of this topic. The one book I see mentioned over and over for students is the Manual of Perioperative Care for Adult Cardiac Surgery. Look it up on amazon and see if its more what you are looking for. Of course depending on how sure you are in your plans going forward and the amount of money you have to spend/want to spend you can always also get a cardiac surgery text of your liking. Probably way more than you have time for and definitely expensive but its an option.