Who wants to be a general surgeon (show of hands)?

[lady in red]

Also, how do you think this will change you as a person? This is not some cheesy philosophical question. I am just really curious what you people think.

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[Assassin]

I want to be a surgeon general <img border="0" alt="[Laughy]" title="" src="graemlins/laughy.gif" />

 

[DarksideAllstar]

&lt;looks around&gt;

 

[oldman]

i'm interested in doing trauma surgery. my parents and girlfriend aren't too pleased with the idea.

i'd like to only see patients who need me. Today when I got into work, there were a bunch of patients brought into the ER because of a bad car accident. I was scrambling to get blood from the patients. I think have learned to love the adrenaline rush.

As far as the residency process for trauma surgery, it's 5 years of general surgery with a 1 year fellowship for the trauma aspects. this is not an established surgical subspecialty yet, but might be in the future.

 

[cipher]

What exactly do you do as a general surgeon? I know it's a 5-year residency, but don't most surgeons do a fellowship or some sort of specialty training after that?

 

[choker]

as of now, i definitely want to go into general surgery. no subspecialty for me.

my opinion may change after experiencing the 30 hour shifts, but as of now, i feel it's for me.

i also like how general surgery opens doors for you_ you can go into colorectal (not that i want to, but i could), hand, transplant, ct (cha_ching!!), trauma, or stay with general.

 

[oldman]

as far as changing me, i have a bad feeling about it.

i am guaranteed to be tired. perhaps i'll even be exhausted.

i think, at this point, i'm ready to give my life to medicine. family life will suck, hours will suck.

also the adrenaline rush is a big factor. when the trauma patient comes in, i'll feel like time has stopped as i'm treating the patient. afterwards, i'll sit in a chair feeling tired.

 

[oldman]

of course i can always change my mind. i've got about 3 years.

 

[Spidey]

Right now I am very interested in surgery. There are so many negative things I've heard about surgery tho it kind of scares me.

Trauma surgery is the one that interests me the most, but also it has the worst work hours from what I hear. My dream job would be a trauma surgeon at a level 1 trauma center, but working 40 hours a week. Hahahaha, i hear you all falling out of your chairs laughing. Well, I know 40hr/week as a surgeon will never happen, but if it was possible it is the one i would choose 100% no question. Unfortunately as it is I hear the average work week for a trauma surgeon is 80+hours/week... While I think I would love the work and the huge satisfaction it would bring, I'm not sure if I could handle the hours.

In truth I won't be making up my mind on what to specialize in until the end of med school when I've had a chance to experience it all first hand. I'm willing to put my career as a doctor ahead of my social life, and I think most doctors have to do this. But I don't like the idea of medicine being the only thing in my life. life as a trauma surgeon sounds like 90% of your waking hours are spent on the job, and that is just too much for me. 50-60 hours per week i could handle, but not 80+. I'm still interested in surgery tho, and who knows when I actually get there and experience it first hand maybe I will love it so much that I won't care about having a social life. My friends are important to me tho, and never seeing them would suck.

--Dave

 

[Forensic Chick]

While I was filling out paperwork on an ambulance yesterday, I saw a trauma surgeon (level II trauma center) show up and leave in a matter of 30 minutes. They are not required to be on the floor their shift, simply no more than 5 minutes away. So, the hospital has a house for trauma surgeons just down the block - where they sit there, watch tv or sleep and make $250/hour. How sweet is that? Granted, there will be the nights with multiple traumas and the such, but that would surely be a great job!

 

[oldman]

I read that trauma surgeons are like firefighters. You go from doing nothing to full-steam ahead. It's a big adrenaline rush.

btw, why is everyone here interested in trauma surgery? I thought it would be rare cause of the demands on your life. there are only about 40 some fellowship spots (i'll have to look that number when i get home.) right now...so don't you be taking them from me!

 

[Spidey]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Forensic Chick:
•While I was filling out paperwork on an ambulance yesterday, I saw a trauma surgeon (level II trauma center) show up and leave in a matter of 30 minutes. They are not required to be on the floor their shift, simply no more than 5 minutes away. So, the hospital has a house for trauma surgeons just down the block - where they sit there, watch tv or sleep and make $250/hour. How sweet is that? Granted, there will be the nights with multiple traumas and the such, but that would surely be a great job!•••••Really? wow... i need to do some more research into this, that sounds sweet. The person I was talking to is actually a general surgery resident and she said that of all the surgery choices trauma surgery has the longest hours and is a pretty rough lifestyle. $250/hour? that sounds higher than i would expect.

 

[CUarzt]

to answer the original questions...
my desire is to become a neurosurgeon. the precision with which they (and all surgeons ) must work, the dimensional perception they must acquire, and the focusing on one problem area all appeal to me. How this fits into medicine: im a person who likes to see immediate results, seeing that something has been fixed.

as for how it is going to change me as an individual (assuming all works out well), i have certain reservations. how many times have we all heard of the arrogant nature of surgeons? no doubt it exists. however, i think it exists because it must exist: i dont think the surgeon would be as effective nor as "good" if he weren't arrogant. however, dealing with patients is an entirely different issue.

i suppose that bridge will be crossed eventually, and i hope that myself and all the other to-be surgeons are able to draw that fine line.

just my $.02

 

[deva]

You guys might want to read Charles Bosk's book titled Forgive and Remember: Managing Medical Failure for a description of surgery residencies (in the 1970s, but many aspects are the same today). The main theme is about how mistakes are identified and dealt with, but the book also provides a sociological study on how physicians create and maintain their authority and how social hierarchies are created. Actually, this is a good book for any future physician, not just future surgeons. I would highly recommend it. Through its descriptions, it gives a ton of tips on how to be a good resident.

 

[Forensic Chick]

Yeah - I'd love to be a trauma surgeon. You're on shift for 3-4 days straight (depending on the hospital) and you only work traumas -- no regular ER stuff. But - as you can probably tell by my screen name thing - I'm extremely interested in forensics, which has more sane hours and you don't have to worry about hurting a patient.

 

[BlameItOnTheNurse]

A surgeon...i will be one day(quoted from blameitonthenurse, a prestigious surgeon of the early 21century). i am in it for the money...not

But if i was, i would look at cardiothoracic, b/c they make some mad $$.... but they go through to many yrs of residency to interest me.
Seriously, i think we all have our ideas. I think everyone thinks they want ER work, including myself, but things will probably change and i will probably look into ortho.
BIOTN

 

[lady in red]

As far as surgeons being perceived as arrogant dinguses, I'd say, they have earned their right to be dinguses, if, indeed, one can stereotype most of the surgeons as being such. The amt of $$ they make does not justify the hours--those in it for the $$ can just go into dermatology. I'd bet surgeons don't even have the time to spend all that money--their families get the pleasure!
CUarzt-you made a good point. i'm going to bed now goodnight all

 

[oldman]

a good book about general surgery residencies is: "Making of a Surgeon" i think the book is out of print, but it should be in your local library.

 

[HippocratesX]

I'm thinking of going into Urology. I have two older brothers who are surgeons in Urology and they think the hours after residency are great. So you still get to live a normal family life, while getting paid VERY, VERY well, i might add. Still, I wouldn't go into surgery just for the money. There's something about surgery that is just extremely fascinating. Whether it's a simple operation or a hemispherectomy that takes 8 hours. Its just amazing to me and I think its worth the grueling 5-7 years it takes to become a full fledged surgeon in whatever specialty.

 

[Hero]

i'm really good with my hands and I like using them. If i am talented as a surgeon, i will definately use it to contribute to the medicine.