Med School Uncensored by Richard Beddingfield MD

Author:Richard Beddingfield, MD
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Potter/Ten Speed/Harmony/Rodale
Published: 2017-07-24T16:00:00+00:00

EVALUATIONS AND SPECIALTY CHOICE

The most anyone can hope for when you’re a third-year medical student (when most students will do their first surgery rotation) is that you not get in the way or make things more difficult. It’s a bonus if you help out every once in a while and at least seem reasonably interested in the subject at hand. Show up on time or a bit early, do what’s asked of you, and express some interest in your patients, the procedures, and surgical decision making. Do these things, and your evaluations will be fine.

If you’re a gunner who is shooting for honors in everything—or you have a particular interest in pursuing a career in surgery—you can make an even stronger impression by staying late to assist with additional procedures, taking a strong ownership in your patients and knowing them inside and out, and practicing basic suturing skills and relevant anatomy prior to starting the rotation. Beyond that, just study and do well on your rotation exam, and an honors evaluation is completely within your reach.

Most students have a pretty good idea by the start of their third year whether they are interested in pursuing a surgical career. If you are still on the fence by the start of your first surgical rotation, keep an open mind and plan to impress. A good evaluation from your surgical preceptors will go a long way when it comes to the residency match.

If you are still undecided as to your career plans, you will most likely have a surgical career ruled in or ruled out by the end of your first surgical rotation. It either works with your personality and preferred work environment or it doesn’t. Some students love the pace and tangible nature of surgical work. Others hate it. Very few seem to be ambivalent.

Your core surgical rotation often involves very long hours. You will typically get up an hour or two before you normally would, be on your feet most of the day, and stay at the hospital well past dinnertime. You may spend ten or twelve hours per day in the OR, scrubbed in the bulk of the time, standing and holding retractors. After being on your feet all day watching other people cut and sew, you may find yourself exhausted and tired of being asked esoteric questions about the natural history of appendicitis.

A negative, visceral response to the long hours, physical demands, and sometimes brusque demeanor of the OR may truly indicate that a career in surgery just isn’t for you. But it’s important to keep an open mind as much as possible. Remember, for surgical residents and attendings, time in the OR is filled with challenging intraoperative decisions, occasional crisis management, and directing the entire flow of the procedure. As a medical student, you are seeing only a fraction of what is actually occurring.

Consider that being a medical student in the OR can be a lot like watching a NASCAR race on TV—assuming you’re not a huge fan and know very little about the sport.

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