Surgery Rotation: First Impression
This is my last rotation of third year. I have been looking forward to this rotation since the Ob-Gyn rotation because I already know how integral surgery is to the profession I want to one day practice. It was worth the wait, as I am thankful to have the medical knowledge and can focus on surgical skills. I also have a newfound appreciation for anatomy, which was a subject I despised first semester of medical school. Now, I realize anatomy is the alphabet that synthesizes together the language that is clinical medicine, and it is easier to appreciate when you can put into clinical context.
My first week has been full of learning, and less surgery than I anticipated actually. I have this first preceptor for 6 weeks, and he is an older physician with a more traditional approach to teaching. I appreciate the times where I have more autonomy in how I am able to function within the medical team, but this is an even more unique experience. This preceptor not only gives the autonomy, but also reviews all decisions with you and emphasizes teaching moments at many intervals. This will be a great experience.
Another cool aspect of this rotation is the fact that I am rotating with other students. I have rarely been in a rotation where I was with another student under the same preceptor, and we were able to collaborate on the same patients and work together. Team work is so integral to patient care, and I can tell the patients we share are better off for our collaboration and team building. I am lucky to be rotating with two intelligent women, and I value how the three of us have different perspectives on patient care and balance each other out when trying to remember various aspects of our assigned readings.
I find surgery exciting. I remembered thinking today while scrubbing in for surgery that I could be happy doing this every day of my career. There is something energizing about getting ready for the OR, and the instant gratification of diagnosing a problem and fixing it with your hands is so awesome. I look forward to the next 11 weeks of surgery, but I am also likely to do fourth year electives in some of the surgical subspecialties so I can get more of the hands-on exposure in medicine that I enjoy.
The Schedule
This first preceptor is unique in that he practices at two different hospitals, and runs call shifts for both as well. He keeps busy, and our schedules vary daily. Today, for example, I was texted at 9:30 AM that we had a surgery at 11:00 AM. The gallbladder removal was a bit longer than most, but I was home by 3:00 PM. Tomorrow is a holiday, but I will be going in to check on the patient from today’s procedure and will write a note on the patient’s post-operative course. Otherwise, there is nothing on the line up yet but the attending is on call until 7 AM, and there is no telling what may come in overnight. My attending also gives us assignments including reading various sections of the surgical textbook and writing papers about different topics. He will ask us questions the following day from the readings, and will also “pimp” us during our rounds on various items we should have encountered in the readings.
Since every day is different, I’ll give a recount of this last week:
Monday: Scrub training at 9 AM, and orientation at 3:00 PM. Two operations between 10 and 3, but I got sick before the start of the first one and left the OR to go to urgent care. This is where I found out I had flu, and went home to recover.
Tuesday: Off for flu.
Wednesday/Thursday – check on patients and write notes (11 A – 2:30 PM), meet attending at clinic (2:30 – 5:00), go home and do assigned readings.
Friday – check on patients and write notes (1-4 PM). Go home.
Saturday – Off
Sunday – Operation 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM. Go home.
The schedule for this first bit doesn’t seem demanding which is perfect for me since I am currently helping support my wife’s recovery from surgery two weeks ago, and balance household responsibilities and parenting obligations. Although the rotation is lighter, I am always busy and stay involved with my busy lifestyle.
The Studying
This shelf is reported to be similar to the medicine shelf I just took at the end of my last rotation. Through my search of online student forums, and previews of the resources I have available, below is my list for my cramfighter schedule. My focus isn’t on quantity of resources this rotation but to get as much exposure of similar topics through the different resources I have chosen.
uWorld question bank– I have 200 questions left and the majority are surgery as I have done the rest through the other rotations.
NMS Surgery Casebook – found a cheap copy on Amazon and I recommend reading through even the oldest copy as the paradigm for surgery is different than the paradigm used in medicine. Also, the question and answer dialogue is a great way to learn differently than most textbooks.
Online Med Ed – I haven’t been watching these videos much in my recent rotations, but I figured I would watch them for this specialized rotation.
WISE-MD cases – These case simulations are great and recommended by school. I think they’re good because you may not see every type of surgical scenario on the wards.
Schwartz's Principles of Surgery – my attending assigns our readings from here and the book is dense. I love a thorough level of detail when reading textbooks throughout the rotation, and this book definitely provides the detail and then some. I like how the chapters are divided by organ so you can read the pertinent surgical information pertaining to each organ.