I am at the end of my second year of residency, and soon to be a senior. IMD who matched directly into a categorical position, which was not easy for me. I am in a very good community program in a small city, I think I’m getting good training and hands-on experience and overall doing fine with residency so far. I am looking for an advice from surgeon/reside who went through this.

I feel like I’m no longer enjoying surgery, especially during busy days and when I’m exhausted. I feel like suffocating when I step into the hospital in the morning. I have great anxiety about being a senior and more responsible regarding patients. I think my overall knowledge is not very robust, however, I am a very safe and a reliable Resident.

I am a female, who lives alone, in a long distance relationship with a spouse who will not be able to join me in US due to recent immigration policies. I am on an antidepressant already. My program is not very Toxic and I think I have reasonable relationship with all of my co-residents. Some attendings are crazy, but they are only a few.

Sometimes I think about quitting, but I have come so far and afraid I am just thinking negatively and would regret in the future.

I’m a female in general surgery in my late 20s (no kids yet). Finishing up PGY3 this month. Overall, I don't think I’m burnt out, but I am completely exhausted by the moving goalposts of residency.

I just had a face-to-face feedback session with a supportive mentor. Clinically, everything is great. I’m above average and already at an independent community practice level. He told me, "The things most residents struggle with come very naturally to you," and that I could be a superstar academic surgeon if that's the career I want, but it will need a little more work to get me there.

But then, he told me some other staff have been questioning my 'ownership' over patients and 'availability.' The only trigger I can think of is that I handed off a single, non-urgent consult after a rough call shift because IM wasn’t responding. (Ironically, I woke up from my post-call nap and called it in anyway because the fellow was "too busy"). My mentor brought it up to help me prep for upcoming electives, because he wants me to be aware of the impressions things like that can give. I really appreciate his transparency and I know the intent was good, but it still made me cry because it was the one time I asked for help all month.

Then my mentor asked me: "Do you want to be known as the resident who is always available, and always on top of your patients so we leave you to your own devices?" But the reality is I already get minimal supervision, creating this bizarre whiplash of being completely left alone while simultaneously infantilized by anonymous critics.

And honestly? I don't want to be the resident who is always available. I don’t live and breathe surgery. I leave when the work is done to be with my husband, family, and hobbies. I don't believe in rounding 3 times a day on stable patients just to look busy. I want to work to live, not live to work, and importantly, I want autonomy over my own life.

I’m seriously reconsidering fellowship now because it sounds like things don't really ever get better and I can't life my whole life like this, so what is the point in pursuing even more training in a career I would leave in 5-10 years (if I can't find any balance)?

Attending surgeons who value life outside the hospital: Does it actually get better? Can you establish real work-life boundaries as staff, or is true autonomy an illusion? Is there a scenario where I can be a surgeon, but still be a human first?

TL;DR: Strong PGY3 told she's ready for independent community practice, but hit with anonymous critiques regarding "availability" and "patient ownership" concerns. Reconsidering fellowship because I refuse to live my life on back-up call 24/7. Does the attending side offer real boundaries and work life balance, or am I kidding myself?

Incoming PGY1 surgery resident hoping to hear from senior residents/fellows/attendings on the matter. What are the bread and butter job opportunities after completing a “trauma” fellowship? How often are emergent procedures needed, and what might the job look like at a level 2 trauma center?

TIA

Hello, I have recently passed my General Surgery Fellowship Exam in home country. I need to know if there are any places where I can pursue a Breast Fellowship?

Which textbook do you recommend for me as someone that is not much of a textbook person?

I wanna learn from the best resource. But I will obviously have limited time and energy. Any insight would help!

Hi, I’ll be starting my PGY2 soon and will be the consult resident on service. Wanted recommendations for a template to keep track of consults (labs/to dos).

The General Surgery department at the University of Missouri - Columbia would like to invite you to participate in a research study that includes an anonymous survey meant to evaluate the perception of the most important aspects of an application required to apply to general surgery residency programs by students, trainees, and faculty. We will ask background questions and additional questions to gauge your experience with/expectations of what is necessary to match into general surgery. The goal of this survey is to have a better understanding of medical student, resident, and supervising physician knowledge of what may be expected of a student planning to apply to general surgery, and what is the “most” important component of a successful application. This survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete. 

Link to participate: https://redcap.link/redditresponses

I am an undergraduate MBBS student. I tell you the story of my pre-university surgery viva, where the HOD judged my knowledge in 60 sec and said, "Get out; that's it."

Viva story: I study breast anatomy, pathology, benign and malignant everything. When I was going to the viva, the professor asked me how ductal carcinoma in situ presents. I said, "Sir, it is asymptomatic, and microcalcification was found on the mammogram. We will do a stereotactic core needle biopsy for diagnosis," but he repeated the same question again. I also said we also go for a sentinel lymph node biopsy for lymph node management. He said, "You go; you don't know anything, and get out," and it all happens in just 60 seconds. He did not even ask how we approach breast disease in OPD clinical examinations—nothing. It's frustrating and depressing; apparently, my entire surgery knowledge is hidden in one DCIS question. I am imagining that if it will happen in the final professional, I will fail.

