Completing Two Surgical Residencies: Orthopedics and Neurosurgery

[anab21]

I actually found a surgeon who has done this. My question is, do you get dropped into the middle of the second residency or do you start at the beginning and have to do all 5-7 years?

Lets say you did orthopedics first and then did a spine fellowship(they have spine fellowships where you learn both orth/neuro style spine surgeries). You now can do 50% of of what a neurosurgeon can do-neuro spine. So for the second residency (neurosurgery) do you get advanced placement into the surgerical years PGY-6 and PGY-7?

A different question: Without even doing the second residency in neurosurgery, just ortho residency and spine fellowship: can you take the boards for neurosurgery-since your are trained in do neuro-spine style surgery?

If your spine fellowship trains you in neuro spine (entering the dura) can you take neurosurgery boards without doing neurosurgey residency?

Christopher Shaffrey, MD | Neurosciences | UVA

Christopher I Shaffrey, MD, FACS graduated magna cum laude from The Citadel in 1982 with B.S. degree in Biology. He played varsity basketball and was the co-captain his senior year. In 1986, Dr. Shaffrey received his medical degree from the University of Virginia. He completed his general surgical internship at Naval Hospital San Diego in 1987 where he was named the surgical intern of the year. He completed both neurosurgical and orthopaedics residencies at the University of Virginia. A spine fellowship in pediatric and adult reconstructive spine surgery was completed in 1995.

Following completion of his surgical training he was appointed to the senior staff in the Departments of Neurological Surgery and Orthopaedic Surgery at Henry Ford Hospital where he was actively involved in treating members of Detroit’s college and professional athletic teams. In 1999, Dr. Shaffrey was appointed Associate Professor of Neurological Surgery and Adjunct Associate Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Sports Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. In 2003, he returned to the University of Virginia as Professor of Neurological Surgery and Director of the Neurosurgery Spine Division. In 2008, he was named Harrison Distinguished Teaching Professor of Neurological and Orthopaedic Surgery. In 2013, Dr. Shaffrey was named the John A. Jane Professor of Neurological Surgery. Dr. Shaffrey is board certified in the fields of Neurological Surgery and Orthopaedic Surgery.

Burak M. Ozgur, MD

Burak M. Ozgur, MD is a neurosurgeon at the Cedars-Sinai Spine Center. He is double board-certified by the American Board of Neurological Surgery and the American Board of Spine Surgery and is fellowship trained in combined spinal neurosurgery and orthopaedic spine surgery. Dr. Ozgur specializes in spinal surgery: spinal cord tumors, spinal trauma, complex instrumentation and minimally invasive spine surgery. He has a strong interest in leading-edge minimally-invasive spine surgery development and research.

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[MonkeyArrow]

I highly doubt you would be able to skip any residency years. Neurosurgery is more than just spine; even though an ortho residency may teach you how to operate on the spine, what about all of the brain stuff that a pgy-6 should have intimate working knowledge of that an ortho resident wouldn't. If you want to do only spine cases, do a neurosurgery residency, fellowship if you want, and find a practice that does spine work. Going through two grueling residencies does not sound fun.

 

[eagles22]

You won't have to repeat intern year but you'd have to do everything else. Why would you even think about doing those 2 residencies? The time lost to the extra training would result in over a million dollars in lost revenue. I can't imagine a practice setting that would ever make that lost income worth while.

Plus, I would never trust a surgeon who does too much. If I need spine, brain, or any type of surgery, then I want my surgeon to only do that type of surgery so his or her skills are up to date since they do that surgery all the time. You have a fancy car, you go to the mechanic who specializes in that type of car. Same thing with surgeons.

 

[anab21]

Thank you. I know it's insane to try and do two full residencies, I don't plan on it. I was just wondering if you get advanced placement for the second residency, if they are overlapping fields.

 

[deleted480308]

Without an absurd step score none of that matters

 

[anab21]

Without an absurd step score none of that matters

Like a 270 or something? Do you have any stories? There's at least one guy who has done this. I just wonder: How?

 

[deleted480308]

Like a 270 or something? Do you have any stories? There's at least one guy who has done this. I just wonder: How?

There's also a navy seal sniper Ivy League med school astronaut, but that's not my end of the bell curve so I don't bother with how

 

[kitsunepixie]

Just no. At the end of neurosurgery residency I was extremely comfortable with spine surgery; if I wanted to do deformity then I would've pursued an additional complex spine fellowship, although a guy who went to my residency I hear felt that his complex spine fellowship didn't teach him anything he didn't already know how to do. As it is I'm happy to be a pediatric neurosurgeon who can take out brain tumors and instrument spine trauma cases.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Please don't post the same thread in multiple forums. Others wishing to reply to the question, please see here: MD - Completing Two Surgical Residencies: Orthopedics and Neurosurgery