Scrubbing with your surgeon?

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abbaroodle

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Have any of you done a rotation where someone who treated you was the attending?

I was planning on doing my ortho rotation on the ortho-onc service however I ended up seeing one of the ortho-oncologists who actually did surgery on me. (Turns out nasty stress-fractures get sent to ortho-onc - news to me! The preliminary results from the biopsy she did during fixation was totally normal as we all expected, thank goodness!)

Would you recommend I change my plan and do ortho-trauma instead? Or do you not think it is a problem? I know students scrub with her and the other ortho-oncologist on the rotation, which could potentially be awkward. But I am not super worried given that I of course dont remember any of the surgery part, I dont have any huge medical secrets to hide, and she does this all the time. And she is super cool. Also grading for sub-specialties is pretty much a no-brainer - you do the work, you get a high-pass.

So awkward or not awkward? Or doctor-patient relationship dependent?

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Have any of you done a rotation where someone who treated you was the attending?

I was planning on doing my ortho rotation on the ortho-onc service however I ended up seeing one of the ortho-oncologists who actually did surgery on me. (Turns out nasty stress-fractures get sent to ortho-onc - news to me! The preliminary results from the biopsy she did during fixation was totally normal as we all expected, thank goodness!)

Would you recommend I change my plan and do ortho-trauma instead? Or do you not think it is a problem? I know students scrub with her and the other ortho-oncologist on the rotation, which could potentially be awkward. But I am not super worried given that I of course dont remember any of the surgery part, I dont have any huge medical secrets to hide, and she does this all the time. And she is super cool. Also grading for sub-specialties is pretty much a no-brainer - you do the work, you get a high-pass.

So awkward or not awkward? Or doctor-patient relationship dependent?

You remembering your surgeon and your surgeon remembering you are 2 entirely different things. No prob.
 
You remembering your surgeon and your surgeon remembering you are 2 entirely different things. No prob.

She knows me. I promise. I saw her in clinic a couple times and she spent a ton of time with me, she did her own post-op check, she spoke to my mom (getting her in line with our plan which was no small feat!), responded to several of my e-mails, called me to respond to my e-mailed questions the night before surgery since she hadnt had a chance to respond earlier in the day, and was really patient walking me through my options and helping me figure out what to do (its a weird injury which hasnt responded normally which made trying to figure out how to treat it difficult and frustrating) Pre-op when she was signing my leg she made fun of me for things I told her two weeks ago, she has offered to introduce me to a contact next year when I am studying abroad if I want to do tumor research, etc. This isn't like a surgeon I saw for 5 mins before having my appendix out.
 
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I'm not sure what your fears are.

Are you worried that she will be unable to separate the doctor-patient relationship from the doctor-mentor relationship?

Are you worried she (or you) won't be able to focus in the OR after having seen you naked? ;)

I honestly don't see a problem. If she were a relative there would be worries about grading fairly. But clinical faculty work with former patients not unfrequently. As a resident I worked on medical students on a few occasions (mostly on general and colorectal surgery) and family members of other residents. It wasn't awkward for me or the attending and I suspect the same is true for your surgeon.

If there is no other reason to change to Ortho Trauma (ie, you believe this will be a good rotation which fits your interests and career needs), then I don't see it as a problem to stay on rotation with this surgeon. She sounds great.
 
Sounds like you have a crush on her. ;)

Kidding.

I dont see any problem. If you were still an active patient (follow ups, regular visits) then I would say that might be different.
 
Thanks for the input!

I actually am going to be seeing her for f\u for a while, but I dont expect it to be much beyond her looking at the incisions and asking how things are going. Then again, nothing about this injury has been by the book.

I was originally going to do my ortho rotation starting last week at which point I was still trying to figure out what was going on and what I wanted to do - and what my doctors recommended. At that time it felt like it would be pretty awkward. But now that decisions have been made and surgery is done (and assuming everything is straightforward and clear from now!) it feels fine to me. (I am doing the rotation in July at the end of general surgery instead so I can use the time now to recover and heal up.)

KC - were they students you had worked with or worked with after you worked on them? Did you know them as pts or just do surgery on them and see them briefly after?
 
on my ophtho rotation one of the attendings was someone i'd seen as an outpatient the year before. the rotation went fine.
 
KC - were they students you had worked with or worked with after you worked on them? Did you know them as pts or just do surgery on them and see them briefly after?

Both. One was a pre-clinical student that I used to see in clinic for his chronic problem which progressed and we operated on him between 3rd and 4th year when he got acutely ill.

Another was a former student on rotation that showed up in the ED with a surgical emergency and another was a patient first, student next.

With the exception of the first (which entailed a number of follow-up visits), the remainder were sort of operate, discharge, see once post-op and then in the hallways. I don't know about them but I never felt funny about it. I operated on the brother of one of my co-residents; since it was a colorectal procedure, I saw all his "naughty bits" (and more) everyday but it never occured to me to feel awkward when I would see him later at parties and the hospital visiting his brother or coming to clinic for post-op checks.

Still I'm not sure why you are concerned that she "knows you as a patient". Surgeons operate on family and friends all the time as well as colleagues and it shouldn't affect their judgement or behavior. I guess its not unusual to feel awkward but I"ll bet she thinks nothing of it and frankly, would enjoy having you on service because she knows you have a vested interest in the topic.
 
It felt awkward when it was unclear what was going on and we were discussing options at which point I didnt want to be on her service. It doesnt feel weird anymore now that I had the surgery and am just in the healing phase. So I will now stop worrying and focus on healing and getting on with my last rotation. :D
 
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