Neuro vs. Surgery

[undecided3yr]

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I need some advice and was wondering what thoughts were out there:

I am going into 4th year trying to decide between Neuro and Surg. I love the O.R. but at the same time I am really interested in Interventional Neuro and Neuro ICU. I love neuroanatomy and lesion localization as well as all the crazy/wierd CNS disorders. I also really enjoy basic science neuro research, which I earned a graduate degree in Neuroscience before med school. Before you say it, yes I have considered neurosurgery, but the board scores just arent there for me.

Im not sure if I like treating chronic patients; I'm not a big fan of clinic, no matter what rotation I am on I prefer the hospital. Clinic just seems slow and inefficient to wait 6 weeks between problem solving and many labs are sent out, not to mention the lists old people bring in, etc. I'm just not sure if I want to be involved in long term patient care. I also hated internal medicine's eternal rounding and rounding but always talking about doing the same thing each set of rounds throughout the day.

Neuro lifestyle would be more accomodating for me. I have a spouse who is an OB resident as well. I dont care about the difference in pay between the neuro and surg. I am concerned at the prospects of having 2 surgeons in the house, we might never see each other. I also am not a big morning person; getting up before the sun to preround on surgical patients is pretty painful.

 

[neurologist]

I need some advice and was wondering what thoughts were out there:

I am going into 4th year trying to decide between Neuro and Surg. I love the O.R. but at the same time I am really interested in Interventional Neuro and Neuro ICU. I love neuroanatomy and lesion localization as well as all the crazy/wierd CNS disorders. I also really enjoy basic science neuro research, which I earned a graduate degree in Neuroscience before med school. Before you say it, yes I have considered neurosurgery, but the board scores just arent there for me.

Im not sure if I like treating chronic patients; I'm not a big fan of clinic, no matter what rotation I am on I prefer the hospital. Clinic just seems slow and inefficient to wait 6 weeks between problem solving and many labs are sent out, not to mention the lists old people bring in, etc. I'm just not sure if I want to be involved in long term patient care. I also hated internal medicine's eternal rounding and rounding but always talking about doing the same thing each set of rounds throughout the day.

Neuro lifestyle would be more accomodating for me. I have a spouse who is an OB resident as well. I dont care about the difference in pay between the neuro and surg. I am concerned at the prospects of having 2 surgeons in the house, we might never see each other. I also am not a big morning person; getting up before the sun to preround on surgical patients is pretty painful.

1. Keep in mind that neurology and surgery are 100% completely different.

2. That being said, you sound like a great candidate for a neurointensivist or neuro hospitalist slot (I am not all that optimistic that many "Neurointerventional" slots will open up any time soon for neurologists).
Keep in mind you'll need to do 4 years residency plus 1 or 2 years fellowship.

3. Best of luck.