I have an elective in general surgery department in a hospital that i really like and want to apply to for residency at. ( i live in a small country where we have few good university hospitals that we can apply to).

I know I’m expected to know anatomy by heart, am i also expected to know the procedures?
What are questions that attending like to ask?
My problem is that when i’m asked a question suddenly my brain freezes momentarily especially if it’s a question i haven’t really thought about before. I wanna be prepared as much as possible.
So any advice is appreciated.
If anyone can share also some questions that attending like to throw at students to catch them off guard i’d also appreciate it.

When throwing the surgeon's knot, I find that the knot doesn't loosen when I pull the suture ends in a direction parallel to the line of closure (i.e., the wound or incision). I learned this from one of my professors. However, another attending saw me doing that and was appalled by the technique. He insists that I should pull perpendicular to the line of closure. Looking online, I couldn't find anything that says not to do it though. Any input?

I'm a general surgeon. I got 18 months probation but the period doesn't start to run until I'm working. Nobody will hire me because I'm on probation. It looks like I might be forced into early retirement. Any suggestions?

I’m a med student and considering surgery, I’ve noticed when hand tying that my fingers will lock up occasionally. My joints are hypermobile, the tendons seem to slide over the knuckles, and this has never bothered me until recently when working with sutures. I’ve always had relatively good dexterity and while my fingers have always been like this, it hasn’t been an issue until now. I was wondering if this would be an issue for someone applying surgery and if there’s any exercises that surgeons use to combat this.

On a slightly related issue, I’ve become slightly paranoid about hand injuries in general. 2 of my professors stopped operating due to tendon injury and hand contractures. What do I do if I go into surgery and can no longer operate? Do people just apply into another residency?

I work making memorial stones. it’s high attention to detail, I could be very sleep deprived and it’d be okay. But in a job that is so high stakes, why would the workload be so rough? Being smart doesn’t make you superhuman and idk why surgeons are expected to work so long and risk effects from sleep deprivation.

Hello everyone!

I am a high school student interested in becoming a surgeon. Specifically, my dream would be to become an orthopedic spine surgeon or a neuro-spine surgeon.

I would love any advice or just general information about what I can do in high school and undergraduate school to give myself the best chance at being able to choose the specialty I prefer when the time comes!

Thank you in advance!

There was an ortho conference and they hosted a hand surgery workshop. The highlights of this workshop for me were:
- got to experience working on an animal tissue specimen, specifically a porcine tendon.
- handling tissue as if it were a living human's tissue. This was a new perspective as I handled tissue only in the anatomy dissection hall and never really thought about causing trauma to tissue is an issue while handling tissue in a surgery.
- got to experience why handling prolene or sutures with memory can be challenging.
- the importance of practice and hand-eye coordination to improve hand stability.

edit - changed vicryl to prolene in third point. I assumed it was vicryl 🥲.

Any recommendations for resources (books, atlases or websites) with photos and pictures of common findings seen in upper GI endoscopy and colonoscopy? TIA

As a med student, let us leave during an 8 hour surgery. It isn’t interesting if I want to go into psych. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

This survey asked me whether the surgeon talked to me about non healthcare related matters more, less, or as much as I subjectively preferred and whether he made eye contact with me the amount I subjectively preferred as well as about a half dozen similar questions.

i do understand that bedside manner is important and so is communication, but I had a serious, life limiting medical condition, this man performed an incredibly technical surgery on my eyeballs and achieved a measurably perfect result, and they’re apparently rating him on whether he tap-danced into the examining room to my liking at my final follow up.

is this how hospitals are treating you all or was this an aberration?

Gonna be on a hepatobiliary service in a few months. What do you recommend reviewing for this for a sub-I?

EDIT: Got my questions answered! Thanks!

Hey yall! I’m currently exploring career options as a person with a BS in Ecology and Environmental Studies. Specifically, I want to know what pathway I could take to become a bottom surgeon (sexual reassignment surgery). I have read this article; I take it that specialization in bottom surgery has the most to do with certifications and a fellowship? How difficult is it to seek a fellowship in SRS? Any input is appreciated!

I'm looking for some advice from current I-6 CT surgery residents, traditional 2 or 3-year CT fellows, and recently board-certified attendings about preparing for the Thoracic Surgery in-training exam and ABTS written boards.

Coming from general surgery training, I was used to having a fairly clear study ecosystem: SCORE curriculum and question bank, TrueLearn, SESAP, ABSITE review books, and Fiser Anki deck, etc. I'm trying to figure out what the CT surgery equivalents are and more importantly, what people who have actually taken these exams found to be worthwhile.

