- Joined
- Mar 12, 2005
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Man, how much I've learned having an S.O. who is a general surgeon.
Its provided me with a personal, trustworthy perspective I was never aware of outside my chosen specialty.
If you read some of the allopathic threads, residents posting in the general surgery forum, med student forums, etc,
you'd think general surgeons are work gluttons with hundred hour work weeks and no life.
My S.O. :
is deft, busy, well respected, with a major referral pipeline from the OB dudes for breast issues......(READ: alotta breast biopsies and stereotactics on young girls with commercial insurance).....and FP docs, IM docs for other surgical needs...
typically is done on a non call day by 3pm, whether shes seeing 35 pts in the office or doing 6-7 cases in the OR.....granted, she's there early, like me, around 0630...
shares call with other groups so her weekend call is about one in twelve...
has every Wednesday off...
has the ability to take off whenever she wants, as long as its known in advance....(we're going to Vegas in June....to The Cove at Atlantis, Bahamas in November...)
So what have I gathered from my S.O. concerning propegated mantras amongst people in training is:
WHATS MORE IMPORTANT, WHEN IT COMES TO LIFESTYLE ISSUES, IS NOT THE SPECIALTY.....ITS THE INDIVIDUAL.
Some people are not capable of efficiency....or are too proud to learn it....or arent taught it.
For whatever reason, most docs in academia, regardless of specialty, fit this description. This is who we learn from.
You have to learn on your own how to be efficient.....or wait until the private practice transition, then learn from your partners...
this is WRONG!!! We should be taught this..I certainly wasnt..and I'd venture to say that hasnt changed...in anesthesia or any other specialty..
...this should be an integral part of our training, regardless of specialty, dontcha think? Doctors in training should be taught the value of time management. Learning how to be faster and at the same time efficient. At procedures. Rounding. Consults. Office visits. Managing problems. Waking people up. Putting them to sleep.
Rounding CDAZY FAST........10 minute breast biopsies......15-20 minute lap-GBs....30 minute lap hernias.....1 hour colon resections....fast in the office seeing patients....fast with consults....1 hour open splenectomy on a trauma patient.....
is what S.O. is made of in her professional life.
She has shown me that many myths are propegated, even outside of our anesthesia specialty.
You can be a busy general surgeon and have a great lifestyle too.
I read an analagous thought from a post in the FM section....touting orthopedists as, yes, highly paid, but tied to the hospital with endless workweeks...and yet the successful orthopedists I work with have a lifestyle lifestyle similar to S.O. .....
I learned something that would be valuable info for our colleagues in training......which is.....
many, many myths are propegated in academia!
About everything! How to do a case, how specialists are handsomely paid but dont have a life.....
I hate these myths.
Am still thinking about how we can bridge the information-gap between academia and private practice to the people still in training....
Its provided me with a personal, trustworthy perspective I was never aware of outside my chosen specialty.
If you read some of the allopathic threads, residents posting in the general surgery forum, med student forums, etc,
you'd think general surgeons are work gluttons with hundred hour work weeks and no life.
My S.O. :
is deft, busy, well respected, with a major referral pipeline from the OB dudes for breast issues......(READ: alotta breast biopsies and stereotactics on young girls with commercial insurance).....and FP docs, IM docs for other surgical needs...
typically is done on a non call day by 3pm, whether shes seeing 35 pts in the office or doing 6-7 cases in the OR.....granted, she's there early, like me, around 0630...
shares call with other groups so her weekend call is about one in twelve...
has every Wednesday off...
has the ability to take off whenever she wants, as long as its known in advance....(we're going to Vegas in June....to The Cove at Atlantis, Bahamas in November...)
So what have I gathered from my S.O. concerning propegated mantras amongst people in training is:
WHATS MORE IMPORTANT, WHEN IT COMES TO LIFESTYLE ISSUES, IS NOT THE SPECIALTY.....ITS THE INDIVIDUAL.
Some people are not capable of efficiency....or are too proud to learn it....or arent taught it.
For whatever reason, most docs in academia, regardless of specialty, fit this description. This is who we learn from.
You have to learn on your own how to be efficient.....or wait until the private practice transition, then learn from your partners...
this is WRONG!!! We should be taught this..I certainly wasnt..and I'd venture to say that hasnt changed...in anesthesia or any other specialty..
...this should be an integral part of our training, regardless of specialty, dontcha think? Doctors in training should be taught the value of time management. Learning how to be faster and at the same time efficient. At procedures. Rounding. Consults. Office visits. Managing problems. Waking people up. Putting them to sleep.
Rounding CDAZY FAST........10 minute breast biopsies......15-20 minute lap-GBs....30 minute lap hernias.....1 hour colon resections....fast in the office seeing patients....fast with consults....1 hour open splenectomy on a trauma patient.....
is what S.O. is made of in her professional life.
She has shown me that many myths are propegated, even outside of our anesthesia specialty.
You can be a busy general surgeon and have a great lifestyle too.
I read an analagous thought from a post in the FM section....touting orthopedists as, yes, highly paid, but tied to the hospital with endless workweeks...and yet the successful orthopedists I work with have a lifestyle lifestyle similar to S.O. .....
I learned something that would be valuable info for our colleagues in training......which is.....
many, many myths are propegated in academia!
About everything! How to do a case, how specialists are handsomely paid but dont have a life.....
I hate these myths.
Am still thinking about how we can bridge the information-gap between academia and private practice to the people still in training....