Cardiothoracic surgery vs. Neurosurgery

[medic86]

If you can't take the heat, get out of the fire, OP. People who post something equivalent of a naval cadet debating whether they should choose to fly tomcats or a hornet when they're a fighter pilot are putting the horse before the cart's even built. It's kind of a dumb question and smacks of arrogance. The posters on this forum are trying to indicate that to you. Maybe not in the nicest way, but a quick perusal of the posts here should tell you the tone. This is a sarcastic forum. Deal with it.

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[mimelim]

I'm disappointed. You know what sucks about posting anything on this forum? Its that many times your met with ridicule, slander, and harassment. I came to this site to get quality information from some of the caring people in medicine that would like to help our future generation of upcoming physicians. However, I post a legitimate question and I'm met mostly with immature responses trying to put me down. Really? Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot be interested in? What the f**k does it matter if my interests are related or not? Does it personally affect you? I doubt it! I have nothing to prove to anyone. However, the mentality on this site is one of immaturity. Go ahead and talk s**t about me and see what I care. WTF! We are all striving for the same damn goal....to help others. I don't care who you are, how smart you are, what school you went to, what year you are....there should be no one on this site trying to make another feel badly about a question they have. Grow up!! The few of us that have made it this far now represent the profession of medicine....a profession that is highly valued in society. No matter what school, specialty, year, etc..., we should be helping and encouraging and supporting one another! I'm tired of this bulls**t. Those of us that have made it to medical school and beyond have been given a unique opportunity. An opportunity not only to make you mark on medicine, but an opportunity to aid and nurture the future of medicine. For those who feel the need to come on this forum and ridicule people and put them down....I hope you either change professions or get your s**t together! We are healthcare, we are a family. Each of us as healthcare professionals has a responsibility to take care of each other. Not belittle each other for picking one specialty over another. Not to attack someone for not knowing something. Not to come down on a young aspiring doc for trying to be a small part of our world. This is not a game. Not a contest. This is medicine. Lets be proud of who we are and stand tall. It doesnt matter if you are a tech or an attending. Lets make a positive impact instead of a negative one.

I care about our future physicians. The most important feedback you can get is to tell people when they are asking the wrong questions.

As an aside, healthcare is no different than any other field. Nobody is under any obligation to be more helpful to you than any other field. If you don't like it and can't take feedback, don't go into medicine.

 

[Pons Asinorum]

I'm disappointed...

So...when you have a problem with something, it's ok to be frank about it, but when others have problems and feel like pointing them out, those other, non-Scrubsy folks should kindly STFU? Confused. If you would have looked around for 5mins you could have guessed what the response to your question would be. This is a premed forum. What the hell do any of these people (with a few exceptions) know about both CTS and NS? Have any of them done both? Nope. What you could have done is do a simple damned search in the surg forum about lifestyle issues, as it has been discussed ad nauseum. You went a different direction though. You got completely unsurprising responses (though I'm surprised more lolcats didn't find their way here) and now you're...disappointed? Good luck, I guess, is all I can say to that. Your dissappointometer is going to be pegged a lot in the next few years.

 

[Non Pizza Lunch]

OP realize this is an incredibly sarcastic forum, but if you sift through all the occasional jabs everyone has been throwing at you, you can see there is some legitimate information that's actually being said, e.g. look a the posts from mimelim and neusu. Don't take all the jabs too personally, everyone has been hazed at one point in time if you post long enough on this forum.

 

[Chemdude]

OP, people are not attacking you because you asked a question. They are attacking you because you are asking the wrong question. How can you be interested in cardiothoracic surgery or neurosurgery if you haven't even taken anatomy? You can't have genuine interest in a field that you know nothing about.

 

[Lion&theLamb55]

This thread blows. Mostly because I have yet to even begin premed but it's been my dream since I was in middle school to be a surgeon and I am also considering these fields. Here's why these two for me personally...the brain baffles the hell out of me. My grandmother had, and my grandfather currently suffers with Alzheimer's. The brain is a mystery. It intrigues me. While neuro is so much more than brain surgery, that's what truly draws me to it. The heart on the other hand...I have been drawing anatomically correct pictures of hearts since 8th grade. It's beautiful. So strong, yet so delicate. Which is also intriguing. Both professions are involved in life changing surgeries. Having been in the Marine Corps working on helicopters, I need something fast paced and high stress. I feel that the intricate details of neuro and cardio would give me a challenge that I didn't have with avionics. Those are just a couple of reasons. Not to mention I would love to go into pediatrics but I just had a kid and that would be too personal I think.
The reason why I'm saying this is because I feel like this could have been more what they were looking for in regards to why you picked two high paying professions. Not necessarily accusing you right off the bat but possibly because they wanted an honest response as to why. Doing it for money would be for the wrong reasons, which would in the end more than likely cause failure. Instead of instantly accusing them, accept what could possibly an eye opening question.

 

[allantois]

You should probably learn how physicians get paid before you start trying to come up with alternatives. You can't simply mandate how much people get paid.

I know it's an old thread, but NHS in UK does exactly the bolded part.

And no, I would not subscribe to that. However, I think what many physicians frustrated with government reimbursements forget is that it is the government itself which allows free market healthcare in the first place.

 

[Dr. Stalker]

Its quite simple really. Neurosurgeons are badass, and CT surgeons are more badass.

Kidding kidding. Any and all fields of medicine are rewarding so long as you're enjoying what you're doing. I forgot which SDNer said it, but you're gonna be working a lot. Like a whole lot. Residency is a nightmare. And attending lifestyle, especially in those two surgical fields, is a lot. And if you enjoy the work you do, it won't feel like "work" (or at least won't as much)!

The Golden Age of CT surgery was in the late 80s-to late 90s. This was the era of the CABG. I know a lot of people say CT is "dying out," but the field will ALWAYS need more surgeons. There might be less spots, and so it will just be more competitive. Interventional Cardiology will never eradicate the field of CT surgery. Despite how invasive it is, it still isn't quite CT surgery.

Neurosurgery is "growing" with the more advanced tools, techniques, and research being done in the field. But this also applies to, roughly, almost all other fields of medicine.

Both are amazing fields to go into. As far as lifestyle, compensation, and happiness, you'll never have all 3. But you can work at it to have 2 of those and part of the third.

 

[NontradCA]

There is more room for the field of neurosurgery to grow than CT surgery. Especially considering the replacement of many open chest surgeries with minimally invasive surgeries like catheterizations.

Actually less invasive procedures are being done for the brain and cord as well.

 

[Strudel19]

at this thread so far.

OP - keep in mind the job prospects of CT surgery, it can be quite unnerving.

Thought this was a pun at first for neurosurg hahah

 

[Henry101]

neonatalplastadermaneurosurgeons

I actually googled that to see if it is a real thing.

 

[StudyLater]

I mean....they're surgeons. I'm assuming the lifestyle is **** until they have seniority in PP.

 

[cbrons]

Anyone have any idea which is better in terms of lifestyle, variety of surgeries, future of specialty? I'm equally interested in both fields at this point. Just wondering what others think. Thanks!

dont worry about either right now, just focus on getting into medical school first.