Sloan-Kettering

[s42brown]

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hello all,

I am currently an intern in a general surgery residency and am very interested in Surg-Onc. I stumbled across a rotation offered by Sloan-Kettering for surgical residents interested in surgical oncology. I was wondering if anyone on this board has rotated there as a resident and if you could share your experience.

Thanks

Doc Brown

 

[Blade28]

Wow, I hadn't realized you could still do away rotations as a resident?! 😕

 

[gasnewby]

i guess if your program has elective time...i worked with a female attending who trained at "memorial," as it's called, and she was very good...we didn't talk specifics about the program but obviously it has an excellent reputation.

 

[Blade28]

Wow, yeah. Elective time. What's that? 🙁

Many of our Surg Onc attendings are from Memorial, Anderson, or both.

 

[Winged Scapula]

One of my former Chiefs, who is now a Surgical Oncologist at Hopkins was able to swing an elective at Sloan in his 3rd year and loved it. He was also given time to go abroad for a project as well in his 4th...so while "policy" may be that electives aren't allowed, especially at the senior level, it sometimes can be worked out.

Its certainly a well known center but that doesn't mean its necessarily the best for you. If you are interested in an academic practice, places like Sloan and MD Anderson will train you well. However, they are, for good and bad, highly multidisciplinary. Many times you will never be the person biopsying a patient, they will come to you already diagnosed, for the definitive treatment. If you see a patient who needs a biopsy, especially an image guided one, you will most certainly refer them to Rads rather than doing it yourself. And again, that's fine if you are absolutely certain you will not want to do these things yourself or be in an environment where you might be expected to (ie, community or PP setting).

 

[Castro Viejo]

I did an HPB elective at MSKCC during my R4 year.

Good rotation but... 😱

Convinced me the hell outta thinking HPB was for me!

 

[Blade28]

I did an HPB elective at MSKCC during my R4 year.

Yeah but you're in the same city. 🙂

 

[Winged Scapula]

Yeah but you're in the same city. 🙂

Sort of. 😉

 

[Dr JPH]

PCOM General Surgery residents spend several months at Sloan. It is one of our regular rotation sites for Surg Onc.

Some of my upper year residents have worked on HPB, Thoracic and Colorectal.

I have not yet been there myself but every one of my uppers tells me "Sloan is hard, but its worth it."

YES you are often the junior resident on a service with Fellows. But some of the things you may never see other places are almost commonplace at Sloan.

 

[s42brown]

Any idea what kind of operative experience the residents get?

 

[Blade28]

PCOM General Surgery residents spend several months at Sloan. It is one of our regular rotation sites for Surg Onc.

Some of my upper year residents have worked on HPB, Thoracic and Colorectal.

I have not yet been there myself but every one of my uppers tells me "Sloan is hard, but its worth it."

YES you are often the junior resident on a service with Fellows. But some of the things you may never see other places are almost commonplace at Sloan.

Hey, welcome back!

 

[ESU_MD]

what operative experience would you get as a visiting resident?? holding hook of course, and getting to close the fascia with the fellows

I doubt the rotator is sewing any significant anastomosis.

although it may be worth it just to see the big operations that you will never do in practice anyway.

besides-- who wants to operate on the liver!!👎

 

[Pir8DeacDoc]

But some of the things you may never see other places are almost commonplace at Sloan.

I'm wondering if that's helpful or not?? I guess it depends what one's career goals and ambitions are.

 

[Dr JPH]

I'm wondering if that's helpful or not?? I guess it depends what one's career goals and ambitions are.

Agreed. I think from my perspective (PGY-1) I would be interested in seeing some of the pathology that I have read about.

 

[s42brown]

Thanks for your help guys. I have a few years to go until my PGY-4 year. Just found out that I will be moving on in my residency, as match day for the military was this past week. Believe it or not, the Army still has pyramid programs. Has anyone had experiences with other surgical oncology programs as a resident?😀

 

[garybass]

I did an HPB elective at MSKCC during my R4 year.

I did the same elective at MS4 level and loved every minute of it. MSK is an incredible place for those interested in a highly-academic career.

Any idea what kind of operative experience the residents get?

That said, it is very fellow-centered and the resident (an R4) spent most of his time "running scut" and was only peripherally involved in the OR; indeed, I think I operated twice as much as he did in the month I was there and performed pretty much the same job in the OR (waterskiing and closing skin).

 

[dchaos]

I did an HPB elective at MSKCC during my R4 year.

I took an HPB elective there as a MS4 recently and had an incredible time. MSKCC is an amazing place, particularly for those who are interested in a highly-academic career.

Any idea what kind of operative experience the residents get?

That said, the training is very much Fellow-centered and the resident on the service (an R4) spent much of his time in a service role, "running scut". Indeed, I was scrubbed in the OR approximately twice as often as he was in the month I was there and I performed much the same role (2nd assistant, waterskiing and closing skin).