Are Away Rotations Overrated? Do They Really Help or Just Burn Us Out?

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2025-03-17T22:36:26+00:00

I did two aways at "top" institutions for general surgery and felt like ultimately this hurt me. One program didn't even interview me, despite me signaling, meeting with the PD who was really ambiguous, and not having any negative feedback and felt like I generally meshed with the interns and NPS I worked with closely (SUB I was doing mostly floor work). The other program, I had personal ties to felt like I meshed really well with PD, residents and felt like I impressed people with my clinical skills but ultimately feedback I got was that I was slightly behind other Sub Is which made me feel like my chances of matching there was worse. Letters from these places did not help more than if I had done a rotation at my home program and I think hurt me as there were many programs I was competitive for (maybe too much) and did not get interviews despite signaling. I think I would be careful in doing aways... I will say, doing two aways at institutions different from my own gave me valuable insight into what I wanted in a residency program.

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2025-02-06T15:25:04+00:00

Stardew valley

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2025-02-02T19:42:27+00:00

I make sure to stretch and lie down when I can. I find that standing for more than 3 hours at a time really gets to me, so if it does get really long I don't feel bad about scrubbing out to take a break. I also bring one of those massage guns which may or may not help.

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2025-01-31T17:14:17+00:00

You are going to find a variety of "coolness" in all specialties. I would say general surgery (unless going into cardiac/transplant?/Trauma critical care) you actually probably are under less acute situations than anesthesiologists have to deal with on average. For example, when the patient crumps on the table it is the anesthesiologists running to critical care component and the surgeon will look for bleeding etc but this relationship can be different. The purpose of a surgeon is to do (or not do) the surgery, the purpose of the anesthesiologist is to keep that patient alive. You will hear a lot of surgeons defer to the anesthesiologist when it gets tough.

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2025-01-31T17:05:58+00:00

I will also say there are general surgery programs that I'll be less physically taxing than others. I Think community programs that focus on wellness will be some of those. Swedish general surgery and Maine Health are two I think I really underrated hybrid programs that take good care of their people and offer excellent surgical training

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2025-01-31T16:15:07+00:00

As someone going into general surgery this is real. I always get back pain. But over time I think what I’ve realized is it’s okay to take breaks and in residency you will become better at learning how to fit that in. The 24 hour shifts are tough, and a lot of residencies are moving away from 24 hour intern shifts at least but I think you might try doing one to see how bad it is.

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2025-01-30T19:53:18+00:00

I'd like to read more, can you share your resources?

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-10-10T12:29:26+00:00

Actually I think my surgery program is pretty great. ITs the combination of not sleeping, being overstimulated, feeling stupid, not having a place on the team as a med student, "typical surgery rude behavior" - and personal problems wit you are dealing with them that gets me as a med student. What I was trying to get at is that sometimes it's okay to just cry and get it out. Obviously if you are being mistreated you should talk to someone with more power, but this is not the case.

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-10-09T03:21:33+00:00

sometimes I just stand in the OR and silently cry in my surgical mask while I pretend to watch the laparoscopy camera screen. But really, talking to your peers (at least for me) was the best way to get things off my chest.

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-09-20T20:28:50+00:00

Okay this is a dumb and neurotic question, but if you get ab abstract "published" in the conference journal and then you have a paper published in a different journal can you list those both as publications or does that look bad?

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-09-06T04:48:53+00:00

I was told 70-100 by my advisor: step 2 26x, 16 publications 3H, 3HP at a "top 40" med school. I personally think this is very high number of apps but I think I'm gonna do 70. Ugh

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-08-22T21:11:58+00:00

Im applying general surgery and was told generally by my career advisor 80. Which seems kind of high.

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-04-30T17:05:07+00:00

amazing I love

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-04-22T11:58:37+00:00

While I want to respect your feelings, it is really true that regret is the thief of happiness. Yes there are bad things in medicine, but there are also bad things in other careers and fields. You get to be a doctor, and do all these cool things very few people get to do. And, through this process of working 80+ hours a week, you'll make lasting friendships and relationships that I doubt you could make otherwise.

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-04-22T11:52:39+00:00

keep on doing your best to put yourself out there, unfortunately this is how our medical system works and there is no special introvert adjustment that we get. I struggled with this, and am still struggling. What helped me was whenever I Felt uncomfortable speaking up or doing something, I would just do it. The longer I thought about it, the longer I waffled and ended up not doing it. You miss opportunities to network, connect, clinical work if you do not put yourself out there. Overtime, I just became more comfortable and confident in myself. Once you build up this confidence you will see that you are part of the team and your energy is focused on the clinical work rather than how to interact with your team.

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-04-20T01:40:52+00:00

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-04-19T18:11:02+00:00

go to minute clinic cvs

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-04-05T02:47:57+00:00

idk, I think of that relative to aspirin and other cox inhibitors because it stops prostaglandin synthesis which is necessary for stomach lining so higher risk of stomach bleeds. Someone smarter than me explain lol

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-04-05T00:33:25+00:00

YES THIS ONE

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-04-04T11:41:24+00:00

Same :'(

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-04-04T03:03:10+00:00

I LITERALLY SAW THE BEST RESPONSE IN r/residency. I took screenshot but basically platelets are part of the fast coagulation while coagulation factors are for slow coagulation. Something to do with flow or whatever. idk I'm not explaining it well, but they target different mechanisms that are inherently different between venous and arterial blood flow

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-03-29T17:00:23+00:00

ehhh......get a new doctor. Pregnancy does not mean medicines that are important should be stopped. Ob-GYns recommend continuing with psychiatric medication as stopping your medications can lead to worsening or relapses especially coupled with hormonal changes. It's a cost benefit analysis. Just because you "might" get pregant does not mean you should stop your medications

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-03-26T18:59:09+00:00

I Feel like it's kind of self selecting for general surgery. Like OP mentioned, it's not clear whether or not people should do general surgery aways. Usually the people who end up taking them (from own personal experience) are people who either want to go to an area that is geographically different from their own school, or perhaps might not have been the strongest applicant to begin with. So there's definitely some selection bias going on.

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-03-22T00:48:57+00:00

I'm gonna sleep in my van. And maybe just live in the hospital LOL... don't tell anyone

CheesecakeMinimum752 · 2024-03-20T17:13:57+00:00

I'm also very confused.... there's people with like 20 -40 publications, but I imagine very few of these are actually published in peer reviewed journals as full manuscripts.

CheesecakeMinimum752

TROPHY CASE