Surgery... loving it!

I am having a fantastic time in Surgery. As expected I enjoy it more in General surgery than Orthopaedic surg. I enjoy the diagnostic challenge, the ability to take a problem and deal with it. I like that learning anatomy, while hard, provides almost instant gratification when you know where something is in theatre. I like that just when you think you know the anatomy, a patient will have some rare varience or anomally that keeps you on your toes. I like the high pressure environment but still the degree of mastery required. I am loving it !!

Ortho...a great experience!

Well, I must say that my last two weeks in orthopaedics have been great. I saw many very common problems, a few not so common, I got to scrub in and assist numerous times. This leaves me a little confused, as out of all the specialties to do, I thought ortho would be my least favourite - I am not very sporty, never really had much sympathy for guys (or girls) who do stupid things and end up with impressive, yet completely preventable injuries.

Then again. I saw many average people just like me who really were in the wrong place at the wrong time. I saw how debilitating a musculoskeletal problem can be, how it is mostly amenable to surgery (the skeleton is remarkably resilient and partially self repairs) and how greatful (mostly) patients are when you intervene. I realised, it was no worse than the guy that keeps puting drugs in his veins, smoke on his lungs or alcohol in his liver - patients often have hang ups. What makes sports worse? If anything it is a negative outcome from a potentially less harmful activity. [I am still yet to find strong evidence that exercise is good for you (apart from a gentle stroll etc) - anything more intense often ends in fractures, arthritis, torn ligaments and so on...]

What I did learn is once you learn the anatomy (which is a LOT of work) surgery is fun, you get to fix problems with almost instant gratification and orthopods aren't all knuckle draggers as often portrayed. All in all a great experience!!

Surgery... an early start!

Since the blogs for my last two rotations have been few and far between, I thought I would get a head start for this one. I start 8 (supposedly grueling) weeks in surgery tomorrow. The first two weeks are in orthopaedics (Assessment = 1) consultant mark, 2) clinical case - complete following pre, peri and post op 3) random joint examinations and 4) a take home (for 24hrs) exam later in the term). I am doing my ortho with other students at a main tertiary hospital in the city.

The next 6 weeks are at a smaller hospital in general surgery where assessment = 1) 3 clinical cases (as in ortho), 2) consultant mark 3) surgical images paper 4) final paper. I am one of only a few students so hopefully I will get a bit of hands on experience.

At this stage, even though anaesthetics is on the top of my list, I haven't completely written off surgery as a choice. My background is physiology; it is where I feel comfortable whereas my anatomy knowledge is somewhat more rudimentary. But there is something about surgery which excites me. Surgery is sometimes seductive as a path and most books about the journey of becoming a doctor tend to be written by surgeons (probably says more about the personality types) and I can't help but wonder if anaesthetics was "sold" more actively would it be more or less popular?

In my elective rotation I saw both and I must say I was much more fascinated by anaesthetics. I like the idea of taking a problem and fixing it though...

At this stage I want to spend my elective in fourth year split (4 weeks each) between general surgery - hopefully trauma, and anaesthetics - again hopefully some trauma as well. I wonder if that will change after my surgery rotation??