So do YOU know? (specialty)

[Back 5]

What's funny about that image is when I was having one of my shoulder surgeries the Ortho, did in fact, have Green Day blasting in the surgical room.

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[mehc012]

Surgery, ideally peds (if I'm allowed to kid myself that I have ANY useful perspective on this yet).

 

[mehc012]

What's funny about that image is when I was having one of my shoulder surgeries the Ortho, did in fact, have Green Day blasting in the surgical room.

How do you even know that?

I keep forgetting that not everyone completely loses the time leading up to anesthesia. I don't even remember meeting an anesthesiologist; I was just waiting for one, and then I was cackling hysterically and (apparently) holding my breath to eff with the weird beeping sounds in postop

 

[Back 5]

How do you even know that?

I keep forgetting that not everyone completely loses the time leading up to anesthesia. I don't even remember meeting an anesthesiologist; I was just waiting for one, and then I was cackling hysterically and (apparently) holding my breath to eff with the weird beeping sounds in postop

This was 10+ years ago, but I was pre-health back then. I ended up having multiple shoulder surgeries with the same Ortho, so I had asked if I could stay awake to see the OR and the instruments etc. They wheeled me in fully awake and showed me all the fun stuff. They transfered me to the table and the darned thing was sooo tiny. Felt like I was going to fall off. Anyway, they strapped me down, started to put me to sleep and I asked them what music they were listening to. They started blasting Green Day, Dookie album. I laughed, said I loved Green Day and passed out. Not before telling the hot blonde nurse anesthetist that she was "soooo hot"

Anyway. I've had 9 orthopedic surgeries due to the great sport of rugby. The last ortho, who has operated on my knee 3 times now, let me stay awake for one of them. Very cool to see him scoping my knee on the monitor and talking to him and the assistance as they did their job for the next hour. It hurt, but was worth not feeling like crap coming out of anesthesia.

 

[mehc012]

This was 10+ years ago, but I was pre-health back then. I ended up having multiple shoulder surgeries with the same Ortho, so I had asked if I could stay awake to see the OR and the instruments etc. They wheeled me in fully awake and showed me all the fun stuff. They transfered me to the table and the darned thing was sooo tiny. Felt like I was going to fall off. Anyway, they strapped me down, started to put me to sleep and I asked them what music they were listening to. They started blasting Green Day, Dookie album. I laughed, said I loved Green Day and passed out. Not before telling the hot blonde nurse anesthetist that she was "soooo hot"

Anyway. I've had 9 orthopedic surgeries due to the great sport of rugby. The last ortho, who has operated on my knee 3 times now, let me stay awake for one of them. Very cool to see him scoping my knee on the monitor and talking to him and the assistance as they did their job for the next hour. It hurt, but was worth not feeling like crap coming out of anesthesia.

That's pretty cool (aside from needing all the surgeries to begin with!) I just had the one knee surgery, but even if they had kept me awake until we got in the room, I don't think it would have been much use. I seriously cannot remember anything leading UP to the anesthesia! On the plus side, I felt great coming out...first everything was hilarious, then I just wanted pancakes, and then I went to practice (on crutches, obvi). I was early morning, so I was fine to drive and crutch around campus by the afternoon, which was nice. Would have been nice to see the OR, though (and honestly the memory loss weirds me out a bit)!

 

[Chip N Sawbones]

I like the orthopods in the cartoon too. I've used the same joke about how it's important not to force things that won't fit, but to stop and get a bigger hammer many times on construction sites. The opportunity to use it in the OR will make all the extra med school studying and long hours in residency worthwhile.

 

[anguisette]

Personally, I like the radiology one.

I now feel a little cheated that when I was observing surgeries I heard neither Green Day nor any jokes about bigger hammers.

 

[ErrantWhatever]

How do you even know that?

I keep forgetting that not everyone completely loses the time leading up to anesthesia. I don't even remember meeting an anesthesiologist; I was just waiting for one, and then I was cackling hysterically and (apparently) holding my breath to eff with the weird beeping sounds in postop

Bahahaha. Exactly. When I had my shoulder scoped, apparently I was talking bubbles and hitting on the nurses. Wouldn't have been a big deal, except that 1) I was only 17, 2) the surgeon was my dad's partner, and 3) my dad regularly worked with those nurses.

Burn.

 

[Erakis]

I love to work with my hands, so I want to do surgery. If I do well in school, I'll try to match neurosurg, but I'm also interested in plastics (and Regenerative medicine research), and pediatric surgical oncology.

 

[Back 5]

Bahahaha. Exactly. When I had my shoulder scoped, apparently I was talking bubbles and hitting on the nurses. Wouldn't have been a big deal, except that 1) I was only 17, 2) the surgeon was my dad's partner, and 3) my dad regularly worked with those nurses.

Burn.

Lol, I have sooo many fun surgical stories. I always had a blast

 

[Dynamo24]

I love to work with my hands, so I want to do surgery. If I do well in school, I'll try to match neurosurg, but I'm also interested in plastics (and Regenerative medicine research), and pediatric surgical oncology.

Plastics seems so awesome. I trained (fitness) an ENT fellow and he was telling me about grafting bone from a fibula onto someones jaw. Needless to say I was sold.

