Rural General Surgery

[eiresurg]

any 3rd or 4th year medical students interested in rural general surgery?

i am a 2nd general surgery resident at Bassett hospital in Cooperstown, NY. this program offers excellent opportunity for developing varying surgical skills to prepare you for practice as a general surgeon at a rural hospital or overseas missions work. i encourage anyone interested in discussing this program to e-mail me.

additionally, i'd be interested to hear general comments about practing general surgery in a rural setting . . .

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[mustangsally65]

I'm still pre-med, but I've seen my general surgeon in my town of ~1000 people, and I don't think I'd want his life. He's great and everything, but he's the only one who's there for emergencies. My mom had a late-night emergent hernia repair, and while I was glad he came in to do her surgery, I felt sorry for him. Especially where I live, since most of the population is made up of retirees. Can't be very exciting and it has to be pretty mundane. But I guess it depends on where you are.

Then again, I'm more of a rural family practice person myself, so take what I say with a grain of salt. My general surgeon is young, tall, and blond, and I didn't mind going to see him a few years ago. Very nice guy, although when you need surgery you usually don't care who the surgeon is, especially when it is an emergency.

However, it's still interesting, since most surgeons probably envision themselves working in a large hospital in a big city. It's great that people are interested in the rural practices, because they are needed.

 

[geekgirl]

you know there is "rural surgery" (i.e. smaller hospital settings) and there is also surgery in a rural setting (i.e. universities in rural areas), so it's something to think about in terms of choosing a place to study/train/teach/live.
i know surgeons in university hospitals in rural cities that see a wide variety and volume of cases, but serve a very underserved population. that too is an interesting intersection of rural and high volume/high tech. this sort of training also sets you up and trains you for surgery and travel.
i'm going to spend a month at just such a hospital in west virginia (wvu camc) for this type of experience. they see over 4000 heart cases a year and a slew of strange traumas (hunting related, etc), so their volume is big but the population and events are different from the city (which is where i train now). sorta interesting. and something to think about.