Surgery Rocks!!!

[doctigger]

I got to see my first surgery today.... I loved it!!! It was a hand surgery. This guy was working with a high power paint sprayer and it went off when it was pointed at his hand.... injecting his hand with paint! Ick!!!

I was volunteering in the ED when he came in and asked if I could tag along... I got to sit right by the surgeons and watch the whole thing as they opened his hand up to fix him up. It was an awesome experience and I can't wait to see another surgery!

My new avitar is me in my surgery attire.

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[riceman04]

I got to see my first surgery today.... I loved it!!! It was a hand surgery. This guy was working with a high power paint sprayer and it went off when it was pointed at his hand.... injecting his hand with paint! Ick!!! So I got to sit right by the surgeons and watch the whole thing as they opened his hand up to fix him up. It was an awesome experience and I can't wait to see another surgery!

My new avitar is me in my surgery attire.

Isn't it cool!!!!!!!
What all did they do besides suction and irrigate?

And isn't the scrubbing up procedure cool?

Have fun, learn as much as possible, and make connections!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Arsenic]

I got to see my first surgery today.... I loved it!!! It was a hand surgery. This guy was working with a high power paint sprayer and it went off when it was pointed at his hand.... injecting his hand with paint! Ick!!!

I was volunteering in the ED when he came in and asked if I could tag along... I got to sit right by the surgeons and watch the whole thing as they opened his hand up to fix him up. It was an awesome experience and I can't wait to see another surgery!

My new avitar is me in my surgery attire.

congrats, thats awesome.

do you want to become a surgeon?

 

[doctigger]

Well, first of all, it was ivory colored paint, so it was all mixed up and hard to tell apart from the fat tissue. They opened up from close to the fingertip down to the top third of the palm. Because of the paint, it took a while to identify nerves, vessels, and the like so that they could get down to more of where the paint was.... sometimes they took out little gooberish chunks of it. There was alot of irrigation and suction.... and stitching up of corse.

I really lucked out.... the resident that I asked about observing was really cool about it. In the OR, the resident, physician, and nurse explained stuff to me and had me do a couple of the simple things like "hold his arm while I put the turnicate on" and "pull here, and here, and here.... see? you've correctly opened the sterile iron hand." The CNA was a doll, too.

I didn't do the sterile scrub in but did enjoy whatever it is when you're in scrubs/mask/cap/glasses. I hadn't really considered surgery before, I'm more geared toward being a family practice physician with special training in immunology, neurology, and naturopathy. But the surgery was so intreaguing I'm going to consider that too!

During the surgery, another surgeon came in and was talking about a guy with a huuuuuuuuge blood clot in his (or her) leg. He pulled out his digital camera and showed us this giant glob of blood clot, it was the size of two or three grapefruits!!!!!! Later, they let me take a few pictures of the hand surgery with my camera phone.... (I'm SOOOO saving these) The quality isn't that great, but you still get the idea.

I'm part of a volunteer team of clinical research assistants in the ER. We screen patients for studies, do some interviews, and get to observe some of the stuff in the ER.

 

[tank you]

wow, youre so lucky, i wish i could observe surgery where i volunteer...

 

[desikudi]

yup...surgery rocks... It very interesting..atleast to me.

 

[JamesNunez]

Congrats!

Cool pics!

 

[Doctor_GirL]

Congrats!

Cool pics!

wow i am now soo anxious!!!!!!!!1 cant wait till it's my turn to see things like that .. aww man I am so happy and anxious ... lol

 

[nicholonious]

Well, first of all, it was ivory colored paint, so it was all mixed up and hard to tell apart from the fat tissue. They opened up from close to the fingertip down to the top third of the palm. Because of the paint, it took a while to identify nerves, vessels, and the like so that they could get down to more of where the paint was.... sometimes they took out little gooberish chunks of it. There was alot of irrigation and suction.... and stitching up of corse.

I really lucked out.... the resident that I asked about observing was really cool about it. In the OR, the resident, physician, and nurse explained stuff to me and had me do a couple of the simple things like "hold his arm while I put the turnicate on" and "pull here, and here, and here.... see? you've correctly opened the sterile iron hand." The CNA was a doll, too.

