Rotation #4: Surgery

I will be honest with you . . . this is the one rotation that I was dreading THE MOST out of all of them! I had heard that the hours were horrible, that the days were long, and that the students get very tired. Well, let me tell you . . . it was ALL true!! Combine all of this with it being during the month of December . . . the holidays, so many things that were scheduled, shopping, etc. I personally could not wait for this rotation to be done! In fact, towards the end, we were counting down the days until we could spend time as a family again!

I don't want to sound completely negative about this rotation, however. My hubby got so much experience and mentoring during this time, it was amazing to me! (I've included his little write-up for all of you interested below.) And, I knew that the students, interns, etc. were spoiled with their nice journal club dinners, but seriously, this month took the cake!! I am still hearing about the 4 hour meal at the local sushi place . . . the shrimp, steak, and lobster . . . and that was only one course!! It is really too bad that the spouses can't take along! Oh well!! My hubby does try to bring home some leftovers and extra desserts whenever he can!!

Anyways, here's some more detail from the student aspect:

I’ll admit I was dreading this rotation. It was going to be long hours in the hospital, I had heard some not-so-nice things about some of the residents, and I never thought once that I wanted to be a general surgeon in my entire life. In fact, I wanted it to be over as fast as possible. My typical day went like this: I would show up at around 5:00 and round on patients before the residents arrived, we had morning report at 6:00, then we would round on more patients or jump in on our scheduled surgeries if we were assigned early ones. Surgeries usually started around 7:30 in the morning and would go to around 4:00 that afternoon. After that we would round on our patients that we scrubbed in on (provided they weren’t an outpatient surgery or they were out of the recovery room and on to the floor), then meet at 5:30 for sign-out, and we usually left by 6:00. That was a typical day. In addition, we had 4 nights of call (our group only had 3 because of a scheduling issue) with one weekend of call included. Call on this rotation was a little bit pointless. The residents were PGY-2’s who were very protective of everything they were called on (understandable as it is them that would get their butt chewed if a patient had issues) so you spent a lot of time following the resident around, not doing much, and going to bed early. Don’t get me wrong, I like my sleep, but if I am away from my family for call I want to make it worth it by seeing something interesting. I did see a trauma on my call nights, and had a lot of ER consults which were all good to see if nothing else.

However, there were about as many non-typical days as typical days. There were at least 3 or 4 days when I didn’t get home until 8:00 p.m.. I would be wrapping up one surgery, just finishing for the day when another resident would grab me and ask if I had any place to be or if I had plans that night. We all know what you HAVE to say….”of course not, I would LOVE to help out”. Don’t get me wrong, the nights that I stayed late I really enjoyed looking back on it, but it made for a very, very long day. The late nights were usually with either a young surgeon that was only out of residency a couple of years but was very talented, or was with a surgical oncologist. They both worked in the same group and seemed to be real workaholics. Well, the surgical oncologist was the toughest to work with. For all of you who haven’t had experience pimping yet, be prepared. He is a VERY intelligent surgeon, trained at a prestigious program etc., and knew his stuff. The only problem with working with him is that his cases were always very long (3-6 hours) which doesn’t sound bad but after you have been doing surgery all day it gets a little tiring to start that at the end of your day. Also, long cases=extra questions. Anyways, he would grill me just like an intern, but was very courteous about his responses. It’s tough to explain but you’ll see if you ever rotate with him. In addition, I did the most with this doctor than just about anyone else (even though I wasn’t assigned to his service). On one particular late case he let me remove the appendix myself!!! It was an open abdominal case and we had just removed a teratoma from a young lady and the appendix was next to be taken out. He let me isolate the blood supply, ligate it, remove the appendix, and finish the procedure with intra-abdominal suturing. It was fantastic at the time and he let me do it for putting in the late hours.

Overall, I LOVED my surgery rotation, I really did. Not to the point where I would become a surgeon but I could definitely see the draw to the profession. The residents were helpful (as long as you didn’t tick them off, show up late, did some reading, etc.), and they all worked hard to get your hands dirty. If you hadn’t sutured before this rotation you will get your fair share with it trust me. For all of you that are coming to our area in next year don’t stress about the surgery rotation, it’s fun, and you should approach it that way, even if you are a surgery gunner. I was very pleased with my experience overall.

Some additional thoughts from me in response to my hubby's . . . during Surgery, expect your hubby to come home, study, and then go straight to bed (early!). They oftentimes do not get to study that much during the day, but are so tired at night to do much either, but they have to study HARD for this shelf exam! Also, NEVER be late!! I am not speaking from my hubby's experience, but we are aware of someone who was . . . he never lived it down and I am sure that it will pass on to future rotations. Everyone in the hospital is so intertwined; doctors will talk and word will get around if you mess up! And, some surgeons can be very brutal! I don't want to scare anyone, but I do want you to be warned!! :)