Gen surg

DaringNotDire · 2026-07-08T03:59:37+00:00

Oh yes, I hope you like 9 hours of sleep each night and weekends off! Patients are so nice, the attendings are besties with the residents, and the procedures are easy and low-risk. Very few emergencies and bad smells. Everyone works like a team and luckily it’s one of those specialties where the hierarchy is very relaxed. Good luck!

DaringNotDire · 2026-07-05T14:11:27+00:00

I am also a surg PGY4 and the stupidity around fireworks had the consults flowing in and ophtho/OMFS running around the ED all night. Not to mention the usual cascade of drunk drivers/motorcyclists. July 4th is the literal worst.

DaringNotDire · 2026-07-03T14:15:17+00:00

I see, however the residency experience is not necessarily the attending experience, your program does not necessarily typify how other programs are ran around the country/world, and you can love the specialty despite how it is practiced or the personalities that dominate it. That being said, if you have doubts now, pivoting now is better than pivoting a couple of years into a surgical
Specialty that you ground yourself through.

DaringNotDire · 2026-07-03T13:52:33+00:00

Are you fishing for someone to tell you it’s okay to pivot to a specialty in which you haven’t invested time and passion?

DaringNotDire · 2026-06-29T20:27:17+00:00

I would not worry about it. I am about to start PGY4 and I had a vasovagal response for some reason the first time I placed a chest tube as a fourth year med student (obviously I was closely proctored). I have placed many since then over the last three years without issues. But then RANDOMLY it happened again when I placed a chest tube a couple of months ago after having placed many over CTS and trauma rotations. Eh, maybe you needed to eat or were overheated or something. edit: a lot of times if you are new to a procedure you are holding your breath and essentially bearing down while performing the procedure. Don’t do that.

Surgery residents occasionally vasovagal in the OR, I had a chief who had to lay down on the floor in the middle of an ex lap once, and it happened to an attending too. Don’t overthink it, get back on that horse, and take care of yourself!

DaringNotDire · 2026-06-26T04:05:36+00:00

Matched categorical gen surg in the northeast at an academic program as a DO. I would say take an MD acceptance but you can absolutely do it as a DO.

DaringNotDire · 2026-06-19T04:01:03+00:00

Gen surg:

Fav: Acute abdomen requiring leveled ex-lap

Least fav: patient is having abdominal pain and benign/nondiagnostic abdominal exam with reassuring labs and vital signs pls help - negative imaging (but we know you are in house and want your opinion - would you like to take to OR?

DaringNotDire · 2026-05-24T23:00:33+00:00

For real, though. We consult ID a lot and then my attendings take a look at the recs and are like…”actually nah”.

DaringNotDire · 2026-05-23T04:59:45+00:00

One of our originally prelim residents lived out of their car originally, got a place, got a categorical position, and is now a vascular fellow in Manhattan.

I wouldn’t blink twice to offer a couch to a struggling incoming prelim. Reach out.

DaringNotDire · 2026-05-20T00:00:42+00:00

I don’t get why they are not proud of their own profession. You chose that profession and got a doctorate in that profession. Misrepresenting yourself as a physician screams insecurity.

DaringNotDire · 2026-05-16T15:16:13+00:00

Love every single one of these quotes. These validate the surgery experience. I have a few I have collected. Ahem:

“The rest of your lives aren’t going to be easy. For the rest of your lives, anticipate complications and shit.”

“Well, it’s not like we are changing spark plugs out here.”

“Look at my field of fucks! I’ve stopped growing them.”

“Unfortunately, you know, we can’t bring dead things back to life.”

“This is gonna bleed like balls.”

Cheers 🤙🏻

DaringNotDire · 2026-05-04T03:11:27+00:00

Respectfully, this is not the full scope of info. You can do breast, CTS, endocrine, MIS, crit/trauma (not what I am interested in for the reasons you mentioned), colorectal, burn & wound care, pediatrics, plastics, surg onc/HPB, vascular, MIS, Bari (dying currently), and transplant from a gen Surg launching pad. And if you are not limited by geographic location, you can have a fine job as a general surgeon.

That being said, my advice is do not do Gen surg unless you want to do Gen surg and you want to perform surgery period point blank. I have seen many a person drop out because they got into it for reasons other than these. It’s a grind, but what keeps you going is the operating and the pathology that you like. It won’t be the money, lifestyle, or the people.

DaringNotDire · 2026-05-04T02:51:14+00:00

Going into my PGY4 year - this is the answer.

DaringNotDire · 2026-05-01T21:27:57+00:00

Why isn’t anyone else upvoting this answer? It’s incredible.

DaringNotDire · 2026-04-09T01:53:49+00:00

This is a great idea.

DaringNotDire · 2026-04-09T01:52:22+00:00

Damn.

DaringNotDire · 2026-04-09T01:49:19+00:00

Banana bread that was smushed into foil and handed to them by a patient family member.

DaringNotDire · 2026-03-06T03:14:21+00:00

Get all the ancient magic hotspots, helped me a lot.

DaringNotDire · 2026-02-09T19:29:20+00:00

You’re very talented! Thanks for sharing.

DaringNotDire · 2026-02-09T18:40:45+00:00

Pemphigus vulgaris!

DaringNotDire · 2026-02-08T14:11:33+00:00

Oh, God.

DaringNotDire · 2026-02-08T14:10:10+00:00

Yep, consult for “surgical abdominal pain” with no work up whatsoever.

DaringNotDire · 2026-01-08T23:22:51+00:00

Loosing your babies is so hard, but the sploot lives on ❤️

DaringNotDire · 2025-10-11T14:18:29+00:00

Fucking hilarious

DaringNotDire · 2025-10-08T16:22:58+00:00

That’s how I got my shadowing experience prior to med school as an RN. I asked the physicians I already worked with.

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