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[MedWonk]

Plastic Orthopedic Neurosurgery with OMM. You guys have no ambition limiting yourselves to just one thing.

 

[Snakes]

I'm thinking EM but am open to other things. I am more aware of what I absolutely DON'T want at this point:
Surgery
Psych
Derm
Rads
Ortho

I'm open to anesthesia, especially pain, crit care, ob (but afraid of the lifestyle) and other choices. Mainly, I don't want to run a business and think I will do better employed by a hospital. And I like the idea of shift work. Maybe hospitalist is in my future. Who knows. Impossible to know until I've gotten into 3rd and 4th years.

 

[wlt217]

I'm interested in neurosurgery, although I'm still early in the process of gathering information. The residency hours and emotional drain (poor patient outcomes, from what I hear) make it difficult to predict how well I'd survive (I'm guessing rotations are the best way to gauge this), but at this point it's just a game of speculation anyway. I'm certainly open to other specialties.

Does anyone know of any good resources for introduction to the wide range of specialties? Maybe it's best to just pick one at a time and do my own investigation?

 

[Chip N Sawbones]

Plastic Orthopedic Neurosurgery with OMM. You guys have no ambition limiting yourselves to just one thing.

You're not going to integrate dermatology with that? Slacker.

 

[phys2med]

Rads or Rad Oncology as of right now. I love working with my hands and the idea of surgery is appealing but I don't think the desire is there to put up with those kind of hours. I would consider primary care if every doctor I've shadowed hadn't told me to stay as far away from primary care as possible.

 

[MedWonk]

You're not going to integrate dermatology with that? Slacker.

And look at butt pimples all day? Even I have my dignity.

 

[CajunMedic]

I came up through the ranks in EMS. Emergency Medicine has always been my goal. I had considered rural family practice ( I grew up in the country, plus I've always preferred working in rural areas), but the pace would be too slow for me. The ultimate goal for my career is to work in about a 10 bed ER along with Medical Director of the hospital based Ambulance Service.

I like the lifestyle: 12 hour shifts, no call, variety of patients.

 

[OrthopodMD]

Love the comic strip!

OrthopodMD want in Ortho! ME GO!

 

[Pose]

I worked as an ED tech for almost six years while going to school. It did nothing but motivate me more to become an EP.

With that being said, I really like ENT. My exposure to ENT has either been through airway emergencies in the ED, or oddly enough, shadowing neurosurg. A very limited view, but I still find it awesome.

But really...EM is why I decided to go to college, and why I chose the job I did.

 

[handstanding]

I'd love to use the next six months to start figuring this out, but does anyone else feel like a partial (if not total) douche following around MD's as a grown-ass man/woman? I felt like I was 16. Don't get me wrong, 16 was a great year for me, but I'd prefer not to relive it 12 years later.

Yes, somewhat. I'm 24 and don't really look much older than the average student, so that helps, but I worked in healthcare for about 5 years before going back to school. So just standing around while everybody works feels strange and actually lazy to me.

As far as picking a specialty... yeah, I have some ideas of where I'm leaning based on my personality (primary care, maybe peds, maybe OB, maybe family med), but I feel like I'll never have enough exposure to really know for sure what the right choice is.

 

[Patassa]

I came up through the ranks in EMS. Emergency Medicine has always been my goal. I had considered rural family practice ( I grew up in the country, plus I've always preferred working in rural areas), but the pace would be too slow for me. The ultimate goal for my career is to work in about a 10 bed ER along with Medical Director of the hospital based Ambulance Service.

I like the lifestyle: 12 hour shifts, no call, variety of patients.

So how does a cajun end up in Ethel?

 

[Patassa]

I probably get this question on a weekly basis, and I'll answer with what I tell everyone in person. "I've had too many doctors tell me to not even pretend that I'm sure I know what I want to do in medicine until I'm doing it." That usually gets people off my back, the whole argument from authority (of these doctors) and leaves the door wide open to consider any which way the wind blows if I'm fortunate enough to be in that position soon.

 

[SPTtoMD]

Although I have preferences so far having shadowed a variety of doctors in hospitals and private practice, rural and urban, and multiple specialties, I'm keeping my options open until actually going on clinical rotations. Observing doctors and actually performing the procedures or making the diagnoses are vastly different.

Neurology is appealing because I have worked with people with neurologic conditions since turning 18 and have done extensive research on stroke (albeit using a rodent model). I feel most at home in the neuro setting, but who knows?

I was also considering OB/GYN and any given branch of internal medicine. Additionally, if I were to become a rural OB/GYN I would get to wear many hats-- exams, deliveries, Caesareans, you name it.

I know for sure I do not want to specialize in orthopedics or PM&R. Radiology and pathology don't give you much patient contact, and neither does surgery unless rounds count. Derm seems like a lofty goal but I'm interested in that field as well.

 

[mcdtheta]

Although, I have to say that since I'l probably be a minimum of 44 before I'm done with med school, general surgery would have to grab pretty damn hard since I'd be into my 50s before I could start practicing.

I completely agree. I worked for a time in the OR with CT Surgery & Trauma and loved it. If I was going to be 10 years younger when I got done with this crazy ride I would jump with both feet. When I get asked I always answer that it will depend on where my life is at the time .. but I do feel a strong pull to surgery, critical care, and neonatology.