Non-Surgical Electives for a future surgeon?

[Dr JPH]

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Hey all.

I have a few electives left before (hopefully) matching into general surgery next month.

Does anyone have some suggestions for non surgical rotations?

I was considering cardiology as I feel my core cardiology rotation during 3rd year wasnt as strong as I would have liked.

I have done a few ICU rotations so I am OK with pulmonary medicine.

Because of my schedule (5th year with teaching fellowship), all of my core rotations are behind me so there are no more requirements left...I can really use the time to strengthen any area I want.

Thanks.

 

[Doc Ivy]

I'm doing a couple of radiology electives so that I won't have to be so dependent on the rads residents/attendings. I'm also doing an elective in anesthesia, seems like a decent way to learn some procedures before internship year

My school also requires us to do 4weeks of ICU and 4weeks of ER which I think are pretty good electives for a future surgeon

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
I did gastroenterology and rads. Both proved to be invaluable for me because I already had significant colonoscopy and endoscopy experience before I did those rotations in residency and the rads helped me learn to evaluate studies properly. I learned loads about ultrasound on my rads elective which was again, invaluable.

njbmd🙂

 

[46&2]

I met with the Chairman of the Surgery Dept. at my school a week ago. He recommended:

Infectious Disease- have to do deal with infectious complications, abscess, antibiotic coverage, etc. all the time
Nephrology- always monitoring BUN/Cr, urine output, etc.
Cardiology- learn to read an EKG

He didn't mention anesthesia or rads, which is odd since everyone else emphasized those two. We recently had a newly admitted patient in the ICU who started to have a decline in respiratory status, but the intern didn't know how to intubate/prep for intubation or at least start a central line. The upper levels were in the OR, and the intern had difficulty getting anesthesia to come up (not sure what RT was doing). It was sad because it was the intern's second rotation and no one had been teaching seemingly essential procedures.

 

[SLUser11]

I met with the Chairman of the Surgery Dept. at my school a week ago. He recommended:

Infectious Disease- have to do deal with infectious complications, abscess, antibiotic coverage, etc. all the time
Nephrology- always monitoring BUN/Cr, urine output, etc.
Cardiology- learn to read an EKG

He didn't mention anesthesia or rads, which is odd since everyone else emphasized those two. We recently had a newly admitted patient in the ICU who started to have a decline in respiratory status, but the intern didn't know how to intubate/prep for intubation or at least start a central line. The upper levels were in the OR, and the intern had difficulty getting anesthesia to come up (not sure what RT was doing). It was sad because it was the intern's second rotation and no one had been teaching seemingly essential procedures.

I'm not sure what intubation prep you are talking about, but I don't think that surgery residents routinely intubate patients at any level of training. Most interns have SOME experience with central lines, but really shouldn't be placing them without supervision 2 months into residency....so I don't see what's sad except your unfair expectations of a newly minted doctor.

That being said, I don't think you should do a month of Cardiology to learn how to read an EKG, or a month of nephrology to learn how to monitor bun/creatinine and UOP....that SEEMS low yield, as that knowledge can be obtained in a short amount of time without the pain of a month of IM clinics/wards.

Radiology is important, and you'll need to learn it....BUT, most people take it as MS4s because it's easy....I personally think it's super-boring, especially as a student watching a resident in the dark for 8 hours. Most people take anesthesia because it's easy as well.

I think a month of ER is the best idea if you haven't already done it. You will see traumas, abdominal pain, and lots of other pathologies that land in the surgery resident's lap.....also, and probably just as important, you get to walk a mile in the ER physician's shoes, and you might not be as quick as other surgery residents to complain about and insult them once you understand how they work.

 

[2ndyear]

When I was in med school, one of our surgical chief residents routinely would intubate in the OR to "keep his skills fresh" as he said. He seemed pretty good at it too. It was a private practice anesthesia group at that hospital (no residents) so they loved to teach, and no anesthesia presence in the trauma bay as well as no ER residents meant any trauma airway was managed by surgery.

 

[Jocomama]

I couldn't agree more. Having been through Genl surg, I will say Radiology without a doubt.

Hi there,
I did gastroenterology and rads. Both proved to be invaluable for me because I already had significant colonoscopy and endoscopy experience before I did those rotations in residency and the rads helped me learn to evaluate studies properly. I learned loads about ultrasound on my rads elective which was again, invaluable.

njbmd🙂

 

[Dr JPH]

Thanks for all the insight.

I did a 3 week classroom radiology rotation but more couldnt hurt, especially picking up the little things in CXR, AbdXR and CT scans.

I am also strongly considering another cardiology rotation.

I have already done 8 weeks in the ICU and 2 weeks in anesthesia.

Maybe I can find a local hospital that will take me on for 4 weeks...2 in rads and 2 in cardio.

 

[Blade28]

As a fourth-year, I did nephrology and radiology as my non-surgical electives.