be prepared to do plenty of
scut, try to stay in a good mood no matter where else you'd rather be,
your notes really don't have to be long at all
How was the driving and parking?
typical slu parking
How bad were the on call hours?
stay overnight at SLUH but
rarely get woken up except by the intern's beeper, home call at CG and
very rarely get called (still had to stay till 6-7PM)
What were your weekday hours?
see patients really early (4-6AM)
depending on how many you have, then go to rounds, which are pretty short
for blue and peds, then go to surgery (you have surgery every day for peds
but not for blue)
What were your weekend hours?
one day a weekend unless on call
What should we know about the attendings and residents?
most
attendings won't talk to you much at all, and some of the residents
actually have a sense of humor
Did you learn any new procedures or skills?
suturing, taking out
chest tubes, taking out JP drains, stapling
What books were useful for the shelf exam?
Surgery Recall,
Essentials of General Surgery was completely worthless!!!
How was your shelf exam?
8/10
Did you have enough time to study for it?
yes
What pearls of wisdom should an incoming student ABSOLUTELY know?
you have to be strong to help in a vertical banded gastroplasty (I
mean really strong!)
How would you rate the stress level?
worse than average
Are you now more or less interested in this specialty as a career?
Less
Any other comments?
don't try to do surgery while pregnant, I
did and it was truly a nightmare
