We did 1-2 months of SICU, 1 month on OMS, 1 month vacation, then 8-9 on General Surgery service which was a mix of Acute Care Surgery / Plastics and Reconstructive Surgery (body mostly, transgender stuff was big, they didn't do much face stuff)/Colorectal/Vascular.
"full fledged member of the surgical team" means doing scut if you are a PGY-1. Rounding, discharges, admissions, floor work, the odd insurance stuff, communicating, etc. There would be the odd emergency on the floor we'd have to deal with, maybe transporting patients, etc. This is the life of a PGY-1, and maybe for the first 3-4 months, it was a worthwhile learning experience. After that, it started feeling like scut, but also it was also partly my attitude.
We would get to the OR almost once every other week: to do basic surgeries that the higher residents wouldn't want to be bothered with, and the attendings doing the cases needed a first assist to retract, do the same day surgery paperwork, prescriptions, etc: mostly ambulatory surgery like hernias, breast lumpectomies, other lumps and bumps, the odd appendectomy or cholecystectomy as a second assist and such. The categorical PYG-1s got to go in to some of the bigger cases, but frankly, they also tried a lot harder and deserved it much more than us. They would stay later, demonstrate more interest and such and they'd be mentored a little more by the older residents in General Surgery. We helped out as much as we could on the floor, and were never disrespected because they appreciated us, but everyone sort of understood that at 6PM, after sign-out the OMS/urology/ENT guys would be going home, and we liked it that way.
I don't think the General Surgery year is a year any of us should think too much about. You just sort of get through it and everyone will pick up different things. Probably what is more important is how LITTLE time you have to spend on General Surgery. Like I said, I think some months of it is important to learn the floor stuff, the hospital system, learn to write notes, communicate, deal with emergencies, have experience in an ICU, etc. But I think most will agree that 3-4 months is plenty.
