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Does anyone know the route to becoming a hand surgeon?
Thanks
Thanks
the route to becoming a hand surgeon?
- Thread starter HEME-ONC
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Blade28
Hand surgeon, as in orthopedic hand surgeon?
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you can easily get hand through straight general surgery...
I know like three guys who got it straight from general...
two of them matched this year and one two years ago....
it is only an added certification...
Please know before talking...
Now hand surgeons can do hand and upper extremity surgery nerves, bones and all pretty cool stuff that is....
Very famous hand surgeons are straight gen surgery background...so please..
get your info straight....
and the requirements are 250 minimum cases during the fellowship year...
I know like three guys who got it straight from general...
two of them matched this year and one two years ago....
it is only an added certification...
Please know before talking...
Now hand surgeons can do hand and upper extremity surgery nerves, bones and all pretty cool stuff that is....
Very famous hand surgeons are straight gen surgery background...so please..
get your info straight....
and the requirements are 250 minimum cases during the fellowship year...
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Most hand specialists I have met did ortho or plastics for their surgical residency, followed by a fellowship in hands. I'm sure there are those who got to it by the general route, however, it seems that if your goal from the start is to work on hands, you'd get much more experience with this from ortho residency than general residency.
General residents will sew up a hand lac once in a while, but if there are broken bones in there you'd better bet they have to call an ortho consult and let them fix it up, so those ortho residents are the ones learning how to do it in their residency training.
At the bigger programs, often ortho and plastics will rotate who is taking "hand call" for hand injuries. I imagine in smaller facilities or smaller towns there might be general surgeons who cover this, but overall I'd suggest someone interested in this specialization to go with the ortho or plastics background to have the most job options open to you when you finish your training.
General residents will sew up a hand lac once in a while, but if there are broken bones in there you'd better bet they have to call an ortho consult and let them fix it up, so those ortho residents are the ones learning how to do it in their residency training.
At the bigger programs, often ortho and plastics will rotate who is taking "hand call" for hand injuries. I imagine in smaller facilities or smaller towns there might be general surgeons who cover this, but overall I'd suggest someone interested in this specialization to go with the ortho or plastics background to have the most job options open to you when you finish your training.
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I am just informing you guys that you can do hand from general surgery...
How complicate can it get to learn how to exam hands...
Now many do Hand as a training in route to plastics...
I know few guys who are doing well just from gen surgery and hand surgery and in one year you can do enough those fellowships would not take a general surgeon if they could not teach him hand surgery....
How complicate can it get to learn how to exam hands...
Now many do Hand as a training in route to plastics...
I know few guys who are doing well just from gen surgery and hand surgery and in one year you can do enough those fellowships would not take a general surgeon if they could not teach him hand surgery....
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fourthyear said:
That's exactly how it is at Duke.
When I was a student, I thought that ortho and plastics were the only way to get to hand, then I met a guy that did gen surg and went to hand, but those guys (from my looking) are in the minority.
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Vukken99 said:
It is the exception, rather thant he rule. Probably 90%+ of fellowship trained hand surgeons are plastics or ortho. The hand exaam isn't that difficult to learn, but hand anatomy is probably one of the most intricate regions of the body. Plastics and Ortho also have much more experience with microsurgery during their training, which is a must for hand.
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vukken, i'll ask you again. write in complete sentences. also, you might want to prepare a more comprehensive, correct answer before opening your mouth. do you make a lot of money being a complete jackass? just curious?
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I know quite of few of my friends in hand surgery....
Gosh...what is so difficult about becoming a hand surgeon???
two guys this year went to one into the Buffalo program the other one in nyc...
And, if you do read the fellowship requirement for acceptance..they tell you
it is okay if you come from general surgery....
Plus there is not a board in this area only added qualification...
You can even do an unaccredited fellowship like clinical one and do hand as well...
Now, Mr or Mrs ZenSurge I would like to know how hot shot you are really....
I think your real problem with me is that you frontal lobe is seriously impacted with stool so maybe you are asking me for that good old manual desimpaction with double gloves... Let me know dude I can help.....I am pretty good at that..
You will feel better too.
Gosh...what is so difficult about becoming a hand surgeon???
two guys this year went to one into the Buffalo program the other one in nyc...
And, if you do read the fellowship requirement for acceptance..they tell you
it is okay if you come from general surgery....
Plus there is not a board in this area only added qualification...
You can even do an unaccredited fellowship like clinical one and do hand as well...
Now, Mr or Mrs ZenSurge I would like to know how hot shot you are really....
I think your real problem with me is that you frontal lobe is seriously impacted with stool so maybe you are asking me for that good old manual desimpaction with double gloves... Let me know dude I can help.....I am pretty good at that..
You will feel better too.
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Vukken99 said:
I proudly state that, in my entire medical career to this point, I have never had to disimpact a patient.
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In large urban areas, maybe less.
But in some areas such as Nevada and other areas because you cover like good 5 to 7 or even higher number of hospitals...you can make 3/4 million easy....
Now, when you say hand people dont know but they do up to upper extremity.
all the nerves, muscles, bones, joints...
And, lots of these procedures can be done in your office so it is very profitable.
You can also do nerve conduction studies and get paid as well...
But, the nice thing is it is a very small specialty very exclusive.....
Think about reimplantation of a hand to a young child wow that is called surgery......you are giving them a full life of opportunities by doing that.
I read another hand surgery book and they showed a case of a girl with arm reimplantation....think about the relief and hope you give this child's family by doing that...wow again..
