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- Jul 30, 2002
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Hi all,
I am doing some research in CT surgery--and I get to go to the OR once a wk. The attending I am working it is truly an amazing guy and just knows everything so well--he has no ego, altho he is chief of the dept at a top 5 school in the country. I am admired by his modesty and try desire to teach.
I am interested in surgery mainly because to me, procedural work brings instant gratification. I think after 7-8 years of residency (considering specialization) and fellowship, you are sick and tired of what you are doing-regardless of what it is--and obviosuly the true fruits of medicine are not available until res/fellow is over and you become an attending or work in a prvt practice. So what i am getting at is that, after 10 years of hard work and training and becomming jaded along the way, at the end of the day there has to be something of significant threshold that has to keep you going and allow you to do what you do with CONTENT.
After seeing a dozen or so cases, from lobectomy for cancer resection to sympathectomy for hyperhydrosis--i can totally see the gratification that one can get from this procedural type of medicine--granted not everything works out, and people die, but come on--it is extremely rewarding (if you are pursuing medicine fo the right reasons, which i hope people are, cuz it's truly not worth it if you are trying to make 250-300k/year--go get your mba and work in a buiss firm).
And to me, that is the ultimate sense of gratification one can recieve from their job--and that in turn keeps you going i think. But obviosuly I am speaking from a very premature perspective as I am only a 20 year old kid, who barely has any clinical experience and just fnished his first year of medical school. Additionally, it is amzing at how much tey do and HOW HIGH RISK thier job is--i mean we cut the recurrent laryngeal nerve the other day--lady can;t swallow, or has difficulty--that's significant! But things like that occur even with meticulous dissecton and technique. Plus, after standing for hours on--you get freaking tired--lol. Atleast I do, cuz I don;t get to do much, and observing definately makes you fall asleep.
But anywyas, I wanted to know what you guys think of all this--i know medicine in itself is rewarding--but surgery adn procedural medicine to me seems to rbing a sense of isntant gratification--i know some of the medicine specialties allow for that experience as well (ent, invasive cardio, interventional radio) but i don't truly know if 10-15 yrs from now i will like what i do, and like i said before yo alwyas have to go back to something of signifcant level to reflect and realize what you do and why you do it--and that in and of itself--is gratification--i think. I also don't like the lifestyle--i mean ii don't wanna be in the OR and work 60+ hrs/wk--my family will be important later on--
Furthermore, I think what I am truly fasinated by is the fact that I am at a very prestigious institute, and while going thru some of the charts for the research i do, i see the letters that people have written to the ct surgeons here, and they are very appealing--i think i am also really impressed and indulged in this graitification ordeal because the faciility is world renowned for thier ct dept and the doctors i see and interact with are internationally renowned so they do have a greater sense of experience and all the referrals they get and the work they do --ultimately ==that is what i am so fond of. I don't know--i don't know what the point of this thread is and if you are still reading, maybe you hold similar views--please share--basically i don't know if i want to become a surgeon --it's very rewarding and that is a key factor in deciding what specialty one will go into (atleast for me, i will never do radiology, 1. i don't like, 2. i won't go in it for the money and cuz it's "easy" and u just go to your "job" and do your work. I wish i could think of it like that--the high risk thing really bothers me about surgery--malpractice is gotta be high, and there is alwyas room for human error--what if u mess up, aand people do--it seems as if that threat is alwyas in the back of your head--
please share what you think--and esp people who are already surgeons or gen surg residents/fellows--what do you guys think in reference to my views, what would you say after being in the field for x amount of years?
Please comment-thank you all for reading.
HT
I am doing some research in CT surgery--and I get to go to the OR once a wk. The attending I am working it is truly an amazing guy and just knows everything so well--he has no ego, altho he is chief of the dept at a top 5 school in the country. I am admired by his modesty and try desire to teach.
I am interested in surgery mainly because to me, procedural work brings instant gratification. I think after 7-8 years of residency (considering specialization) and fellowship, you are sick and tired of what you are doing-regardless of what it is--and obviosuly the true fruits of medicine are not available until res/fellow is over and you become an attending or work in a prvt practice. So what i am getting at is that, after 10 years of hard work and training and becomming jaded along the way, at the end of the day there has to be something of significant threshold that has to keep you going and allow you to do what you do with CONTENT.
After seeing a dozen or so cases, from lobectomy for cancer resection to sympathectomy for hyperhydrosis--i can totally see the gratification that one can get from this procedural type of medicine--granted not everything works out, and people die, but come on--it is extremely rewarding (if you are pursuing medicine fo the right reasons, which i hope people are, cuz it's truly not worth it if you are trying to make 250-300k/year--go get your mba and work in a buiss firm).
And to me, that is the ultimate sense of gratification one can recieve from their job--and that in turn keeps you going i think. But obviosuly I am speaking from a very premature perspective as I am only a 20 year old kid, who barely has any clinical experience and just fnished his first year of medical school. Additionally, it is amzing at how much tey do and HOW HIGH RISK thier job is--i mean we cut the recurrent laryngeal nerve the other day--lady can;t swallow, or has difficulty--that's significant! But things like that occur even with meticulous dissecton and technique. Plus, after standing for hours on--you get freaking tired--lol. Atleast I do, cuz I don;t get to do much, and observing definately makes you fall asleep.
But anywyas, I wanted to know what you guys think of all this--i know medicine in itself is rewarding--but surgery adn procedural medicine to me seems to rbing a sense of isntant gratification--i know some of the medicine specialties allow for that experience as well (ent, invasive cardio, interventional radio) but i don't truly know if 10-15 yrs from now i will like what i do, and like i said before yo alwyas have to go back to something of signifcant level to reflect and realize what you do and why you do it--and that in and of itself--is gratification--i think. I also don't like the lifestyle--i mean ii don't wanna be in the OR and work 60+ hrs/wk--my family will be important later on--
Furthermore, I think what I am truly fasinated by is the fact that I am at a very prestigious institute, and while going thru some of the charts for the research i do, i see the letters that people have written to the ct surgeons here, and they are very appealing--i think i am also really impressed and indulged in this graitification ordeal because the faciility is world renowned for thier ct dept and the doctors i see and interact with are internationally renowned so they do have a greater sense of experience and all the referrals they get and the work they do --ultimately ==that is what i am so fond of. I don't know--i don't know what the point of this thread is and if you are still reading, maybe you hold similar views--please share--basically i don't know if i want to become a surgeon --it's very rewarding and that is a key factor in deciding what specialty one will go into (atleast for me, i will never do radiology, 1. i don't like, 2. i won't go in it for the money and cuz it's "easy" and u just go to your "job" and do your work. I wish i could think of it like that--the high risk thing really bothers me about surgery--malpractice is gotta be high, and there is alwyas room for human error--what if u mess up, aand people do--it seems as if that threat is alwyas in the back of your head--
please share what you think--and esp people who are already surgeons or gen surg residents/fellows--what do you guys think in reference to my views, what would you say after being in the field for x amount of years?
Please comment-thank you all for reading.
HT
