What is the hardest rotation?

[Kiel]

Many people say that surgery is the most strenuous rotation both mentally and physically. What do you believe is the hardest rotation?

 

 

just curious.

[Kirsteen]

Hi there,

 

First off, it really depends on whether you enjoy surgery, (or any other specialty), or not. Generally, if you're enjoying a specialty then it might not feel like such hard work.

 

In broad terms though, General Surgery is considered one of the tougher rotations, especially given that the hours can be quite long.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

[Kiel]

Hi there,

 

First off, it really depends on whether you enjoy surgery, (or any other specialty), or not. Generally, if you're enjoying a specialty then it might not feel like such hard work.

 

In broad terms though, General Surgery is considered one of the tougher rotations, especially given that the hours can be quite long.

 

Cheers,

Kirsteen

 

Thanks alot Kirsteen!

[Kuantum]

I've heard Neurology can be emotionally draining...espeicallly seeing the kids.

[TimmyMax]

Hey,

 

Personally, the rotation that I found the most mind-numbing was Internal Medicine/CTU. The non-stop rounding and general inability/unwillingness to get the simplest things done (both from a patient and hospital side of things) was too frustrating to put into words.

While the hours on General Surgery were long, since you were always doing something, I didn't mind them at all. I also really enjoyed being in the OR (hence my choice of residency), so the time flew by for me. Getting pimped kind of sucked, but so long as you learned something new, it was worth it.

I don't know- how hard a rotation is is dependent on your perception of it. Since I expected to work like a dog on General Surgery (and OB/GYN, Paeds and Internal), the hours worked never really bothered me- in fact, the number of hours worked on General Surgery was actually kind of disappointing- I thought that it would be a lot harder! If you show up to those rotations expecting to be home by 5 PM every night, with enough time left over each night to go to the gym, do your shopping, go out for dinner, watch a movie, study and go out partying with your friends with every weekend off, then you're in for a shock. Clerkship is all about time management, and if you're expecting the same, relatively cushy lifestyle that you've experienced the first two years of medical school, then you're in for a rude awakening. Some are much better at managing their time than others and won't find it as big of a deal. Just my two cents on the issue.

[Kiel]

Getting pimped kind of sucked, but so long as you learned something new, it was worth it.

 

 

What do you mean by this??

 

thanks for your reply!

[TimmyMax]

Hey,

 

Getting pimped is basically when someone more senior than you grills you on a topic. It sucks when it happens because it usually happens in a public setting (ie: the OR, in front of your attending), and inevitably, they get to something that you can't answer, so you look like a bonehead in front of everyone, depending on what the question you missed was (ie: you lose less points for not knowing the percent incidence of scleroderma on the Cook Islands than you do for not knowing the blood supply to the colon).

The whole point is to learn something (albeit in a shame-based environment, which is what most people don't like about the art of pimping), and if you learn something useful, then it was probably worth the embarassment.

[Kiel]

LOL. Thanks for the reply!

[CutieYellow]

I found my surgery rotation to be LONG, grueling hours, where you get home and you eat and it's already time for bed ... But it wasn't "hard". Surgery is pretty brainless when you're in the OR - hold this, hold that, what vein is that, what muscle is that (and as long as you're ok in anatomy, you're ok during pimping). However, Internal Med was a lot harder of a rotation - there are gazillion diseases, and even more causes and consequences. Pimping was awful in Internal... There is NO way you can know everything no matter how much you read. I found myself reading all the time in IM and on every single pimping session still be completely clueless at times.

 

CY

[TimmyMax]

Hey,

 

Ah yes, I forgot about the pimping in Internal Medicine. Nothing like getting asked to recite the percent sensitivity and specificity of physical examination findings in front of the whole team!

With the number of wrong answers and "I don't know"s littering the floors during rounds on a daily basis, the remainder of the health care team (ie: pharmacists, RNs, etc.) must really fear for the future of the health care system!

[Blake]

I'll tell you in a few months. I'm already dreading IM *scared*

[CutieYellow]

With the number of wrong answers and "I don't know"s littering the floors during rounds on a daily basis!

 

Hihi, Timmy... I say I don't know ALL THE TIME. Better not to know then to guess wrong. Then again, had a preceptor that gave us readings if we said we didn't know, whereas if we answered wrong, he'd feel compelled to snap us the right answer - so no reading

 

blake, IM was a lot of work, but honestly, i think it was super interesting. It was intriguing, lots of unanswered questions, the challenge was thrilling.

 

CY

[Blake]

blake, IM was a lot of work, but honestly, i think it was super interesting. It was intriguing, lots of unanswered questions, the challenge was thrilling.

 

CY

Oh, I'll find out soon enough, but I don't feel like I'm the ''brainiac-medicine'' type, whatever that means. Knowing everything about everything doesn't attract me at all, from what I've gathered so far in my 2 years of med. Keeping an open mind, but trying to be realistic about my true interests in the meantime.

[Kiel]

Oh, I'll find out soon enough, but I don't feel like I'm the ''brainiac-medicine'' type, whatever that means. Knowing everything about everything doesn't attract me at all, from what I've gathered so far in my 2 years of med. Keeping an open mind, but trying to be realistic about my true interests in the meantime.

 

What are you currently interested in Blake??

[noncestvrai]

I've done peds and 3/8 of psych. So far so good, I'm doing internal next.

 

In peds I was 7:30 to 6-7 most of the days, sometimes 5, on the wards. In OPD, much chiller with peds ER shifts, in neonatal, call 1/3, no postcall weekdays, until 10PM, and 24hrs on weekends, and call for me was busy, also on the ward, at least 1-2 admissions per call.

 

Psych is good, I have time to study for the USMLE (ha! I'm paying for my summertime lazyness). It's a very interesting rotation.

 

I like patients, I hate scut. I don't mind long hours if there is minimal scut, i.e. me = secretary. I like radiology, gas, ER so far as specialties. Although my preceptors often tell me to keep my mind open, and usually praise my work, and I don't want to sound pretentious, but I think I'm good with patients, and I say that because they actually tell me so!

 

Oh, and non-stop rounds...I don't like, let's get on with the work!

 

noncestvrai

[Blake]

What are you currently interested in Blake??

Hi,

 

1) neurosurgery. 2) neurology. 3) CT surgery. 4) Orthopedic surgery. I haven't started my rotations yet, and while shadowing docs doesn't give you the whole picture, I'm fairly confident about my interests so far. I've set up electives in 1 and 2, so this should be sorted out in 5-6 months.

[Kiel]

Good luck! Which med school do you attend and which year are you in?

 

thanks a lot!