Surgery Rotation ? and all other ones??

So the other night my bf tells me that his first rotation after boards is going to be surgery. This will be the start of the 3rd year of med school for him. He's excited and nervous. He was telling me that he may be in the hospital for something like 80/90 hours a week? Is that true? What can I expect? Besides not seeing him often. Will it get better when he starts the internal medicine rotation? Anyone have information about the other rotations and what it will be like as well.. I'm trying to prepare myself.

Thanks

[DCJenn]

From what I remember, the surgery rotation was pretty awful. But as I recall, he had to do two and he did them back-to-back to get them over with.

IM and the others are usually much better. My husband (boyfriend at the time) hated internal medicine and family practice though so when they're doing something they don't like, be prepared for excessive grouchiness.

Once he got to peds though, all was right in his world. Unfortunately for me, he did his peds rotation (3rd year) in Hawaii.

Jenn

[migirl]

Speaking strictly from our experience...

The surgery rotation was the toughest for us for two reasons. First, with long hours (I think the 80-90 hours/wk is probably an accurate assessment) and overnight call, surgery is a brutal experience in and of itself. At DH's med school the surgery rotation was broken up into two 6-week blocks: 6 weeks of general surgery, 6 weeks of surgical subspecialty (3 2-week blocks of the student's choice of plastics, ortho, neurosurgery, etc). The general surgery block was by far the more intensive, the subspecialty blocks were slight less so. The second reason surgery was tough for us was because DH wanted to match into a surgical subspeciality, so he was compelled to work extra hard to make sure he did well.

After surgery, everything seemed easier but I guess it's all relative. Medicine had more humane hours (still long, but better than surgery) and some opportunities for home call, but I'll agree with Jenn here in that it was a bit more tedious for him because he had no interest in medicine. OB/Gyn and peds hours I think were slightly better, but he liked them even less than medicine so it pretty much just sucked. The best block for us was 'smalls,' which consisted of 4 weeks each of family medicine, psychiatry, and neurology. It felt like a vacation, the hours were so good!

Overall, 3rd year was a difficult year because not only did he have responsibilities in the hospital but then he also had to find time to study up on stuff he saw on the wards and for the exams at the end of the rotations. A lot of nights he would come home dead-tired post-call, but then still have to crack open his books and study for the evening. It's difficult but manageable, and my husband really enjoyed his 3rd year because he got to get into the hospital and out of the classroom.

[fluffhead]

Surgery consisted of very long hours, but for us, was better than medicine or peds. My wife was bored silly during medicine - long hours with lots of procedures and scutwork. Peds freaked her out - sticking babies with needles, etc. During surgery, she worked hard, but she loved sticking her hands inside people's guts for some reason.
Seeing as how we had no children at that point, it wasn't too bad.

[Flynn]

Get into the mindset you won't see your bf at all and when you do he will be braindead and worthless. Then, if he has a good day and comes home early it will be a bonus.

He will probaby love surgery and it will be weird for you because it will be hard to see him so happy with what he's doing, and yet he's away from you all the time.

DH did surgery as his first rotation of 3rd year. Reasoning was that he probably didn't want to do a surgery residency and knew it would suck and wanted it out of the way. (Not that some of the other rotations didn't suck).

For the most part, third year will be a whole new experience for him. Getting used to the hours, protocol, presenting cases, dealing with patients and their families in sometimes heart-wrenching situations...can be an adjustment. Just give it some time and space. Make other plans so you aren't sitting around waiting for him to be available. He will probably have no idea when he will have a day off/be coming home/be able to think straight.

But it does get better into third year, in my experience. Give it a few months. Feel free to vent here!

Thanks guys, Its also a little hard because we don't live together. So I'm not sure when I will see him.. Its new territory and something I have to get used to again.. and like no at least we can IM each other, phonecalls and emails. I'm curious to see what happens when you take that away.
He doesn't want to go into surgery so that is why he chose it first, to get it out of the way. But granted he had to pick the summer time which is my favorite time of the year which is hard. Because when I go out and do things of course I will want him there with me.. but this is something I will get used to.. hopefully/eventually...
Thanks..

I remember him hating surgery because he wasn't going to do it in his practice and he had an attitude about it. I thought IM was the worst--he was on Q3 and practically living at the hospital. I remember doing laundry runs so he'd have something clean to change into for his clinic days.

[Amiens]

When Matt did his surgery rotation, I left the country (literally speaking). We planned for me to do a study-abroad program for 3 weeks while he did surgery. Boy, was I glad I went! At least I did something fun and exciting, or I would have been sitting around the apartment waiting around for Matt. It was the first time I started to clue in that I needed to make sure to have my own life, and include Matt in it when he was around. Matt worked 100 hours a week while he did surgery.

Nellie- Matt did the baptism by fire surgery rotation at DMHC (Denver Gen).

Crystal

Nellie- Matt did the baptism by fire surgery rotation at DMHC (Denver Gen).

8O 8O OMG! Baptism by fire is right! Eric took the "easy" route and did surgery at the VA. He had to be there everyday but med students doing surgery at the VA don't stay overnight.

Interestingly, I met my bf while he was on his surgery rotation, so anything's possible I guess (his classmates were amazed). I remember surgery being more physically difficult for him than anything else (he didn't have a lot of interest in it so was only there cause he had to be)- he was exhausted from being on his feet all day holding his arm in an awkward position for hours.

I'd say Sub-I was the toughest since he cared about it more than the other rotations. But at the same time, it was great to see his confidence bloom because of the increased responsibility. The schedule was tough and he went out of his way to impress his attending, who really trusted him. So I didn't see him much... I expect this is how it'll go when he starts residency?

-Esther

P.S. I've come to realize it's better for my own sanity that we don't live together right now. I don't yet have to deal with his mountains of dirty dishes and laundry as he ignores everything but his rotation.

[Amiens]

Nellie-

Matt had a slight interest in surgery, and he figured if he really wanted to see if it was something he wanted to do then he should go for the gusto and do it at DG. When I got back from France, Matt told me "I liked surgery but not that much." I think at that point he started thinking anesthesia would be a nice route to go.

Crystal

OMG you guys are freaking me out! My husband will be starting his rotations in July. His first one is OB/GYN. We have three very active kids and I work full-time. I'm definitely wondering how we will hold up. He has been so helpful the last two years with being able to pick the kids up from school and getting dinner ready (except for the times he has an exam or MUST study). I'm afraid now that rotations will be beginning we won't have as much flexibility. To top if all off, we're thousands of miles from "home" and really don't have anyone to rely on to help with the kids and all that great stuff. Ugh.

P.S. I hate to cook! What will I do??!!

I think it might be a good idea to come up with a new plan for picking up kids and getting dinner ready. Ob/gyn will likely be one of his harder rotations and he won't have much control (ok, no control) over when he leaves. Seriously though, it's not a good idea to rely on him to pick them up. It will be very stressful for everyone involved.
Just like you got into a routine for 1st and 2nd year, you will get into one for 3rd. Feel free to vent here often -- there are many who have done this before and understand.

[Flynn]

Just a few thoughts...

I agree with everything that has been said and want to add the comment that the 80 hours in some (most) med. school rotations is very much like a residency. Surgery used to be one area of training with the most hours but now with the 80 hour work week, there is more consistency between the choices within medicine. The lifestyle might be different but the hours generally are the same unless you are doing family practice for example.

My point is that you should keep in mind that some rotations during med. school are an excellent way of "understanding" what residency is like for years and years and years..... you get the point!!!