kenyabill Posted February 26, 2013 Hi everyone, my program has given a choice of which surgery clinical rotation to attend. As of now, I'm committed towards Emergency med and definitely see myself applying for a residency program. I would like to know your guys' opinions on which surg rotation would prepare me the best for that field. My choices are - gen surg, ortho, neuro, or cardiothoracic Thanks in advance!
jen0508 Posted February 27, 2013 I would stick with general surgery. A lot of things i encountered (and studied) while on my general surgery rotaiton stuck with me and have been useful as a EM PA....such as small bowel obstructions, appendicitis, PVD, etc. Also doing consults in the ER while on the rotation was a good learning experience. ortho was very helpful for me, but i was in a sports medicine clinic and saw alot of acute injuries (sprains, breaks, etc) which is basically what i deal with in the ER. I dont think that being in the OR doing ortho would be that helpful.
kenyabill Posted February 27, 2013 Author Thanks! I initially requested gen surg. I wasn't sure if observing ortho reconstructions/replacements would be more beneficial in learning anatomy.
andersenpa Posted March 1, 2013 Have ARC-PA standards changed? I thought you had to have gen surg and ortho as general rotations, mandatory, not just elective?
JoelleK Posted March 1, 2013 I don't believe Ortho is a requirement anymore...but I do believe Gen Surg is.
Moderator EMEDPA Posted March 1, 2013 Moderator Have ARC-PA standards changed? I thought you had to have gen surg and ortho as general rotations, mandatory, not just elective? you have to do surgery but not specifically gen surg. I did trauma surg and lots of folks in my class did peds surg or gyn surg, etc. also I believe ortho is an elective, not a requirement. as far as the op's question- given those options I would do gen surg.
eddoc Posted March 1, 2013 ARC Standard B3.07 specifically calls for "clinical practice experiences ...with preceptors practicing in: General Surgery." It goes on to say that subspecialists practice might be too narrowly focused to provide the fundamental principles for required rotations in the above disciplines. Pretty straightforward - ortho is a great elective but it cannot take the place of a gen surg rotation. Wonder if the OP is at one of the new programs that doesn't know the rules?
Moderator EMEDPA Posted March 2, 2013 Moderator ARC Standard B3.07 specifically calls for "clinical practice experiences ...with preceptors practicing in: General Surgery." It goes on to say that subspecialists practice might be too narrowly focused to provide the fundamental principles for required rotations in the above disciplines. Pretty straightforward - ortho is a great elective but it cannot take the place of a gen surg rotation. Wonder if the OP is at one of the new programs that doesn't know the rules? I went to an older program(hahnemann/drexel) almost 20 yrs ago. we had to do a required surgical rotation but it could be in any surgical field. I did trauma. other folks did oncology, peds, CT, or gyn surgery. some did ortho or neurosurgery, etc. some folks even did surgical clinic rotations and only did minor surgery and post-op checks without ever going to the o.r. don't know if the rules have changed since then but very few folks in my class actually did a regular gen. surg. rotation.
eddoc Posted March 2, 2013 I'm not going to say how long ago I went to school - suffice it to say that we didn't even have to do a surgery rotation of any kind. Over the ensuing years, the ARC realized that created a real problem when folks from programs like mine took jobs in surgery and had never been in the OR. I went into surgery and walking into a new hospital years ago the nurses had a fit saying "we don't allow PAs in the OR!" Apparently one of those grads who had never been in the OR took a surgical job and kept contaminating the field. Took a while to convince them we weren't all idiots. At any rate, the ARC is pretty specific about what kind of rotation you must undertake and that students must have pre-, intra- and post-op experiences as wel.
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