G Surg vs EM

[ZigZag]

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I am an MS3 currently deciding between EM and G Surgery. There is a lot of things I like in both of the specialties. I am in G Surg clerkship right now and I hate my residents and overall atmosphere in the department. I cannot really relate to these people. All of them share the same antisocial personality / blunt affect traits that drives me crazy. I am afraid that it forms a somewhat biased impression of the specialty in general.
Do you guys think this is a general tendency or just my isolated experience?

 

[NinerNiner999]

I really enjoyed surgery, and my mentailty was always a fixer/doer instead of a thinker/intellectualist. In the end, in addition to the ability to have a life outside of the hospital, I realized that I would not be happy in the OR all day. I guess I couldn't see myself being driven by the goal to operate all day long. Instead, I was driven to help as many people as I could in as short a time as necessary, and the goal to shorten the time needed to treat over my career. I love the workup to decide on whether surgey is needed, but I needed something more to capture my short attention span...

 

[Leukocyte]

I am an MS3 currently deciding between EM and G Surgery. There is a lot of things I like in both of the specialties. I am in G Surg clerkship right now and I hate my residents and overall atmosphere in the department. I cannot really relate to these people. All of them share the same antisocial personality / blunt affect traits that drives me crazy. I am afraid that it forms a somewhat biased impression of the specialty in general.
Do you guys think this is a general tendency or just my isolated experience?

How can it be biased if you are witnessing it yourself?

I do not know what to tell you ZigZag, but GS is one of the toughest and stressful residencies, and you do not expect people under stress and pressure to be smiling and joking.

I do not think that GS residents are "anti-social". Blunt and serious? Yes. Egotistic? maybe a little. But agian, can you blame them?

To survive in GS you need a thick skin.

Good Luck

 

[dchristismi]

I was in your shoes a couple of years ago, except that I had some G surg residents who were enthusiastic and really loved what they were doing. (And no similar EM residents, as my med school doesn't have an EM program.) GS is a long, hard residency, so it's normal to run into some of that. Or maybe I was just lucky.

For me, it ultimately came down to that while I love the fix-er-up attitute of GS (and the abdomen... boy do I love a good acute abdomen), I loved the people/interaction in the ED more. And I didn't get that in the OR. I love the workup, but not taking care of someone for weeks. I also got bored after the 15th lap chole... (something about my short attention span, I'm sure.)

If it's the residents that are turning you off, try to do an away rotation somewhere else to see a different perspective. Do an EM rotation too - you should know pretty soon into it if EM is your calling. I did.

Good luck in your decision,
D

 

[jazz]

similar experience as dchristismi.

loved general surg as a 3rd year, had a great chief resident, great interns. put in an IJ central line as a 3rd year (October of my 3rd year). did the subI in gen surg. loved it as well but realized that my enthusiasm and interest after even only the 3rd lap chole was low.

the er, while not glorious in many respects, allows for the variety and changing pace that keeps me interested. i love stabilizing and inititiating treatment on an unstable patient.... i don't like taking care of them for weeks in the icu.

the most majority of cases in the er is not a true emergency. there's a lot of bull**** (toothache, viral syndrome, rash, vaginal discharge). a lot of sick but won't die on you (pneumonia, chest pain) and the totally unstable that you do save (at least initially) (respiratory distress, hemorraghic shock). would i want such an intense day everyday? no.

in general surg, to cut is to cure but don't forget there is long term managment in the hospital and follow up outside that is less exciting as well. in addition, general surgery gets consulted for abscesses, debridements, etc, that are less glorious as well.