What surgeries would be interesting to observe?

[DecisionsOPlenty]

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So I recently managed to get into a volunteering position at a hospital about a mile from my home. I currently volunteer in the ER, Pharmacy, and Day Surgery (4 hours a day).

In Day Surgery, the charge nurse and 2 cardiac nurses have offered to start letting me observe surgeries if the patient permits it. I got patient permission to watch a CABG however I ended up having to go to school and missed out on that. I also got patient permission to watch a Pacemaker Battery Exchange however I once again had to go to class (I'm in Day Surgery from 8-12 AM and have a 1 pm class).

I'm most likely going to stop doing ER volunteering as I don't get a lot of contact in that situation. This is weird because I expected more contact in the ER. If there is an open slot on Friday's (I have no classes that day) in Day Surgery, I'm going to try to get extra hours there and if I get permission to watch surgeries, I'll have the time to stay later.

With this in mind, what surgeries should I try to get on or keep an eye out for? I'm interested in cardiothoracic surgery so I've buttered up the cardiac nurses, but what specific ones should I look for? Thanks!

 

[SooDeeO]

I'm surprised that CABG is done in Day surgery... usually at my institution that means outpatient surgery. Perhaps, it's different where you are.
Anywho, I think any operations are beneficial as any none-zero amount of exposure to surgery/medicine will help as a premed. Perhaps ways to maximize your time while shadowing/observing would be to teach yourself any much about the anatomy and basic surgical steps as possible so that you would understand more of it while you're in the OR. And, if the surgeon interacts with you and wants to teach you something, you'll get to learn more if you have some basic understanding of the disease processes.
I'd also ask what the anesthesiologist is doing and learn about his/her job. Why miss out on opportunities to shadow 2 different specialties?

If you have to leave for class, then maybe shorter cases might be better for you to observe on that day--laparoscopic cholecystectomy, umbilical hernia repair, or inguinal hernia repair are all pretty short general surgery cases that are done in outpatient surgery centers (about 1 hour each, and most of the time, no longer than 2 hours).

 

[DecisionsOPlenty]

I'm surprised that CABG is done in Day surgery... usually at my institution that means outpatient surgery. Perhaps, it's different where you are.
Anywho, I think any operations are beneficial as any none-zero amount of exposure to surgery/medicine will help as a premed. Perhaps ways to maximize your time while shadowing/observing would be to teach yourself any much about the anatomy and basic surgical steps as possible so that you would understand more of it while you're in the OR. And, if the surgeon interacts with you and wants to teach you something, you'll get to learn more if you have some basic understanding of the disease processes.
I'd also ask what the anesthesiologist is doing and learn about his/her job. Why miss out on opportunities to shadow 2 different specialties?

If you have to leave for class, then maybe shorter cases might be better for you to observe on that day--laparoscopic cholecystectomy, umbilical hernia repair, or inguinal hernia repair are all pretty short general surgery cases that are done in outpatient surgery centers (about 1 hour each, and most of the time, no longer than 2 hours).

Great suggestions! I'll have to talk to the charge nurse because she know I'm interested in cardiothoracics which is why she has been finding those surgeries for me to get on. I do definitely need to take time into consideration until I can get on Friday's at which point I could stay for a longer procedure.

I'm honestly not sure. My volunteer coordinator did mention that some of the surgeries would be outpatient but they offered to let me in on it and I wasn't going to say no, haha.

 

[calivianya]

Actually don't recommend lap choles, unlike previous poster... my OR day in school, I unfortunately watched four of those. That's when I learned that I would be very unhappy in the OR because I was bored to tears.

If you like cardiac stuff, see if you can go observe in the cath lab. That would probably be more relevant shadowing if you want to do anything in the cardiac field anyway.

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Wear comfortable shoes because you will be standing a lot. Also be prepared to have it be a massive let down. Shadowing surgeons and seeing surgeries is only interesting if the surgeon talks to you or shows you stuff as he does his thing and 9/10 surgeons won't. Cardiac cases are especially a bore because, at least where I used to work before medical school, no one outside of essential personnel was allowed even near the table or above the drape where Gas sits (the best view).

I agree with the cath lab. It's much easier to see stuff because its all on the big screen lol.

 

[DecisionsOPlenty]

Actually don't recommend lap choles, unlike previous poster... my OR day in school, I unfortunately watched four of those. That's when I learned that I would be very unhappy in the OR because I was bored to tears.

