If you don't know the hospital
go the day before and get a feel for the layout (i.e. John Cochran VA
hospital)
How was the driving and parking?
On surgery you can park in the
larger gated employee lot since you normally get there before six. Just
press the button and say "This is Mr./Ms. Gunner on Surgery II" and they
will open it. They want you to park in the back of this lot however, I
never did... shhhh
How bad were the on call hours?
took home call at the VA you
should be so lucky
Trauma call is hit or miss, slept the first night was up for 38 hours
straight on the second night of call, but it was all darn exciting stuff.
What were your weekday hours?
On Red Surgery (Trauma)
5-6:30 am Pre round
6:30 - 9 Work Rounds
9:00 - to potentially 2pm Attending rounds, brace yourself it's
looooooooong
3-5 pm - Class
If not on call ya can go home
What were your weekend hours?
2 of the 4 on our team would come
in to round if not on call you get off by 2-3pm
What should we know about the attendings and residents?
Residents change of course so not to useful discussing them. Our team's
residents were fabulous at the VA and here on trauma.
At the VA the chief resident IS the attending for all intents.
Shapiro, Mazuski, Durham are the Trauma attendings with the new addition
of Dr. Hong
All three are very personable and approachable. Mazuski rounds can be
looooong, but it kinda feels like rounding with your Dad.
Did you learn any new procedures or skills?
you can stich a lot
on call. At the VA if you're ambitious you can follow the IV specialist
around and put in IVs. I've put in 2 chest tubes so far, lots of
retracting of course, yuk.
What books were useful for the shelf exam?
I keep Surgical
Recall in my pocket to read when I get a minute. I actually like NMS
Surgery better I think between the two it's a good combo. Pretest I've
heard is also a good idea.
How was your shelf exam?
NO EXAM
Did you have enough time to study for it?
Doh, haven't taken the
shelf yet
What pearls of wisdom should an incoming student ABSOLUTELY know?
How would you rate the stress level?
tolerable
Are you now more or less interested in this specialty as a career?
