Trauma?

[PL198]

Is anyone here a trauma surgeon or a resident willing to talk about their experiences and outlook for the field? Just seems like there isn't much information out there about in general.

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[doc05]

you'll find a job if that's what you want..

the work is undesirable, no amount of money would convince me to do this work. you will rarely operate, and when you do it's all emergencies. oh and if you're lucky, you get to do in-house call your entire attending career.

 

[ACSurgeon]

you'll find a job if that's what you want..

the work is undesirable, no amount of money would convince me to do this work. you will rarely operate, and when you do it's all emergencies. oh and if you're lucky, you get to do in-house call your entire attending career.

Clearly there are plenty of surgeons interested in trauma so the above is your opinion, and not generalizable.

Trauma jobs are now often associate with acute care, so the operative volume can be reasonable even at a blunt trauma center.

Emergency general surgery/acute care is becoming more common in the community setting, and this model is appealing to many. Again, if operating emergently/urgently isn't your preference, this won't be for you.

Combining an elective practice and doing emergency general surgery is taxing. Having no planned cases during your acute care time can make it more manageable.

I'm sure a lot of these views change as one gets older and has a family, but it's not like all the trauma surgeons retire younger than their counterparts in other surgical fields.

 

[Semmelweis]

Is anyone here a trauma surgeon or a resident willing to talk about their experiences and outlook for the field? Just seems like there isn't much information out there about in general.

I'm doing a trauma/cc fellowship now. I think the field is ripe for tremendous growth and salary is more appealing than you might imagine.

Trauma is different from other specialty surgery fields. You have to like aggressive resuscitation, you have to like managing critical patients, you have to like doing emergency cases. Granted, traumas don't limit themselves from 9-5, so there are some lifestyle adjustments that must be made. But, I'll tell you what, when I was chief resident and took home call I was never able to catch a weekday lunch and watch a matinee with my wife.

On a personal level, I went to medical school and went to residency with the goal of taking care of emergency surgery patients and foolishly never lost that interest. Life is definitely more cushy if you're doing bariatrics every day, but to me that just wasn't enough.

 

[Psai]

I'm doing a trauma/cc fellowship now. I think the field is ripe for tremendous growth and salary is more appealing than you might imagine.

Trauma is different from other specialty surgery fields. You have to like aggressive resuscitation, you have to like managing critical patients, you have to like doing emergency cases. Granted, traumas don't limit themselves from 9-5, so there are some lifestyle adjustments that must be made. But, I'll tell you what, when I was chief resident and took home call I was never able to catch a weekday lunch and watch a matinee with my wife.

On a personal level, I went to medical school and went to residency with the goal of taking care of emergency surgery patients and foolishly never lost that interest. Life is definitely more cushy if you're doing bariatrics every day, but to me that just wasn't enough.

bro doing 2 sleeves takes 1/10 the effort and probably pays the same as a whipple

 

[Dr. Death]

I'm doing a trauma/cc fellowship now. I think the field is ripe for tremendous growth and salary is more appealing than you might imagine.

Trauma is different from other specialty surgery fields. You have to like aggressive resuscitation, you have to like managing critical patients, you have to like doing emergency cases. Granted, traumas don't limit themselves from 9-5, so there are some lifestyle adjustments that must be made. But, I'll tell you what, when I was chief resident and took home call I was never able to catch a weekday lunch and watch a matinee with my wife.

On a personal level, I went to medical school and went to residency with the goal of taking care of emergency surgery patients and foolishly never lost that interest. Life is definitely more cushy if you're doing bariatrics every day, but to me that just wasn't enough.

Thank you for giving your opinion. Would you mind letting us know what your schedule is like? How many hours per week? Nights, days or rotating?

 

[Semmelweis]

Thank you for giving your opinion. Would you mind letting us know what your schedule is like? How many hours per week? Nights, days or rotating?

Right now I'm in fellowship so it's straight q4, but the schedule for the attending staff (there are 6 trauma attendings) is that they do 5-6 12 hr (6pm-6am) overnight shifts a month. When they have an overnight, they take off the day of and the day following. They also do 5-6 day shifts which run from 6am-6pm. Then every 6 weeks or so they rotate and round in the ICU for a week (~8am-5pm) when they take no call and not come in at night. When they do not have a specific assignment they can come in and just be an extra set of hands, do elective surgery, do administrative/research stuff or whatever, but a lot of times they just don't come in.

All in all, not the worst lifestyle. Plus, when you're not in the hospital- you do NOT get called.

 

[Dr. Death]

Right now I'm in fellowship so it's straight q4, but the schedule for the attending staff (there are 6 trauma attendings) is that they do 5-6 12 hr (6pm-6am) overnight shifts a month. When they have an overnight, they take off the day of and the day following. They also do 5-6 day shifts which run from 6am-6pm. Then every 6 weeks or so they rotate and round in the ICU for a week (~8am-5pm) when they take no call and not come in at night. When they do not have a specific assignment they can come in and just be an extra set of hands, do elective surgery, do administrative/research stuff or whatever, but a lot of times they just don't come in.

All in all, not the worst lifestyle. Plus, when you're not in the hospital- you do NOT get called.

Thank you for the reply. Trauma is something I am definitely interested in and people give it a terrible rap because of the perceived lifestyle but I'm glad to know it isn't nearly as bad as people make it out.

 

[PL198]

Right now I'm in fellowship so it's straight q4, but the schedule for the attending staff (there are 6 trauma attendings) is that they do 5-6 12 hr (6pm-6am) overnight shifts a month. When they have an overnight, they take off the day of and the day following. They also do 5-6 day shifts which run from 6am-6pm. Then every 6 weeks or so they rotate and round in the ICU for a week (~8am-5pm) when they take no call and not come in at night. When they do not have a specific assignment they can come in and just be an extra set of hands, do elective surgery, do administrative/research stuff or whatever, but a lot of times they just don't come in.

All in all, not the worst lifestyle. Plus, when you're not in the hospital- you do NOT get called.

sounds like a pretty good lifestyle for me, especially for a surgeon...