The only thing I hated about reading the hand surgery book is...
when you have to used other digits such as from feet to implant as replacement of a thumb and stuff...Looked pretty gross....but still hey you get to use your thumb.....
If you can do general surgery with hand...you gonna be damn busy indeed...
But in some areas such as Nevada and other areas because you cover like good 5 to 7 or even higher number of hospitals...you can make 3/4 million easy....
Now, when you say hand people dont know but they do up to upper extremity.
all the nerves, muscles, bones, joints...
And, lots of these procedures can be done in your office so it is very profitable.
You can also do nerve conduction studies and get paid as well...
But, the nice thing is it is a very small specialty very exclusive.....
Think about reimplantation of a hand to a young child wow that is called surgery......you are giving them a full life of opportunities by doing that.
I read another hand surgery book and they showed a case of a girl with arm reimplantation....think about the relief and hope you give this child's family by doing that...wow again..
The only thing I hated about reading the hand surgery book is...
when you have to used other digits such as from feet to implant as replacement of a thumb and stuff...Looked pretty gross....but still hey you get to use your thumb.....
If you can do general surgery with hand...you gonna be damn busy indeed...
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Give me a break! Do you mean the fraction 3/4 million - as in $750,000 - or do you mean "3 to 4 million"? I guess I can almost beleive the first one if you work a ton and have no time left to spend it...you must have meant $750,000, but when I first read it the million stuck out and I thought you meant 3-4 million. Please clarify.
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OK, this thread is finally hitting the ridiculous stage.
1. You can do a hand fellowship and be eligible for the CAQ after completing a residency in General, Plastics, or Ortho.
2. Compensation for Hand has fallen off quite a bit. To make $750K doing hand, you would have to find a sweet payor mix and never eat/sleep/surf SDN. The money just isn't there anymore.
3. Replants suck. Arm replants really suck. Believe me. I've scrubbed too many. We're much less aggressive with replants these days. We're learned that a good prosthesis is often better than a mangled native arm.
4. Anyone who tells you a general surgeon who trains in hand is qualified to do all upper extremity, including "bones, joints, tendons, and nerves", knows very little about upper extremity surgery. Well-trained Plastic surgeons who specialize in Hand will rarely do any sort of bone/joint work above the wrist. That is the exclusive domain of the Orthopods. Upper extremity tendons/nerves/blood vessels aren't a problem for most hand surgeons, but the bones and joints are the realm of the bone doctors.
5. Very few hand surgeons do replants -- those are almost exclusively done at academic centers. That said, very few academic hand surgeons make $750K.
6. Hand surgery is super-cool. Where else can you sit down in the OR??
1. You can do a hand fellowship and be eligible for the CAQ after completing a residency in General, Plastics, or Ortho.
2. Compensation for Hand has fallen off quite a bit. To make $750K doing hand, you would have to find a sweet payor mix and never eat/sleep/surf SDN. The money just isn't there anymore.
3. Replants suck. Arm replants really suck. Believe me. I've scrubbed too many. We're much less aggressive with replants these days. We're learned that a good prosthesis is often better than a mangled native arm.
4. Anyone who tells you a general surgeon who trains in hand is qualified to do all upper extremity, including "bones, joints, tendons, and nerves", knows very little about upper extremity surgery. Well-trained Plastic surgeons who specialize in Hand will rarely do any sort of bone/joint work above the wrist. That is the exclusive domain of the Orthopods. Upper extremity tendons/nerves/blood vessels aren't a problem for most hand surgeons, but the bones and joints are the realm of the bone doctors.
5. Very few hand surgeons do replants -- those are almost exclusively done at academic centers. That said, very few academic hand surgeons make $750K.
6. Hand surgery is super-cool. Where else can you sit down in the OR??
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It's hard to concentrate fully in hand alone.
One plastic surgeon I know, he does hand to supplement his income.
Now some general surgeons with hand training are practicing general surgery and hand together.
Recent ad in Nevada claimed high salary higher than 500k
however I am assuming the actual salary maybe in 300k range if you are busy.
One plastic surgeon I know, he does hand to supplement his income.
Now some general surgeons with hand training are practicing general surgery and hand together.
Recent ad in Nevada claimed high salary higher than 500k
however I am assuming the actual salary maybe in 300k range if you are busy.
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Paulista said:
Not true...most orthopod trained hand surgeons (as long as they aren't in BFE) only do hand and upper extremity. None of our ortho trained hand guys take any general ortho call. The plastics guys do a little of everything, but in my experience, ortho hand is hand and hand alone, maybe it is because ortho guys also do a lot of boney work above the wrist, unlike most plastics guys.
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Since you are claiming Ortho guys are the true Hand guys due to their scope of bone surgery, then when there is some type of reimplantation including bone and related structure, a plastic surgeon can't do it alone??
From the times, I have worked with Plastic Surgery Hand trained, they would do everything pretty much. I never even heard of them calling ortho for anything. I am talking about reimplantation of a severed limb.
Moreover, This same Plastic Surgeon told two of my seniors to get into hand.
this plastic surgeon was the first to graduate from the Yale hand and upper extremity program.
From the times, I have worked with Plastic Surgery Hand trained, they would do everything pretty much. I never even heard of them calling ortho for anything. I am talking about reimplantation of a severed limb.
Moreover, This same Plastic Surgeon told two of my seniors to get into hand.
this plastic surgeon was the first to graduate from the Yale hand and upper extremity program.