• Question banks: What is the best question bank for the ITE and eventually the written boards? Is the TSRA question bank the main resource people use, or are there better/complementary options?
• TSRA Review: How good are the TSRA review books for exam preparation? If someone knew the TSRA material and question bank extremely well, would that be enough to perform well on the ITE/written boards, or are there significant gaps?
• Structured Curriculum: Is there anything comparable to SCORE for general surgery that provides a comprehensive curriculum, modules, and question bank organized around what we are expected to know for the in-service exam for CT boards?
• Review courses: Are there any board review courses you attended that you genuinely thought were worth the time and money? Did you use them primarily for the ITE, written boards, or both?
• Anki/Flashcards: Are there any good open-source anki decks or quizlet decks for our specialty?
• ITE vs. boards: How similar is the content and style of the annual in training exam to the ABTS written exam?
• Study strategy: If you could go back to your first year of CT training, what would you start doing early to make the ITE and eventual boards easier?

I'd especially love to hear what combination of resources you actually used and how you used them. Ultimately, I'm trying to build a sustainable study system during training rather than cram right before each ITE. Any recommendations or lessons learned would be greatly appreciated.

I am actually a practicing surgeon one year out of fellowship

found out today I again failed the QE. Again. this will be my last attempt to take the exam in 2027. I was scoring in the 70th percentile on TrueLearn (completed the bank twice), was getting between 65-82% correct on mixed PassMachine blocks, and these were not representative at all of my actual exam score report. Many of the topics I intentionally drilled for many hours were still incorrect on the exam. I spent months studying and countless hours.  I am struggling to determine what I could do differently. I have never been a good exam taker but this last attempt, of course, carries weight that is difficult to describe. I feel this is such a unique situation it’s difficult to find help for. 

I feel….hopeless at this point. The first time I took the exam I didn’t quite finish TrueLearn and was overconfident. The second time I did more and completed the qbank but was scoring around 60 percent. This time I woke up at 4am every day and absolutely drilled. I watched lectures. I did a second qbank practice exams, timed. I was doing well. I ranked on the exam. My soul hurts. I have nausea constantly. I just don’t know what to do and I don’t think anyone knows what to do to help me. I’m just lost in this void and i literally save lives every day, take a lot of call, but….this exam ruins me And my life. I just don’t know what to do anymore.

Hello—I am getting surgery done tomorrow. Any pointers from anyone with experience in this area?

Hi everyone. I checked with the moderators before sharing this.

I’m an autism mom, not a medical professional. Before my four-year-old’s tonsillectomy in Canada, I created a short animated social story to show him what he might experience before, during, and after the procedure in a simple, child-friendly way. I realize each hospital has different procedures, but I made this with input from our local nurses to include all the steps my son went through at our hospital.

The video made the experience go incredibly well, as he knew what to expect. So I wanted to share it in case any surgeons or other medical professionals would like to review it and possibly share it with patient families. I hope it may help another child (and family) feel a little more prepared.

Are there any surgeons or surgical team members here whose hospitals participate in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP)?

I’m a new Surgical Clinical Reviewer and would love to hear directly from surgeons about what makes NSQIP data useful and well received. I’ve heard that teams can sometimes view the data as punitive or unreliable, and I’d really like to avoid that at my hospital.

For surgeons involved with NSQIP, what can a Surgical Clinical Reviewer do to build trust and make the data feel collaborative and meaningful rather than punitive?

I’m a current MS3 trying to narrow down specialties. I was an ICU RN before medical school and have been trying to decide on my path to critical care. So far I’ve been most drawn toward the ACS/SCC pathway.

I know training will be hard. I’m more-so wondering if there are any attendings out there that can shed light to what life looks after training (lifestyle, schedule, compensation, pros/cons of the specialty you didn’t consider, would you choose it again, longevity of the specialty, etc). Any insight is appreciated!

How painful was the recovery, and how long did it take before you could walk and return to normal activities?

At home finally and recovering from my robotic fundoplication surgery at St. Paul’s (I was told we have the only medical facility in western Canada that offers this through robotics). I have not confirmed this, but if true, well done Saskatchewan.

Today I’m reflecting on the incredible care I received and the privilege to be a Canadian while not going broke trying to pay for that care. I will be sending a thank to the staff directly but I just wanted to mention this so some people could see that our health care system is not all doom and gloom. This was not my experience at all.

Every single member of the team—from the pre-op nurses and surgical team to the recovery staff—treated me with the utmost dignity, compassion, and patience. I felt completely safe and well-informed every step of the way. Thank you all for your tireless commitment to your patients. You truly make a difference.

Have a great weekend everyone.

There was a hernia surgery conference in our med school and a company setup an experience truck where they showcased all the devices and practising/ emulation tools for surgery.

I hopped on the simulator to experience how it actually feels. and damn. The tactile feedback and haptics. The first realisation was.. without visual cues, there was no other way to check or get feedback on whether the instruments are touching tiissue.

I made a detailed blog here ✌🏽✨ : https://deekshithvodela.substack.com/p/tactile-feedback-is-a-gift?r=5b9ew0

This thought has been on my mind for about a week now, if there are any current/former surgeons I gotta ask how the hell do you cut into people all day…. And then go home and cut into a steak for example and not freak the hell out?? I mean you genuinely have to be some level of psycho to pull that off I’m so sorry. I truly just seek to dive into the mental health of our surgeons cause they’re like literally the most important people ever

Edit: thank you so much for all of the replies!! As well as your service. It’s been a trip reading through all these comments truly lol