No preceptor for General Surgery rotation

[Tragal Pointer]

I didnt read any of this thread, but just want to say this - who cares? Unless you want to be a surgeon. And even then, also who cares? Find people in the classes above you that matched/want to match gen surg and ask them what they did. Otherwise, enjoy the free time.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[putmeincoach]

If no want to be surgeon -> chill and kill shelf
If ya -> book an elective 4th year at an academic place and kill it

Ezpz

 

[NYEMMED]

I do not know how common this is, but I've started clinical rotations. My first one is for general surgery. Except I do not have a preceptor, I'm usually not even watching general surgery. I shadow surgeons in the OR, I do not scrub in, I am not asked questions, I'm not involved in patient care (pre or post OP). So I spend my day just watching surgeries and I can leave whenever I want. I do not know how they will do evaluations and I'm not even sure if this is legal. DO vs MD never had much of a difference, but it seems going to a DO school may be not good for 3rd and 4th year.

No this isn’t common. This is why you need to go to the older established schools

 

[doctor_crane]

I figured I'd give an update. After that rotation, I decided that I wouldn't be qualified for surgery and kept an open mind about what I'll do the rest of the year.
I tried VSLO/my school to set up a surgery rotation to make up for this all of 4th year and it has not worked. VSLO only wants people who want surgery, no places are available through my school anywhere. I'm still trying, however.
I really did not like IM, so I decided to go EM. Honestly, I'd probably not enjoy surgery that much due to how routine it is.

I'm not going to lie about this and I don't care if it makes DO schools look bad. They need to fix it or admit less students to the school to ensure everyone gets a surgery rotation.
I wish I knew about this when applying to medical school because I'd have gone somewhere else if I knew, I had options and may have gotten into my state MD school if I took another gap year... :/

I feel qualified for EM and I'm very excited about doing that. So things turned out well anyway.

 

[Ho0v-man]

I figured I'd give an update. After that rotation, I decided that I wouldn't be qualified for surgery and kept an open mind about what I'll do the rest of the year.
I tried VSLO/my school to set up a surgery rotation to make up for this all of 4th year and it has not worked. VSLO only wants people who want surgery, no places are available through my school anywhere. I'm still trying, however.
I really did not like IM, so I decided to go EM. Honestly, I'd probably not enjoy surgery that much due to how routine it is.

I'm not going to lie about this and I don't care if it makes DO schools look bad. They need to fix it or admit less students to the school to ensure everyone gets a surgery rotation.
I wish I knew about this when applying to medical school because I'd have gone somewhere else if I knew, I had options and may have gotten into my state MD school if I took another gap year... :/

I feel qualified for EM and I'm very excited about doing that. So things turned out well anyway.

When you’re comfortably into intern year and you don’t need anything from your school anymore, I recommend you name and shame.

While there was a meh rotation or part of a rotation here and there at some of our sites in my DO school experience, a student who wants education and chooses to pursue it in elective 4th year time should be able to do so. If your school can’t offer real exposure for a core rotation at ANY rotation site, then that’s a serious problem.

Until these schools get publicly shamed like on here and on Reddit, they won’t change.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

I do not know how common this is, but I've started clinical rotations. My first one is for general surgery. Except I do not have a preceptor, I'm usually not even watching general surgery. I shadow surgeons in the OR, I do not scrub in, I am not asked questions, I'm not involved in patient care (pre or post OP). So I spend my day just watching surgeries and I can leave whenever I want. I do not know how they will do evaluations and I'm not even sure if this is legal. DO vs MD never had much of a difference, but it seems going to a DO school may be not good for 3rd and 4th year.

This sounds like a huge violation and theft of your money. You need to make your school aware as of right now. These programs cannot make associations without a specific person being in charge of your education. They might now even know this is happening, so you need to alert them

 

[Ho0v-man]

This sounds like a huge violation and theft of your money. You need to make your school aware as of right now. These programs cannot make associations without a specific person being in charge of your education. They might now even know this is happening, so you need to alert them

I’d still wait until graduation like I said in my previous post.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

I’d still wait until graduation like I said in my previous post.

It depends how you bring it up. If you say "hi, who am I supposed to follow because nobody is here?" then that's okay because you're inquiring. If you get pushback on "this is how it is, etc." then don't push. The school could literally not know they're being scammed

 

[doctor_crane]

It depends how you bring it up. If you say "hi, who am I supposed to follow because nobody is here?" then that's okay because you're inquiring. If you get pushback on "this is how it is, etc." then don't push. The school could literally not know they're being scammed

This is an older post and I posted about this, but they are aware of the situation, but cannot do much about it. Most students get a rotation, I was one of the odd few that did not.

 

[PandaBaer]

For current and future students, this situation is a COCA violation.
You can report any violation directly or put it into your student surveys when they do their periodic accreditation checks.
The best way to stimulate change is with transparency.

 

[ToKingdomCome]

One of my friends in med school got the scrub tech to fill out his surgery eval