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why did you choose to practice orthopedics? please mention your gender. It would be interesting to see if the answers differ among M & F.
why ortho?
- Thread starter medical22
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Love the tools, love the work. Pretty cool being the one who can make the broken arm or leg straight again. Imagine helping the older, arthritic person be able to walk again without pain. The point is you can make a real difference in people's lives.
If the surgeon is able to determine the correct diagnosis and performs the proper surgery or treatment with adequate skill, the problems can usually be cured. Unlike so many areas of medicine where you simply manage chronic conditions, ortho offers a chance to really affect change.
I'm a male.
Hope this helps.
If the surgeon is able to determine the correct diagnosis and performs the proper surgery or treatment with adequate skill, the problems can usually be cured. Unlike so many areas of medicine where you simply manage chronic conditions, ortho offers a chance to really affect change.
I'm a male.
Hope this helps.
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my dad is a contractor and growing up I saw all the cool stuff and huge house that MD's had. I then decided to go to medical school. As often occurs, I had an ACL repair and shadowed that doctor several times. I got a job at an ED tech and realized that I truly loved medicine and fortunately for better reasons than big toys.
Reasons for chosing ortho:
1. constuction back ground-- I worked construction for my dad for 7 years. I felt right at home with a drill in one hand and a slap hammer in the other.
2. had an early experience with ortho (my acl recon) that made it my "first love"
3. orthopods, for the most part, have fun and enjoy what they do
4. low divorce rate (one of the lowest of specialities)
5. very little to do with life and death situations, I hate those
6. I have a wife and 3 kids to support and orthopods do well financially
Now as a fourth year resident, I can say I love it. Each day is a blast and my work is my hobby.
male
Reasons for chosing ortho:
1. constuction back ground-- I worked construction for my dad for 7 years. I felt right at home with a drill in one hand and a slap hammer in the other.
2. had an early experience with ortho (my acl recon) that made it my "first love"
3. orthopods, for the most part, have fun and enjoy what they do
4. low divorce rate (one of the lowest of specialities)
5. very little to do with life and death situations, I hate those
6. I have a wife and 3 kids to support and orthopods do well financially
Now as a fourth year resident, I can say I love it. Each day is a blast and my work is my hobby.
male
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My story is similar to the other two:
Grew up with a dad in construction and helped him alot.
Really enjoy geometry, biomechanics, etc
Was a decent athlete once upon a time and had two knee surgeries
Majored in sports medicine/athletic training and worked as a certified athletic trainer
Spent a ton of time with ortho docs in college and they helped convince me med school was possible
Graduate in May and start ortho residency in July! Can't think of a better career to be working in. You don't necessarily save someone's life, but you can save their "quality of life". I like the idea of getting someone back to what they enjoy doing. We only have a short time on this planet so we should make the most of it and when it's time to go, it's time to go. I don't want to be the one keeping someone on the vent because we are "doing all we can". Anyway, hope this helps and if you couldn't tell, I'm a male.
Grew up with a dad in construction and helped him alot.
Really enjoy geometry, biomechanics, etc
Was a decent athlete once upon a time and had two knee surgeries
Majored in sports medicine/athletic training and worked as a certified athletic trainer
Spent a ton of time with ortho docs in college and they helped convince me med school was possible
Graduate in May and start ortho residency in July! Can't think of a better career to be working in. You don't necessarily save someone's life, but you can save their "quality of life". I like the idea of getting someone back to what they enjoy doing. We only have a short time on this planet so we should make the most of it and when it's time to go, it's time to go. I don't want to be the one keeping someone on the vent because we are "doing all we can". Anyway, hope this helps and if you couldn't tell, I'm a male.
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well, i'm not anywhere near practicing, but i can give you some answers as to why i'm choosing to pursue the field:
- really enjoy working with my hands
- am much more of a surgery person than a medicine person
- enjoy a bit of both clinic and OR, at about 40/60 respectively
- have always enjoyed fixing things, putting things together, building things (i'm a DIYer at home)
- have always had a heavy involvement in sports and sports med
- eyes and face things creep me out (i.e. no ophthy, no ENT, no plastics)
- ortho so far is really the only thing that's truly excited me
- am interested in some of the basic science of the field (biomaterials, esp.)
- really like the idea of fixing someone's body - i.e. broken bone? i fix it.
- don't want to be in a field where all i do is prescribe drugs and follow lab values
- i thought the ortho cases i scrubbed in on were really interesting and fun
- enjoy working with adults and kids, old and young
and two words: Power Tools
and i'm a woman.
- really enjoy working with my hands
- am much more of a surgery person than a medicine person
- enjoy a bit of both clinic and OR, at about 40/60 respectively
- have always enjoyed fixing things, putting things together, building things (i'm a DIYer at home)
- have always had a heavy involvement in sports and sports med
- eyes and face things creep me out (i.e. no ophthy, no ENT, no plastics)
- ortho so far is really the only thing that's truly excited me
- am interested in some of the basic science of the field (biomaterials, esp.)
- really like the idea of fixing someone's body - i.e. broken bone? i fix it.
- don't want to be in a field where all i do is prescribe drugs and follow lab values
- i thought the ortho cases i scrubbed in on were really interesting and fun
- enjoy working with adults and kids, old and young
and two words: Power Tools
and i'm a woman.
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In contrast to some of the other posts, I have never had surgery and am not particulary mechanically inclined. When I was on my surgery rotation, I thought surgery was cool, but didn't like dealing with all of the scut of the general surgery crowd. In addition, as above posters mentioned, ortho surgery tends to have better outcomes than some of the other surgery fields. My main point is that you don't need to have a family member in construction to like ortho because the field is as much about clinical decision making as it is about the technical aspects of the surgery. You can teach anyone how to rod a femur, but the really good surgeons know when not to do surgery. Just my two cents...
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#1: Patients usually have good outcomes. You see results relatively quickly.
#2: Not a dump service like G-Surg or Medicine. (Pt had a MVA, almost brain dead, nothing for neurosurg to do -> send patient to G-surg trauma to baby sit.) You don't have to deal with baby sit issues with ortho.
#3: Most orthopods are very laid back and fun people. Great work environment. Usually don't have to deal with Eggheads and nerds.
#4: Usually can listen to music in the OR.
#5: Still have relatively high compensation compared to most other specialties. Although this can change. Not a reason to do ortho, but doesn't hurt.
#6: Get to cover / go to football, basketball games, sporting events for free or even get paid.
#7: Opportunities for research is enormous. Lot of work in basic sci and biomechanics.
I could go on forever.......
#2: Not a dump service like G-Surg or Medicine. (Pt had a MVA, almost brain dead, nothing for neurosurg to do -> send patient to G-surg trauma to baby sit.) You don't have to deal with baby sit issues with ortho.
#3: Most orthopods are very laid back and fun people. Great work environment. Usually don't have to deal with Eggheads and nerds.
#4: Usually can listen to music in the OR.
#5: Still have relatively high compensation compared to most other specialties. Although this can change. Not a reason to do ortho, but doesn't hurt.
#6: Get to cover / go to football, basketball games, sporting events for free or even get paid.
#7: Opportunities for research is enormous. Lot of work in basic sci and biomechanics.
I could go on forever.......
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