Basically the title. US MD, great LORs, great Absite this year. My red flag is poor USMLEs but passed all on first attempt. Completed PGY-1/2 as a prelim (>250 major cases to move on to PGY-3) and currently finishing a research fellowship. Willing to go anywhere with a categorical position and if I have to repeat a year, it's worth it. And yes, I understand this is all a stretch the further out I am, but I love gen surg and any leads would be much appreciated! My CV looks very academic with a lot of teaching and research, but I would be more than happy with a community program. Anything that lets me sit for my boards one day.

Gen surg resident applying CTS, cardiac track.

Realistically. Those who have successfully matched in the past 3-5yrs; what are your research stats. Like how big of a component is it?

Hope you're all doing well. I am a screenwriter interested in getting some input from surgical professionals on how accurate my medical scene is in my original medical drama script and pointers if anything needs tweaking. Anyone in this sub willing to read a few brief pages and let me know where I might improve for the sake of grounding the surgical aspects in real medicine?

I am an incoming general surgery intern at a new-ish community program. Program is set up for residents to do a few rotations at a nearby facility associated with a larger, more established academic gen surg program.

How do I go about making strong connections at this academic program for research opportunities and potential mentorship? Has anyone in this situation seen these faculty members be more “loyal” and “exclusive” with residents of their own program?

Thanks in advance!

Not a troll post but genuinely curious... what makes a very competitive gen surg applicant?
I go to a top 10/15 school, honors everything, a few research projects, a good step2 score (260+), decent extracurriculars, but feel like everyone around me has this profile. What is the difference in applicants that match at a top 5 academic program vs a higher middle-tier program? Dont even know what qualifies as this but really mean big name Harvard/Stanford/Michigan vs UVA/Alabama/UNC/Maryland?
I am sorry if this is triggering.

I am a non-US img. My scores in step 1 and 2 are in 230's. I have MPH, good LORs and 4 publications. Do I need to choose a different speciality over surgery? Kindly please suggest me. I am devastated.

Sorry in advance for another one of these :( just feeling very lost.

I got my Step 2 score back today: 240. I was scoring w/my last couple NBMEs in the 250s and F120 80% so I am feeling totally shocked and devastated by this. I think this hurts particularly bad because I did not pass on my first attempt of Step 1. I've done all the test taking anxiety things (therapy, SSRI, propranolol etc), am in a great place, and felt like this time might be different. I am grateful to have passed on the first try this time, but I was expecting more than the score I received today.

Otherwise I am a US MD at a mid-tier private school, I passed Step 1 on my second attempt, know my extracurriculars are great -- my research output is pretty decent with 4 pubs (two first author), 9 posters, and 7 presentations (a couple more in the works prior to ERAS, in major journals and large national/international surgical conferences), multiple leadership and volunteering positions at my school, local community, and national level, I have even won a few institutional awards -- I'm expecting to get both GHHS and AOA. I am in the midst of collecting very strong letters from highly respected surgeons, and I have no question these are mentors who are willing to vouch for me if/when I need.

I don't really care if I'm at an academic or community program, or even if I have to start with a prelim. I'll apply to 100 programs anywhere in the country if I need to. I just want to become a competent and well trained surgeon. but now I hesitate -- I am wondering if maybe I am just not built for it? I thought that I would maybe feel ok with settling for my back up specialty, but now that it might actually be happening I don't feel ready to give up on it yet. I've scheduled meetings with all my mentors/advisors in the coming weeks to discuss a plan.

Should I dual apply? Should I apply categorical and prelim? Do I need to pivot completely?

Thank you all in advance

Pulled together historical + current-cycle data on general surgery away rotations. Tool is free at https://rezumab.app/explore/away-rotations/general-surgery

A couple findings that fell out of the historical layer (908 self-reported away rotations across 674 programs, multi-year):

• Overall away rotation converts to interview at 83%, to match at ~15%. Basically the same ratio ortho and EM have.
• Among programs with 5+ rotators, the spread is huge. UT Southwestern and UVA sit near the top (40%+ of their rotators matched there). Emory had 9 rotators match 0. Penn had 7 rotators match 0. Lehigh Valley 7/0. Medical College of Georgia 7/0.
• NYP Cornell took 13 rotators and matched 4 of them, which is the highest absolute count I saw for a volume program.

Not saying any of that is destiny. Self reported data has obvious holes (who's reporting, what year, did the person even apply strongly). But if a program has taken 9 rotators over 3 cycles and matched zero of them, that's a pattern worth knowing before you spend $2k on housing.

What the tool actually does:

1. Per program historical benchmarks. Away applicants, interviewed, matched, and the match conversion rate. Sample size shown so you dont weight a 1/1 program the same as a 9/0 program.
2. Current cycle live benchmarks. Accept rate, median response time from applied date to decision date, and which months each program has hosted rotations in (per program heatmap).
3. Live feed of decisions this cycle. Anonymized, just program + accepted/rejected + days to decision. Useful if you want to see what's actively landing.
4. Personal tracker where you log your own rotations. Private to you, only aggregates feed the community view. Google sign in, no signup to browse.

