What surgery subspec elective has the SHORTEST hours??

[nope80]

I have to select two surgery subspecialties for my surgery clerkship and am wondering which would typically have the shortest hours. I am not interested in surgery at all - in fact, I really hate the OR and would love to find a way to be there the least amount of time. We can choose from breast, colorectal, ENT, orthopedics, plastics, urology, vascular surgery and neurosurgery.
Any suggestions??

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[Droopy Snoopy]

I have to select two surgery subspecialties for my surgery clerkship and am wondering which would typically have the shortest hours. I am not interested in surgery at all - in fact, I really hate the OR and would love to find a way to be there the least amount of time. We can choose from breast, colorectal, ENT, orthopedics, plastics, urology, vascular surgery and neurosurgery.
Any suggestions??

ENT might be a good bet, at least it was in my experience. Like anything else this undoubtedly varies by school, but I really wouldn't bet on vascular, ortho, or neurosurg being quickie hours anywhere you go.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Breast will be almost all outpatient - means no early am rounding. Your mastectomy patients generally stay only overnight, max 2 days (all insurance will pay for - but they do so well anyway, they don't need to stay both days) unless your program does a lot of free flaps, but these tend to be younger, healthy patients.

Our urology rotation was popular for med students and residents alike because of the few emergencies, lots of outpatient stuff. ENT had more trauma, and shared "face call" with Plastics, so more coming in at night. When I did it as an elective we did a lot of H&N Onc, and these patients were admitted to the unit afterwards, so more rounding, calls, etc.

Do not look at Neurosurgery, Ortho, Vascular or even Plastics for good hours (if PRS does trauma).

Colorectal can go either way - if they also take general surgery call, then it might be busy. If they're doing all elective/scheduled surgeries, it might not be too bad, but it would still be worse than the others I've mentioned above.

The hours will vary depending on program, trauma, etc.

 

[MJB]

I have to select two surgery subspecialties for my surgery clerkship and am wondering which would typically have the shortest hours. I am not interested in surgery at all - in fact, I really hate the OR and would love to find a way to be there the least amount of time. We can choose from breast, colorectal, ENT, orthopedics, plastics, urology, vascular surgery and neurosurgery.
Any suggestions??

Just curious what does interest you.


I'm guessing this is VERY site/program dependent.

 

[soonereng]

ENT might be a good bet, at least it was in my experience.

Depends on what subspecialty of ENT you get assigned to at my school at least...my ped ENT week was pretty easy on the hours (out by 4 almost every day) vs my head and neck week was almost certain to be after 8 pm and some nights they went to 2-3 AM on the free flaps.

 

[Doctor4Life1769]

General ENT is probably money. 1 hour operations or less. I'd know, I had it ... and was pissed about it. Oh well, I'm glad I get more OR time when I have gen surg in a few months ...

 

[Johnny_D]

ENT and breast will have the shortest hours. ENT for our rotation was mostly outpatient and regular 8-5 hours.

 

[smq123]

ENT and breast will have the shortest hours.

Depends on the site, at least for ENT. When I did ENT, it was 5 or 6 AM to 6-7 PM, sometimes even later. We did a lot of oncology at that site, though, and those cases can take forever. The same held true for urology.

 

[ZagDoc]

Depends on what subspecialty of ENT you get assigned to at my school at least...my ped ENT week was pretty easy on the hours (out by 4 almost every day) vs my head and neck week was almost certain to be after 8 pm and some nights they went to 2-3 AM on the free flaps.

This is very true. Head & neck does a lot of the big, messy open neck dissections, free flaps, cancer resections, etc and can be pretty grueling hours. Same with reconstructive facial plastics and some of the skull base stuff the neurootologists do. Rhinology and laryngology are more outpatient, same day stuff and the procedures that require admission often only run an hour or so on average and the patients are generally healthy people easy to manage post-op. Its very much dependent on the ENT department at your institution.

 

[JStub]

Our school accepts Anesth as one and it always had short hours (3 hrs a day max). Another popular one for similar reasons is ENT.

 

[Richspiders07]

Optho - I worked 9-3 most days. All outpatient. Never had to scrub any... or do anything but show up to clinic really.

 

[Green Chimneys]

I THINK I know where you go to school. If so, breast is without a doubt the easiest. Uro is also not too bad. ENT rounds the earliest of everybody, but the residents usually won't make you stay past 4 or 5. NSGY tries to make you take 2 calls a week, which is beyond what what is required for the rotation. Colorectal has a couple nice attendings and a couple real jerks. Vascular is hard work. Ortho is apparently about 6-6 for 3rd yr med students and apparently a very good rotation. I've heard the same about plastics.

If you want the cushiest hours possible, I'd recommend breast and uro, and avoiding NSGY at all costs.