I didn't do the sterile scrub in but did enjoy whatever it is when you're in scrubs/mask/cap/glasses. I hadn't really considered surgery before, I'm more geared toward being a family practice physician with special training in immunology, neurology, and naturopathy. But the surgery was so intreaguing I'm going to consider that too!

During the surgery, another surgeon came in and was talking about a guy with a huuuuuuuuge blood clot in his (or her) leg. He pulled out his digital camera and showed us this giant glob of blood clot, it was the size of two or three grapefruits!!!!!! Later, they let me take a few pictures of the hand surgery with my camera phone.... (I'm SOOOO saving these) The quality isn't that great, but you still get the idea.

I'm part of a volunteer team of clinical research assistants in the ER. We screen patients for studies, do some interviews, and get to observe some of the stuff in the ER.

Nice stuff! Is that you in that avatar?

I just did another day of shadowing and happened to bring my handi digital camera along. I'll post some pics up once they're formatted and all.

 

[nicholonious]

wow, youre so lucky, i wish i could observe surgery where i volunteer...

You probably can. Where do you volunteer?

 

[it.]

kinda off topic but this thread reminded me of zoolander...

 

[tank you]

You probably can. Where do you volunteer?

i work in the post-anesthesia care unit. i asked the supervisor, and she said that she needs to ask the patientand doctor and get their consent because of all the HIPAA laws. anyways, it has been more than 3 months and no response yet

 

[Blake]

Surgery is THE coolest thing I've witnessed in medicine so far. Can't wait to CUT N' CURE

 

[JamesNunez]

kinda off topic but this thread reminded me of zoolander...

 

[LoveDoc]

AWESOME!

Just makes you want to be a doc even more!

oh and your pic is cool.

 

[matbrat23]

Surgery is THE coolest thing I've witnessed in medicine so far. Can't wait to CUT N' CURE

Cool your jets, nerd, there is a lot of cool **** in medicine, not just surgery.

 

[rotatores]

What I've always enjoyed about premeds is there enthusiasm about different aspects of medicine...for example, a simple surgery has made not only your day...but I'm sure you'll be telling your friends and family about this for the next month.

Trust me...when you have to show up at 4:30am and get your a$$ chewed out by these nice residents and attendings your enthusiasm will soon fade.

I'm not trying to crash your party...but enjoy your excitement while you can.

rotatores
USUHS 2006

 

[BaylorGuy]

"pull here, and here, and here.... see? you've correctly opened the sterile iron hand."

I laughed so hard after i read this quote. Sorry, it was just really funny to me.

Surgery is such a blast...i love watching em, both in real life and on TV (like the discovery health channel or what not). I've got this job as a research assistant where I actually perform aseptic surgery on sheep once a week and on pigs 2-3 times a week. We do certain procedures on them so we can use them again next week and the week after. Its pretty darn cool. I know its nothing like surgery on a human, but heck its better than no surgery at all.

It only gets better from here.

 

[nicholonious]

i work in the post-anesthesia care unit. i asked the supervisor, and she said that she needs to ask the patientand doctor and get their consent because of all the HIPAA laws. anyways, it has been more than 3 months and no response yet

Yeah, I've run into this problem too. A neurosurgeon once replied that he couldn't have me shadow because of liability/confidentiality issues. I had to respect that.

HIPAA can also be an issue. Hospitals are all different, and some staff and coordinators in the OR department can either wield an iron hand or make a few exceptions to the rule.

I was called a student doctor, which seems appropriate, seeing that I observe and am there to learn.

Do you know any docs personally? Can your PCP find a surgeon that he or she knows?

 

[nicholonious]

What I've always enjoyed about premeds is there enthusiasm about different aspects of medicine...for example, a simple surgery has made not only your day...but I'm sure you'll be telling your friends and family about this for the next month.

Trust me...when you have to show up at 4:30am and get your a$$ chewed out by these nice residents and attendings your enthusiasm will soon fade.

I'm not trying to crash your party...but enjoy your excitement while you can.

rotatores
USUHS 2006

Seeing that rounds start as early as 4:30 can put some people off. Getting chewed out is the necessary evil with residency. PIMPing is always going to be around, at least most pre-meds know to expect this from watching such shows as ER, Scrubs, and Grey's Anatomy.

Years ago the residency programs revolved around a pyramid scheme. This is where a bunch of residents would start in a given department and eventually some would be weeded out or simple change specialty. I've heard departments start with 20 junior residents and end with about half of that. Good thing that once you make the program, you generally are destined to make it.

