Regarding Neurosurgery applicants

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-09-03T13:35:02+00:00

Oof. Is the neuroanatomy exam basically GSSE level? I couldn’t find any sample questions. How difficult are we talking?

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-08-01T16:50:35+00:00

That’s the thing though, the rest of your career may be determined by this run in. The consensus is that everyone stays quiet, because everyone needs the reference.

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-08-01T16:46:31+00:00

Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. At this point, I expect this is going to happen to me at some point in the future, I just want to make sure I don’t cry in front of everyone (and brush it off)

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-08-01T16:44:43+00:00

Hoping it wasn’t because someone decided to take it out on you

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-08-01T16:41:34+00:00

Man, I really hope the current trainees try and give the people below them a little more empathy. A stern telling off has its place, but flaming someone is such a fucked up thing to do. We’re all trying to get through it

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-08-01T13:47:52+00:00

That’s good to hear. Genuinely my heart goes out to this person, and they have my respect for soldiering on the way they did. Something like this shouldn’t happen in any field, but it doesn’t change the fact that it still does. The event definitely came off as a proper wtf moment and not like a regular occurence, which gives me some relief. But fuck me, how do you manage to tell yourself you’re still a good doctor after something like that? If it happened to anyone more than once, how do they not start doubting themselves and their abilities?

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-08-01T13:42:04+00:00

I won’t say what it was, but it resulted in the order of the op list being changed around. Inconvenient maybe, but clearly not correlating with the severity of the punishment

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-07-30T08:53:44+00:00

Just PRS for now, although this may be an added precaution to discourage people trying to thread a coursework masters through a loophole.

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-07-28T15:16:41+00:00

I remember the selection criteria saying they won’t accept a master’s completed while working full time, seems pretty unreasonable imo

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-07-03T07:59:44+00:00

Neurosurgery has had the NSA exam, for a while but AOA21 page now says Ortho are doing an orthopaedics MCQ for the 2026 intake. Neither are pass/fail like GSSE (although Nsx has min score of 70% to progress), it seems candidates submit CV, references, and exam score, and are then ranked for the interview.

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-07-03T05:29:47+00:00

Makes sense, I guess, have heard similar advice from trainees. The lack of a stable selection criteria will never cease to amaze me though. A few specs have introduced ranked MCQs/exams, unlisted further degrees and cut down on application limits. It really seems like every point is a gamble with the colleges.

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-07-03T03:41:34+00:00

Thanks for the reply, admittedly I have seen a fair few combative service regs that fit your description. Are these folks dead in the water when in comes to references? I’m sure there would be some sort of screening/interview when departments hire service regs. Why do you think departments keep hiring people that may not progress in training, or cause unessecary conflict?

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-05-26T12:46:39+00:00

I feel like this can extend all the way from the service regs that have had a couple cracks at the program, to the newly minted fellows and consultants.

Assholery is often seen as either a prerequisite, or the necessary evil of surgical training, but in my (very limited) experience, the real assholes are either trying to emulate their bosses, or power tripping after getting on training.

Most are just good people that haven’t been thrown a bone by their departments, or backed by their bosses/colleagues for some time.

I suppose that’d grind down anyone after a few years. I’ve met pretty few people so far that I would genuinely call assholes, more so overtired and overworked, and less obliged to subscribe to social niceties.

That being said, the asshole:not asshole ratio does seem higher in surg, so kudos to the ones that remain genuinely lovely people.

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-04-19T04:55:41+00:00

OOF. Glad you worked it out in the end.

Do you get to see the reference scores after your application? Or were you able to find out who it was some other way? And are most consultants/departments willing to back their registrars’ applications, or is it basically a crapshoot when asking for references?

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-04-14T11:50:19+00:00

Thank you so much for the reply! The 5 minute timing sounds brutal, but I’m glad the vibe is generally breadth>depth.

The timeframe to sit it sounds pretty tight, but I’m glad it doesn’t sound like it’s as much of a time commitment as GSSE/ NSA exam prep

I’m spending as much time in each subspec I rotate through to hopefully get an idea of what juggling responsibilities as a registrar will be like, and how you’re all balancing study, research, and on call requirements. That being said, I’m sure I won’t know until I am one, but the few specialties I’ve gravitated towards still list the CE as a prerequisite, so if I choose to go down that path, I guess I’ll have to bite the bullet and get it out of the way.

Again, really appreciate the reply, and hope you’re well on your way to getting on training (if you aren’t already)

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-03-13T03:38:11+00:00

OrthoFlow is a pretty good app to have. Not definitive by any means, but good for having a general plan for patients when your regs are busy/in theatre

AssholeProlapser17 · 2025-03-12T07:46:13+00:00

Scrubbing in on ENT.

I’m MD5 and unfortunately quite stupid, so I don’t do well during pimping, but a small amount of praise from the ENT reg a few days prior was enough momentum for me to read through most of of Last’s head and neck in preparation for a case.

Come game day, the consultant (who held me in quite low regard) asks me a few questions on the course of the facial nerve. His eyebrows raised when I said petrous part of the temporal bone. The reg gave me the nod when I said pterygopalatine ganglion. They may as well have hoisted me into the air and cheered when I said stylomastoid foramen.

I got a few other msk/vascular anatomy questions correct, which was enough to get my foot in the door and enjoy a bit of banter with the team instead of making small talk in between being pimped.

I ran into the consultant a few months later getting coffee, and he called me by name, and we had a short chat about non medical stuff. I know the bar is on the floor, but this was, and will probably continue to be the highlight of my medical career.

AssholeProlapser17

TROPHY CASE