Ortho at Clinic

[deuce924]

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Obviously since it is orthopedic surgery, one would assume that most of their day is spent in the OR. I have been interested in Ortho since doing a little research my 1st year of medical school. I am interested in surgery but would also like to have a mix of days in the clinic.

Would being an orthopedic surgeon give me that type of practice or to rephrase that, would being an orthopedic surgeon give me the option of having that type of practice. Is this possible or are most of the days of a Ortho spent in the OR with little clinic time? Thanks....

 

[skiz knot]

Obviously since it is orthopedic surgery, one would assume that most of their day is spent in the OR. I have been interested in Ortho since doing a little research my 1st year of medical school. I am interested in surgery but would also like to have a mix of days in the clinic.

Would being an orthopedic surgeon give me that type of practice or to rephrase that, would being an orthopedic surgeon give me the option of having that type of practice. Is this possible or are most of the days of a Ortho spent in the OR with little clinic time? Thanks....

ALL surgical specialties have clinic. It is absolutely necessary to see your post op patients as well as to evaluate new patients, possible operative candidates, and manage people non-operatively. In general expect a 3:2 ratio of OR:Clinic.

 

[deuce924]

Thanks for the help.... I understand that there will be days when you are in clinic for post-ops, pre-ops, and new patients. I guess a more specific question is that, is there any procedures that can be done not in the OR or at the office so you could spend maybe 3 days a week in the OR and 2 days at the office? What type of non-operative procedures do orthopedics perform in the office? Thanks again for the replies.

 

[doogoshly]

a lot of docs i've seen will do 2 days of clinic and 2 days of surgery with friday being morning surgery and afternoon emergency clinic. of course not every doc in a group can do this but you get the idea. about half clinic, half surgery.

procedures that can be done in office off the top of my head: joint injections, aspirations, i&ds, dressing changes, suture removal, casting/splinting. basically anything that isn't really invasive or requiring a strict sterile field.

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

Clinic is very important to a surgeon. How else are you to get new patients unless you are ortho trauma? It sucks, but it has to be done. In my three months so far on sports med, spine, and joints, its about 2.5 days in clinic, 2 days in the or, and the other half day doing paperwork and sucktations.

 

[Podagra]

Trauma would be the only area where you are not dependent upon clinic. As for procedures that can be done in a clinical setting, removal of external fixators and injections are the only two "procedures" I can think of that are commonly performed in a clinic.

 

[ddmo]

Trauma would be the only area where you are not dependent upon clinic.

Not really. Lots of your operative stuff like ankles and wrists will be sent out of the ER to your office where you will have to see them and continue with fracture care or schedule them for OR; not to mention all of the post-op care. Most trauma guys have pretty busy clinics.

 

[pedroclinton]

Well I'm only in high school. But I spent my summer(over 300) hours with an orthopedic surgeon this summer and he spent 2.5-3 day a week in the clinic while seeing around 45 patients . The other two days would be in the OR with three surgeries or four surgeries max. The clinic os an important part of all private and public practices. And all patients are not surgical.

 

[Buckeye(OH)]

Trauma would be the only area where you are not dependent upon clinic. As for procedures that can be done in a clinical setting, removal of external fixators and injections are the only two "procedures" I can think of that are commonly performed in a clinic.

And where are your trauma post-ops supposed to follow up? Wal-mart?