Forgive me if it’s just because ofĀ the stereotype I’ve always heard, but I don’t think the typical orthopedic surgeon would sit with his patients for 45+ minutes to counsel them on how to clean up their eating habits, suggest healthy dietary substitutions, and examples of a daily meal plan, etc…on top of all other standard post-operative follow-up.
He also leads a class every 3 weeks for all his pre-op patients so that they can ask any questions they want about the surgery + connect with other people who are going through the same thing! :O
Translation: That is top-notch care, and my preceptor is all sorts of awesome! He’s actually the brother-in-law of one of my preceptors from my FM rotation back in March. (Small world!) His brother apparently won the world championship for BJJ in California a couple months ago, so in short, this family is magical. :O
Day in the Life: Orthopedic Surgery
Suiting up! The mask is actually unnecessary after I get the whole suit on (this was in the equipment room), but in the meantime…
A Typical Day
My days typically start at 7 a.m., so I change into scrubs, scrub in, and suit up!Ā My preceptor has his surgery days on Mondays + Tuesdays, and every other Wednesday. He was trained at the Cleveland Clinic inĀ Adult Reconstructive Surgery, so most of the cases I get to assist with are knee + hip replacements or revisions, and trauma fracture care.
He usually has about 4-ish surgeries on his surgery days, and we go to talk to the family afterward. (He introduces me as his bodyguard, hahaha.) If we’re still waiting on the next patient to be prepped for surgery, we’ll head upstairs to round on the rest of his patients.
Somewhere in between, we’ll grab lunch and chill in the physicans’ lounge until the next patient is ready. My preceptor is super super nice, and jokes around with his OR team all the time, so it’s a bunch of fun! (I’m super lucky to have been blessed with such awesome surgery rotations/preceptors (e.g. General Surgery!), seeing as how that used to be the one I was dreading the most!)
I’m usually done for the day somewhere between 5:30-7:30 p.m.
My preceptor is also the team physician for the local college’s football team, and football season started the week that I started my rotation! (What can I say? I like doing my research when I request preceptors! :P) He invited me to go to the game he’d be working at. :D
Meals
I’ve been at this hospital before (back when I was on inpatient Family Medicine!), so same situation applies! I get $100 to spend in the cafeteria for the 2 weeks that I’ll be here. This basically means that I don’t have to cook if I don’t want to, but I’ve missed having a kitchen, so I might anyway! :P
Parking
Parking at the hospitalĀ is still a breeze!
This is my front yard.
…and this is my backyard!
Housing
Last time, I was living at a friend’s place, but she’s no longer in this region because 4th year is the time for us to fly the nest and go everywhere for rotations (well, if we want to, anyway), so I’m staying in the student house!
It’s a 4 bedroom/3 bathroom house that is legit in the middle o’ nowhere, but it’s super pretty! I would be a little short of terrified to live here alone because it is pretty much the perfect place to get murdered–no one would ever find my body! Thankfully, there are two other students here from my school, so we are a-okay!
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That’s a long day for surgery, but glad your preceptor is cool! Always nice when I hear about or meet doctors that care about the quality of their work, not just getting it done.
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Agreed! :D He goes wayyyy above and beyond what he has to do. That’s the kind of physician I’d like to be!
Your preceptor sounds awesome- I’d love to have an ortho who takes up that much time with me and tries to prepare me for something like a surgery. The little house is cute and I’m glad you have people to live with!
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He’s all sorts of awesome! :] I’m super glad I’m not living in this house alone either, hehehe.
So Ortho surgen was what I wanted to be when I grew up. Legit, the field of medicine I wanted to go into…when I still wanted to go to medical school….but that vanished…when I volunteered at a hospital and….o god….gross things happened.
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hahaha, it’s definitely way bloodier and has way more bone-crunching than I expected! :P
Girl! Looks like you don’t need to go halloween costume shopping! LOL!
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If only I got to take this helmet with me, hahaha. It comes with its own anti-fog system! :P
I love reading about your medical posts! Your blog always inspires me and helps me realize that I can still be active on my blog while being in dental school (just started last week). I feel ya on the long days & living in scrubs- can’t say I don’t love the scrubs part though- so easy!
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Aww, thank you so much! <3 Congrats on starting dental school! How's it been treating you so far? :D
I kinda started this blog to keep track of the recipes I tried out/documenting my adventures whilst in school--it's really cool having something to look back on! :]
That is definitely a long day!
Years ago, I worked in a surgical center, and I did the scheduling for all the surgeon’s and nurses and put the patients into surgery times that fit all our schedules. Usually I tried to schedule everything so everyone was done by 3-4, so we could get all the patients out by 5 or 6 each day, but things happen and sometimes you’d get something that took longer, so we would secure the patient on an gurny and push them across the street (LOL No kidding) to the hospital, and then they would get longer term care there. But my point in this is, I remember always thinking those that work in hospitals like that seriously can have the longest day’s ever. Quite an insane amount of hours they have to put in:) I know I shouldn’t admit it, but I was so glad I was working where I was so we could get out when we wanted to have the day end, LOL
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You’re such a kind soul! :O I don’t know who’s been doing the scheduling for my preceptor, but it’s been a mess for the past couple days, so he doesn’t get to go home until super late. I think he left at 11 p.m. last night. ._.
That visual picture is rather hilarious, hahaha. I’m with you on that though–I want to work in an outpatient clinic once I’m done with residency! :] I feel like there’s a little more freedom there and having a fairly set schedule is nice! *-*
My uncle is an orthopedic surgeon, so this is one area that I’ve learned a little more about over the years compared to most sides of medicine. He built/owns a surgery center with a few partners and has taken me on a tour of the whole place when it was closed down, it was really fascinating to learn about how they designed everything in order to serve their patients and all the equipment they use.
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That’s awesome! I’d never had any exposure to ortho before this rotation (unless you count the glimpses I saw while I was on Anesthesiology!). It’s awesome seeing all the things they’ve come up with to essentially put people back together though! :O I got to drill a patella today!
That’s a great view you have there! I hope you have some free time to go for walks. Although, with 11 hour days, I bet you don’t!
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haha, thankfully, this hospital is huge (it’s the only time I was able to consistently log 10,000+ steps per day while I was using my fitbit!), so I do get a lot of walking in. Since it’s surgery, there’s also a whole ton of standing, but I like to think it’s better than nothin’! :]!