Neurosurgery in the armed forces

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scooter31

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Just curious about the pros/cons of doing a neurosurgery residency in the military... I know there are few if any spots each year for a neurosurg resident, but I was also curious as to how a future in military NSU shakes down. What are the major procedures performed? Is it primarily critical care based, or is there a good assortment of tumor, spine, and CV? Are there differences amongst the service branches? How about the technology? Any MRI guided procedure needs/opportunities? Where are the major centers for NSU (I take it Bethesda, Willford Hall, etc) within the military? Any insight would be great...

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Originally posted by scooter31
Just curious about the pros/cons of doing a neurosurgery residency in the military... I know there are few if any spots each year for a neurosurg resident, but I was also curious as to how a future in military NSU shakes down. What are the major procedures performed? Is it primarily critical care based, or is there a good assortment of tumor, spine, and CV? Are there differences amongst the service branches? How about the technology? Any MRI guided procedure needs/opportunities? Where are the major centers for NSU (I take it Bethesda, Willford Hall, etc) within the military? Any insight would be great...

just speaking in general terms, i would expect the same procedures in military neurosurg as civilian. between the active duty soldiers, their dependents, and the retirees, you basically have a cross section of the population that is representative of the population as a whole. so you'll get the same pathology, and will use the same techniques (standard of care is standard of care) that civilian docs use. some training military residents get is in civilian institutions, and they learn what everyone else does. you'll have your share of critical care with the trauma centers, and possibly in the field if you are into that kinda thing.

As far as large medical centers go i owuld think army-wise Walter Reed, Brooke, Madgan, and Tripler would be the neuro academic centers, though could easily be more duty stations for neurosurg at the non-academic centers
 
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