Number of SubIs

[7abiby]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Hey guys,
How many SubIs did you guys generally do in General Surgery? I have two required SubIs at my school. Also, is it better to do electives later on in general surgery or can you do them in general surgery specialties (CT, vascular, etc)?

Thanks

 

[Blade28]

Two, both away rotations.

 

[Anka]

5 or so, all home. Signed up based on who the chief residents were and had great experiences, learned a ton. Also did a medicine sub I which, because it's a ward service, had a lot of autonomy and was a real confidence booster.


Anka

 

[SLUser11]

Hey guys,
How many SubIs did you guys generally do in General Surgery? I have two required SubIs at my school. Also, is it better to do electives later on in general surgery or can you do them in general surgery specialties (CT, vascular, etc)?

Thanks

I personally did 2 away rotations, both in the fall of 4th year. I did another 2 surgery rotations at my home program.

The Sub-internship is your best chance to get a solid, personal, detailed Letter of Recommendation (unlike the ones you can get as an MS3), so you probably want to rotate at the places with the most famous surgeons in the early fall.

 

[twood]

Hey guys,
How many SubIs did you guys generally do in General Surgery? I have two required SubIs at my school. Also, is it better to do electives later on in general surgery or can you do them in general surgery specialties (CT, vascular, etc)?

Thanks

1 Gen Surg at home
1 trauma/Crit Care month away
2 Gen Surg months away
august to november

 

[Blade28]

Ah, if you're including non-G Surg surgical months, I also did a month of CT Surg, a month of Plastics and a month of SICU.

 

[7abiby]

Thanks guys

 

[Winged Scapula]

2 months Gen Surg
1 month Rural Surgery
2 months General Plastics
1 month Hand
1 month Burns

as I recall (its been awhile; I also extended my 4th year so I could do extra electives)

 

[7abiby]

2 months Gen Surg
1 month Rural Surgery
2 months General Plastics
1 month Hand
1 month Burns

as I recall (its been awhile; I also extended my 4th year so I could do extra electives)

Were those all SubIs or were some of them electives?

 

[Winged Scapula]

Were those all SubIs or were some of them electives?

Hand, Burns and PRS were electives.

 

[Playmakur42]

1 month Rural Surgery

I'm very curious to know what the differences were between a regular GS rotation and a rural GS rotation. (More call nights? Older/Less Diagnostic equipment? GS required to perform a greater breadth of procedures, including some basic ortho/neuro sx?)

 

[Winged Scapula]

I'm very curious to know what the differences were between a regular GS rotation and a rural GS rotation. (More call nights? Older/Less Diagnostic equipment? GS required to perform a greater breadth of procedures, including some basic ortho/neuro sx?)

We did all the Ortho, Neuro, Plastics, and the nearest CT scanner was about 1000 miles away.

The Orthopedic surgeon was in town every two weeks; he'd complain about some of the ORIFs we did, but not enough to fly in more frequently to do them himself. 😛

 

[7abiby]

Hand, Burns and PRS were electives.

Is it better to do your SubIs first in the beginning of your 4th year to get them on your transcript or would it be a good idea to do electives first to get some practice?

 

[Winged Scapula]

Is it better to do your SubIs first in the beginning of your 4th year to get them on your transcript or would it be a good idea to do electives first to get some practice?

Presuming you want to use the Sub-Is to get letters, its probably better to do them first, although if doing surgical electives that would be fine (although be aware that some general surgeons frown on Plastics).

 

[BlondeDocteur]

WS, was in that in Australia? Curious as to where in the US is 1000 miles from a scanner.

 

[Winged Scapula]

WS, was in that in Australia? Curious as to where in the US is 1000 miles from a scanner.

It was...in Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The closest scanner was back in Adelaide. It was a great experience. We were so busy, I, as a 4th year student, got to run my own ORs for basic things like abscess I&Ds, wound debridements (albeit with the attending in the next room over).

 

[7abiby]

Presuming you want to use the Sub-Is to get letters, its probably better to do them first, although if doing surgical electives that would be fine (although be aware that some general surgeons frown on Plastics).

Thanks WS. You've been a lot of help. One more question 😀. If you do research with more than one surgeon, should you try to get letters from all of them or should you focus more on letters from surgery attendings from your SubI? Is there a limit on the number of letters you can submit?


Thanks 🙂

 

[Winged Scapula]

Thanks WS. You've been a lot of help. One more question 😀. If you do research with more than one surgeon, should you try to get letters from all of them or should you focus more on letters from surgery attendings from your SubI? Is there a limit on the number of letters you can submit?


Thanks 🙂

ONE research letter is ok; the rest really have to be clinically oriented.

You can submit as many letters as you like but bear in mind that submitting more than the programs ask for, runs the risk of annoying them. Surgeons are easily annoyed. We do not have time to read 16 letters. So IF YOU MUST, you may submit ONE MORE letter than we ask for (unless we have told you explicitly that if you dare to do so we will haunt you and piss on your application). Anymore than one extra is tantamount to career/application suicide.

 

[7abiby]

ONE research letter is ok; the rest really have to be clinically oriented.

You can submit as many letters as you like but bear in mind that submitting more than the programs ask for, runs the risk of annoying them. Surgeons are easily annoyed. We do not have time to read 16 letters. So IF YOU MUST, you may submit ONE MORE letter than we ask for (unless we have told you explicitly that if you dare to do so we will haunt you and piss on your application). Anymore than one extra is tantamount to career/application suicide.

haha got it 😀
Thanks