If you like cardiac stuff, see if you can go observe in the cath lab. That would probably be more relevant shadowing if you want to do anything in the cardiac field anyway.

Interesting thoughts! I'm curious, what would define shadowing? What I'm doing currently is clinical volunteering by all standards and I'm planning on racking up about 500+ hours so I'll be competitive (I'm expecting to have less non-clinical hours, limited publishing, and limited research because I'm nearly done with my ASc. at my Comm. College and haven't gotten any yet). Would I need to ask the attending overseeing the surgery to shadow them for it to count or is merely following the patient and surgeon through pre-op, surgery, and post-op enough to count as having shadowed?

And I get what you mean about a lap chole being less than exciting. I guess any surgery is helpful at this point in my education, but it's not hard to guess that I'm more so interested in an invasive surgery as those are more interesting imo. That said, non-invasive surgery is the future of medicine so my future career may end up being less exciting anyhow 😛

 

[DecisionsOPlenty]

Wear comfortable shoes because you will be standing a lot. Also be prepared to have it be a massive let down. Shadowing surgeons and seeing surgeries is only interesting if the surgeon talks to you or shows you stuff as he does his thing and 9/10 surgeons won't. Cardiac cases are especially a bore because, at least where I used to work before medical school, no one outside of essential personnel was allowed even near the table or above the drape where Gas sits (the best view).

I agree with the cath lab. It's much easier to see stuff because its all on the big screen lol.

That is a bit of a let-down, but I guess I won't know until I get in there. The tip on shoes is much appreciated, especially since I favor converse (although I've been wearing more comfortable shoes lately since I have to stand for the 4 hrs I'm volunteering usually).

 

[AnatomyGrey12]

Would I need to ask the attending overseeing the surgery to shadow them for it to count or is merely following the patient and surgeon through pre-op, surgery, and post-op enough to count as having shadowed?

That counts.

 

[calivianya]

Interesting thoughts! I'm curious, what would define shadowing? What I'm doing currently is clinical volunteering by all standards and I'm planning on racking up about 500+ hours so I'll be competitive (I'm expecting to have less non-clinical hours, limited publishing, and limited research because I'm nearly done with my ASc. at my Comm. College and haven't gotten any yet). Would I need to ask the attending overseeing the surgery to shadow them for it to count or is merely following the patient and surgeon through pre-op, surgery, and post-op enough to count as having shadowed?

And I get what you mean about a lap chole being less than exciting. I guess any surgery is helpful at this point in my education, but it's not hard to guess that I'm more so interested in an invasive surgery as those are more interesting imo. That said, non-invasive surgery is the future of medicine so my future career may end up being less exciting anyhow 😛

You really need to follow the physician around to shadow properly, so you should try to do that at least a few times.

Have you seen any heart caths? You might be surprised by how cool/interesting those are, especially the non-scheduled ones. Open surgeries are just guts exposed to the world... and that gets less and less impressive the more you see it (at least for me). Not to mention the part where once it's finished, someone still has to do all that tedious sewing up all the holes work. I'd die of boredom or possibly fall asleep standing up.

Part of my job involves setting up the cath lab when STEMIs are coming in, and I usually hang around and watch, especially if the patients arrive looking particularly gray. The cath lab is fascinating. You ought to see the ECG changes when that stent opens up the blocked artery. BOOM, ST elevation gone, BP fixed, patient's color looks good. Instant gratification, and great for people with short attention spans (like me). Way more interesting than open surgery, IMO.

 

[SooDeeO]

Actually don't recommend lap choles, unlike previous poster... my OR day in school, I unfortunately watched four of those. That's when I learned that I would be very unhappy in the OR because I was bored to tears.

If you like cardiac stuff, see if you can go observe in the cath lab. That would probably be more relevant shadowing if you want to do anything in the cardiac field anyway.

I felt the same way when I was a med student and just watching... but then here I am, doing it myself as a resident, and suddenly it becomes so much more exciting 😛

I think a key way to be a more engaged learner and gain more from the experience while observing is to know the anatomy and the surgical steps. Watching a video of the operation in advance helps--especially if the video points out the relevant anatomy and the common pitfalls. Know what the "critical view of safety" is in lap chole, for instance.
If you can run through the operative steps in your mind and confirm them by observing the operation, then suddenly what you read/studied becomes much more alive and fun.