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DO Surgery Specialty Questions

Started by 1006will
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1006will

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1. Major Differences between General Surgery and Fellowship-trained?

2. Good surgery types(specialties) for DO students (I know it all depends on your class ranking and borads), but I am asking for the ones that don't need works outside the original scope of osteopathy, such as taking the USMLE or get into a MD residency, but a clear path for eligible osteopathic students.

Thank you!!!
 
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Ok, I'm going to TRY to answer; but your English needs a lot of work so I may be guessing as to what you want to know.

1) General surgery means you cut on anything that comes in the door; routine procedures. Fellowship trained surgeons have chosen a specialty such as neuro, cardio-thoracic, etc and only work in that area.

2) As a DO you can do a DO residency in surgery. If you want to specialize then you would have to look at specific fellowships and their requirements, there isn't a 1-size-fits-all for fellowships.

BUT, you are way ahead of yourself. First finish college, take the MCAT and try to get into medical school. THEN worry about specialty.
 
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Ok, I'm going to TRY to answer; but your English needs a lot of work so I may be guessing as to what you want to know.

1) General surgery means you cut on anything that comes in the door; routine procedures. Fellowship trained surgeons have chosen a specialty such as neuro, cardio-thoracic, etc and only work in that area.

2) As a DO you can do a DO residency in surgery. If you want to specialize then you would have to look at specific fellowships and their requirements, there isn't a 1-size-fits-all for fellowships.

BUT, you are way ahead of yourself. First finish college, take the MCAT and try to get into medical school. THEN worry about specialty.

The irony is that your grammar is horrible. Here, this might help you http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon
 
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1. Major Differences between General Surgery and Fellowship-trained?

2. Good surgery types(specialties) for DO students (I know it all depends on your class ranking and borads), but I am asking for the ones that don't need works outside the original scope of osteopathy, such as taking the USMLE or get into a MD residency, but a clear path for eligible osteopathic students.

Thank you!!!


A valid question.

General Surgery is the specialty that involves treatment of surgical issues (common sense, right?) but let me expand...

Typical procedures for General Surgeons include treatment of hernias, appendicitis, cholecystitis, colon cancer, bowel obstructions, breast disease, etc. Many general surgeons perform everything from small "lump and bump" removals to major liver resections. Depending on the geographic area and surrounding competition you can also find General Surgeons who are performing thoracic and vascular procedures as well. General Surgery residents complete rotations and have training in all areas of general surgery and general surgery subspecialties. Your limitations on practice are largely dictated by the need in the area you practice and the privileges that a particular hospital grant you. Most general surgeons focus on issues dealing with the abdomen (appendix, gallbladder, small & large bowel).

There are also a number of General Surgery Subspecialties. These include (but not limited to):

Cardiothoracic Surgery
Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery
Trauma Surgery & Surgical Critical Care
Colorectal Surgery
Breast Surgery
Surgical Oncology
Vascular Surgery
Transplant Surgery
Burn Surgery
Minimally Invasive Surgery
Endocrine Surgery
Hepatobiliary Surgery
Pediatric Surgery

There are also a number of surgical fields that are not General Surgery subspecialties, but separate surgical fields altogether. Training in these areas is separate from the training a General Surgeon would undergo. These specialties also include their own SUBspecialties, just as you would find subspecialties of General Surgery.

These include:

Orthopedic Surgery
Neurosurgery
Urology
Otolaryngology (ENT)
OB/GYN


As far as your question regarding "DOs and surgical subspecialties", there are a number of DOs in all the above listed specialties and subspecialties.

Hope this has been helpful.
 
is it possible to do general surgery residency then apply for ortho or neuro residencies kinda like how some people do when they apply to plastic programs the "independent route"
 
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Sorry. The VAST majority of plastics is a fellowship. And being that there are no DO integrated plastics residencies, and is commonly the single most competitive acgme residency, I felt there was no need to include it in this discussion.

PCOM offers a 3+3 Integrated Plastic Surgery Fellowship. 3 years of General Surgery followed by 3 years of Plastic/Reconstructive Surgery.
 
Sorry. The VAST majority of plastics is a fellowship. And being that there are no DO integrated plastics residencies, and is commonly the single most competitive acgme residency, I felt there was no need to include it in this discussion.

I was merely clarifying.

FYI - AOA Otolaryngology and facial plastic surgery residencies are 5 year programs directly following 4th year of medical school.
 
PCOM offers a 3+3 Integrated Plastic Surgery Fellowship. 3 years of General Surgery followed by 3 years of Plastic/Reconstructive Surgery.

Very cool! Is that the only DO plastics residency or are there others? I too was under the impression that there were not any DO plastics residencies.
 
Very cool! Is that the only DO plastics residency or are there others? I too was under the impression that there were not any DO plastics residencies.

There are other osteopathic plastic surgery fellowships but at this time only PCOM offers an integrated program.
 
Sorry. The VAST majority of plastics is a fellowship. And being that there are no DO integrated plastics residencies, and is commonly the single most competitive acgme residency, I felt there was no need to include it in this discussion.

actually majority of plastics are residencies now, straight from med school.