Typical Day of a Neurosurgeon

[collegefreak12]

Well, some time ago I made a thread called "Typical Day of a Resident" and it was fairly popular and helped me, so I thought I would make one here (no neurosurgeon's posted on that thread, nor is there anything like that on scutwork.com). So, the title pretty much says it all. And nuero residents/ attendings should feel free to post.

Just post times of major things like : 6:00- 7:00 rounds, 7:00-5:00 OR, etc. Please include call freq. and PGY. Thanks a lot!.

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[collegefreak12]

Hmm, I just scrolled down and saw a thread similar to this one...I am going to get flamed aren't I 🙁 . I can sense it...

 

[rexrex]

i am too curious about the answer, but so far the answer i got is to read some of the books...i hope your thread will get more response 🙂

 

[mpp]

As an intern hours vary from rotation to rotation. On neurosurgery a typical day for me is:

4:00 a.m. - wake up (give or take half an hour)
4:30 a.m. - begin pre-rounding on patients
6:00 a.m. - rounds with the chief; we go over all the films from the night before then do quick bedside rounds in the ICU and on the floor
7:00 a.m. - educational conference
From 8:00 a.m. on it depends on what is going on. I try to go to the OR, especially if there are days with lots of cases. There are often other bedside procedures to do (central lines, art lines, lumbar punctures, external ventricular drains, etc) plus all the paperwork of managing a busy service (usually 20-30 patients plus some consults).

Sometime in the afternoon I try to run the list with the other intern to be sure all the work has been done. Usually around 5:30 p.m. or so is afternoon rounds with the chief again. I can usually get home around 6:30 or so, but sometimes later, sometimes earlier.

Call as an intern on neurosurgery is one night in seven which isn't too bad (and keeps the total hours down for the week such that I can spend more time in the OR without being just plain dead tired).

 

[danielmd06]

I'm a prelim Neurologist, not a Neurosurgeon, but I did two full months of Neurosurgery as a fourth year medical student and I can give you a bit of information.

The typical PGY-2/PGY-3 day started at 6:00 AM and ended at 9:00 PM. Call was qx2, qx3, or at best qx4. Rounds lasted until about 8:00 AM, at which point you hustled into the OR for varying cases of varying lengths. I did not usually stop for lunch. Afternoon rounds were from about 3:00 PM to 4-5:00 PM. There were generally additional cases to scrub in for in the late afternoon. Or clinic on certain afternoons. I did not usually stop for supper. I ate when I got home. Then went to bed.

I averaged 3 hours of sleep per night of call. From 0 up to a maximum of 6 hours. Post-call, I would leave anywhere from 1:00 PM to 2:30 PM. When on call, my girlfriend would bring me supper and the resident would allow me some time with her (usually about 30 minutes to an hour) and to eat.

It was "do-able," but hard. I was very impressed with the average Neurosurgeon at the end of those two months.

And I'm very happy with Neurology. 😉

 

[naegleria brain]

mpp...

so your day is typically from 4am to 6pm in the hospital; what about afterwards?

i'm assuming that when home, you'd have to study for the next day's procedures, read up on things you didn't know in rounds, etc. how much time per day do you need to do that? -- ie when do you actually go to bed before waking up at 4am again? is it four hours of sleep a night for six-seven years?

 

[mpp]

It depends. You read when you have time. Apart from the intern and R-2 year there are likely few years where you're coming in at 4:30 but the days are always long.