prep for sub-i's

[avgjoe]

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So .. what would you suggest doing to prepare for sub-i's? Read up on surgical recall? some other text? Would you suggest doing a fairly easy rotation before it or is it not that big a deal? How different are the expectations for a sub-i versus a third year?
Also, is our medicine sub-i important when applying to gsurg?
thanks!

 

[njbmd]

Hi there,
Show your enthusiam for surgery! This means taking initiative, knowing your patients and their pathology well, checking labs and making sure that the intern knows the results etc. Scrub in on as many cases as you can and be an excellent team player. In addition, be well-read. This can be knowing Lawrence well and keeping something like Mont Reid in your pocket so that you can bone up quickly for that unexpected case. Be an excellent camera-driver on the laparoscopic cases. Try to learn and do procedures like central lines, arterial lines and chest tubes. These will be very handy next year for you.

Don'ts: Don't try to step on the intern. They are already matched and you are not. Don't try to gun. Don't be rude to the ancillary staff (nursing, lab, radiology etc). Don't whine about the hours, you will be preaching to the choir. Don't be lazy and don't try to "brown-nose" the faculty. Faculty members are going to take their cues from the residents so make sure that you contributing to the team.

Dos: Learn all you can about the politics and workings of your sub I location. Learn where folks live and how they get to work. (Very important in places that have lots of snow and ice). Find out about other things in the location like culture, entertainment etc. (You need to have good ways to decompress). Answer pages promptly; see consults and write them up correctly. Pitch in and really help the team.

Make sure that your significant other is happy with your choice of locations. Being a surgery intern and pining away for you distant love is going to make you more than miserable.

Other than the above, learn, shine, investigate on your sub-I. You should have great basic medical student skills at this point. If not, a quick read of "How to be a truly Excellent Junior Medical Student" should get you up to speed.

Good luck!
njbmd 🙂

 

[doc05]

first, talk to other students who've done a surgical sub-i at the same hospital. see what the expectations are: at some places you'll work as hard as an intern, but at others you may have fewer real responsibilities, other than perhaps more time in the OR.

get a good surgical handbook (mont reid, etc). you should know recall by memory by the time you start the rotation, since it really only covers 3rd-year-level stuff. get a good surgical atlas, and read up on the most common cases. if you're on a more specialized service (eg hepatobiliary, vascular, etc), be sure to know everything about those cases. if an attending has a special interest, or is an expert in a certain type of case, be sure you know everything about those cases too.

know how to tie knots, suture, put in IVs, etc. (all the skills you should have learned as a 3rd year. -- many students at "cush" hospitals get little real practice in these skills, so be sure to brush up on everything if you're a little rusty)

be sure you get organized and have a system that works for you (checklists, etc) to cover all patients on your service when you're on call. know all phone numbers since you'll need to call other services and follow-up on studies.

.....

 

[DoctorDoom]

Your medical sub-I is important because you want to establish a consistent track record of success. And it will make you a better surgeon if you get some good medical knowledge out of the experience.

 

[avgjoe]

what's a good surgical atlas for a fourth year?

 

[Ergo]

bump

 

[Blade28]

To prepare for scrubbing into cases? During my sub-I, I liked to review Sabiston's (read the few pages on the disease), plus Zollinger's if I wanted to review the actual technique of the procedure.