 

[doctigger]

For my volunteer position I had to complete hours of online confidentiality, hospital policy, and HIPPA training in addition to my hours of training for my actual volunteer duties. Because I'm already a volunteer in the ED the surgery resident didn't seem to mind at all having me tag along.

Yup, that's me in the picture. He he heeeee.

And, for you buzz killers, "thanks," but I'm quite pleased to live in the moment on this one!

 

[Nebmuse]

When you apply to medical schools, look to see which ones give you the opportunity to do a summer rotation between your first and second year. (I have no idea how common this type of program is in medical school, just that mine does.) I am currently on my rural surgery rotation and it is a wonderful experience. I go into every surgery with my preceptor, whether it is at 2:00 a.m. (yes, it has happened), or noon, and I do rounds either by myself or with the surgeon. I am scrubbing in for everything learning how to do lots of different types of sutures. It is a very friendly, educational, environment and a safe place to learn. While I am getting 'pimped', it is not a nasty pimping like you hear of. It is a great way to review things from my first year and to get some hands on experience in surgery before many of my fellow students.

By choice, I am also spending the weekends in the ER so I can get more experience interviewing and examining patients.

Good luck.

 

[doctigger]

When you apply to medical schools, look to see which ones give you the opportunity to do a summer rotation between your first and second year. (I have no idea how common this type of program is in medical school, just that mine does.) I am currently on my rural surgery rotation and it is a wonderful experience. I go into every surgery with my preceptor, whether it is at 2:00 a.m. (yes, it has happened), or noon, and I do rounds either by myself or with the surgeon. I am scrubbing in for everything learning how to do lots of different types of sutures. It is a very friendly, educational, environment and a safe place to learn. While I am getting 'pimped', it is not a nasty pimping like you hear of. It is a great way to review things from my first year and to get some hands on experience in surgery before many of my fellow students.

By choice, I am also spending the weekends in the ER so I can get more experience interviewing and examining patients.

Good luck.

That's awesome, and great advice!

 

[nicholonious]

shadowing

 

[nicholonious]

 

[sacrament]

What I've always enjoyed about premeds is there enthusiasm about different aspects of medicine...for example, a simple surgery has made not only your day...but I'm sure you'll be telling your friends and family about this for the next month.

Trust me...when you have to show up at 4:30am and get your a$$ chewed out by these nice residents and attendings your enthusiasm will soon fade.

I'm not trying to crash your party...but enjoy your excitement while you can.

rotatores
USUHS 2006

This is exactly what I was thinking. The first few surgeries that I scrubbed in on had me absolutely convinced that I wanted to be a surgeon. Now, at the end of my third year, I would be willing to lose a toe or something if I never, ever had to scrub into another surgery again so long as I live. There are those people whose enthusiasm for that hellhole called the OR doesn't fade, thank goodness.

 

[Califlower]

I took part in a program where I got to shadow pediatricians in various fields at LA County, Women's and Children's. I got to spend one whole day in a Peds OR, and I saw about 6 circumcisions (one baby penis after another, snip snip snip). But I did get to see a G-tube insertion, and that was very cool.

 

[rotatores]

This is exactly what I was thinking. The first few surgeries that I scrubbed in on had me absolutely convinced that I wanted to be a surgeon. Now, at the end of my third year, I would be willing to lose a toe or something if I never, ever had to scrub into another surgery again so long as I live. There are those people whose enthusiasm for that hellhole called the OR doesn't fade, thank goodness.

What I find fascinating is how many of my classmates 1st year were like "i'm gonna be a surgeon"...and now..after third year...only 1 still plans on applying to gen surg this fall.

Give it time premeds...you will find more fascinating and challenging aspects of medicine besides doing "procedures" in the OR. What you kids don't see is the hours of pre- and postop that is spent for each of these cases...or having to round on the patients the next morning...having to present the patient in front of your team and attendings...only to be humiliated for not knowing every single bit of the patient's hx or events over the past 24 hours.