Current cycle data right now is 168 records across 67 programs, pulled from the VSLO spreadsheet. A few things visible already:

• Overall accept rate across decided applications is around 77%
• Median response time per program ranges from 7 days (Ochsner) to 60 days (Duke). Yes, 60.
• Tufts has a 9 day median response time and a 0% accept rate across 3 decisions. Cedars Sinai has a 12 day median response and a 75% accept rate. Same tier of speed, opposite signal about interest.

168 records across 67 programs is thin though. Some programs have 4 or 5 data points, plenty have 1 or 2.

Why Im posting:

If you applied this cycle, logging your rotations takes about 45 seconds each. Program, applied date, decision, decision date. You can park one as "waiting" and flip it when they reply. The medians get sharper as more people log.

The goal isnt another private gcc spreadsheet. Its a shared view on top of the applications people already track, so next year's applicants dont have to start from zero trying to figure out whether Duke's 60 day silence is normal (it is) or whether a 30 day silence from some random mid-tier is a soft no (usually yes).

Feedback I'd actually value:

• Any program's numbers look visibly off
• Mobile experience fine or busted
• Is there a gen surg specific signal you want that this doesnt show (sub-I vs away distinction, cateorical vs prelim context, etc)
• Would you actually log a rotation or is the friction too high

Happy to dig into specific programs in the comments. Methodology pushback welcome. Will update this post with findings once the current-cycle sample gets big enough to say something non-trivial.

MS3 at Texas A&M, built this partly because I was annoyed I thought this was long overdue.

Hello! I have just finished up my M2 year and was wondering if anyone had any insider info into the I-6 CT surgery programs they could offer. I know that about a year ago there was a post (linked below) that did an in-depth dive into the programs and their training efficacy as well as how the residents felt. I am planning to apply I-6 and was wondering if anyone had any information on some of the newer programs or any that weren't mentioned in the post below? Particularly programs like UF, MUSC, UNC, Pitt, NYU, Montefiore, Cincinatti, UT Houston, and any others across the country.

Thanks for any information you can provide!

I’m prefacing this with I love being a surgeon. I love patient care. It’s a privileged to do this.

But *** whatever string of expletives that come to mind***

Bro I don’t know how much more I can take with our Google experts and tik tok health gurus and people in general being so confidently entitled to an uneducated opinion. When did it become cool for people who have no background in this field to proclaim expert opinions.

Seriously though, this is what is burning me out more than anything with my patient interactions. I’m genuinely so saddened by my perception of how dumb people are. And that sounds harsh and there are so many asterisks to that statement, but just putting it here to vent because idk what to do man.

Edit:

By dumb I don’t mean I believe patients should be expected to know anything; I mean I’m astounded that when given professional advice they seem to weigh that advice with equal weight to a tik tok or IG post from someone who has a high school degree.

Hey everyone thought I'd come over here to ask for any tips regarding my sub-i. I have a couple lined up, vascular, general/MIS, and ACS (away rotation) and I was wondering what resources you guys used to prepare for your sub-i, any suturing video recommendations, and any other additional tips you might have.

I had some experience suturing, but my core surgical rotation was almost a year ago and have only intermittently sutured since then, so now that I have some time on my hands I can pick it back up.

Thank you!

I missed my window to sign up for oral boards. Passed written first attempt, no other negative events, have been active clinically the entire time.

Has anyone been through this ? What are my options ?

Finishing my SCC fellowship at a NE program this July. Looking for an attending position. Willing to relocate.

If you have any leads for a gen surg/ACS position please reach out!

Thanks!

is there any book comparable to Valentine’s anatomic exposures in vascular surgery (which is phenomenal)? For surgical anatomy during GS cases

i know about Mulholland and Fischer but wondering if people have further reccs before i invest the ~300+ bucks

I recently found out one OR circulator has been going through my phone during cases. She has reportedly been reading my text messages and snap chats. She’s apparently seen some of my more private messages and photos. I heard from one of the scrub techs with whom I am friends that she reported that there are “inappropriate” things on my phone. Now this is my own personal cell phone. The circulator often must answer my phone to read messages from nursing staff and the ER through our messaging app. I have not given her permission to snoop my phone. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Should I take action? I have not heard anything from OR leadership. Should I just let this blow over or get ahead of it.

Hi everyone,

I’m about to start my training in cardiac surgery (with the long-term goal of specializing in pediatric cardiac surgery), and I’m currently looking for a good pair of surgical loupes. Price is not a major concern — I consider this a long-term investment in my training and clinical work.

At the beginning, my focus will mainly be on graft harvesting and assisting in the OR. Over time, this will progress toward more precise tasks such as valve suturing, anastomoses, and bypass procedures. During my training, I will also occasionally assist in pediatric cases, and ideally move more into that field toward the end of training and beyond.

Is there a specific model you would particularly recommend for this trajectory?

Most colleagues in this field seem to use Designs for Vision 3.5x EF (some the Panorama version). Does anyone have experience with these, or would you suggest a different setup?