 

[Flightfire]

Probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life, was an open heart bypass surgery that I got to see just a few months ago when I was shadowing a cardiac anesthesiologist. It was really great because the anesthesiologist explained the whole procedure to me beforehand and the anatomy was easy to identify because it was the simple stuff that you have to learn about the cardiovascular system for the MCAT. They cracked open this guy's chest and there were the heart and lungs, beating and breathing. How many times in your life are you actually going to get to see a real, beating human heart? The coolest part was when they put in the bypass and stopped them though. It was amazing to see every sensor indicate that the man was dead, but to know that he was still alive because of this machine. The actual surgery was cool too, but I was most impressed by the heart stopping and resuming.

I am currently living in a town without a medical school or a university, so it is very easy to contact doctors to shadow. They love having you around to teach and really appreciate what they are doing. Every doctor I've shadowed has referred me to another couple of doctors to shadow some more. It's great. So if you are having trouble getting this sort of experience, consider going somewhere without many pre-med or med students.

 

[Psycho Doctor]

that's so terrific! Surgery is awesome; there's so many fascinating procedures to see. Just keep asking to see them; doctors are usually more than willing to have you along and explain everything. There's no better training than hands-on.

 

[FutureOrthoDoc]

Cool your jets, nerd, there is a lot of cool **** in medicine, not just surgery.

like what?

 

[Blake]

like what?

 

[Blue Scrub]

Surgery is pretty cool to watch...I was fascinated when I shadowed a plastic surgeon and saw him do a few procedures....I found it more interesting than shadowing a GP or a pediatrician, IMO

 

[SarahGM]

Anyone on here like me NOT like surgery? I just finished up my first year at Columbia P&S, and I've shadowed a lot since college in surgery and other specialities.

At first I thought it meant that I must not want to be in medicine... especially in a class that seems so surgically-oriented. I shadowed a bariatric surgery a few weeks ago and, like usual, kind of tuned out. It just doesn't hold my attention.

Now I realize that there is so much else to medicine that excites me. Internal medicine/endocrinology has really fascinated me... problem-solving and diagnoses, especially.

Is there anyone else out there like me? Just can't get excited by surgery?

 

[sacrament]

Surgery is to medical school what pre-med is to college. Just like everybody and their dog is a pre-med when they get to college, everybody and their goldfish is a surgeon-wanna-be when they get into med school. And then they start to realize that they'll have absolutely no life and that the 500th time they do a appendectomy will be about 1/500th as exciting as the first time they did an appendectomy (which means it'll be about as exciting as trimming your toenails), and most of these folks will happily bail.

 

[Wahoos]

Surgery is the best field in Medicine, especially Orthopedics!!!!!! I started medical school thinking that I will probably do either family medicine or ER and then pursue a sports medicine fellowship. However, after spending 3 months on Internal Medicine and 1 month on Family Med, I would rather stick a 9 inch nail in my eye lid than to spend another month doing primary care medicine. Life gets really boring when you come to hospital in the morning to pre round on your patients, and then you round with your resident, and then you round with your attending, and then you talk more about the differiential dx, how you would treat each differential dx, and what is the most likely dx of this particular pt, and then you go type/write in orders for your patients, after more talking and writing notes, there will probably be a lunch conference for another hour of lectures, and the afternoon is spend on more paper work and chating with the patients about the plans, tests, etc, etc. In the community, a FP doc spends most of his day dealing with Med adjustments/refills, tons of the same/common diseases like diabetes, HTN, etc, with little diversity...... Don't get me wrong, there is nothing bad with being in the Primary care field, it is just not for me. Some people really like the thinking and discussions involved with the internist fields and I definitely agree that the Primary care docs are one of the most important (if not THE most important) group of docs in the field of medicine because they are usually the 1st person to see, to refer, or to make a diagnosis and treat a patient. So their personal decision on the management/plan is very important to the outcome.

But for me, I really enjoy using my hands to treat the most serious of diseases, to be able to see my results = instant gratification (not a 20 point improvement in the systolic pressure), taking on the responsibility of being the last person/hope for a patient,.... even though, I might be in the hospital 20-30 hours longer than the internist, but I would rather be spending 80 hours doing something that I love, vs. spending 50 hours doing something that I hate. I will be starting an ortho residency in a few weeks and I am pretty psyched about it!!!

The bottom line is that in medicine, there are many many things/specialities that you can pursue..... Doing surgery have its advantages and disadvantages, just like almost everything else you decide to do in life. Just look at both sides and pick a speciality that you "feel" will make you happy. And if both internal medicine and surgery will make you equally happy, then go and be the internist!!