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NEUROSURGERY EXPERIENCE

It’s been a while, sorry for the inconsistent updates! I’ve spent the large part (read: all) of my summer after first year doing observerships in different specialities to get a feel for each one prior to my clinical rotations. In brief, the school that I am attending distributes the six years of medical school into pre-clinical and clinical years, with students spending three years in each. It’ll be two more years before I get to officially start my clinical rotations at a teaching hospital, and I would really like to have a general understanding of the direction I’d like to go post-medical school. This, in part with hopes of expanding a network of physicians who are well-established in their particular field was such a worthwhile experience, and truly an eye-opening one at that (despite the constant bombardment of snapchats from my friends on vacation).

I spent two weeks in paediatric neurosurgery, two weeks in paediatric general surgery, three weeks in orthopaedic surgery and four weeks in general neurology and stroke. Obviously, individual experiences will differ (through many factors ranging from the attendings to the overall teaching style of the hospital) but here are my thoughts on each rotation, perhaps giving the other pre-clinical students some insight into what a day in each of the previously mentioned specialities consists of. This post will focus specifically on dictating my experience in (paediatric) neurosurgery and subsequent posts will follow in regards to the other rotations.

I started off with neurosurgery as my first rotation and whew, was I in for a surprise. We’ve all heard the seemingly ridiculous lifestyle that neurosurgeons supposedly lead, and I am here to tell you that it is no exaggeration. Trauma rounds started promptly at 6:30 am, 6 am on Wednesdays; loosely translating to me getting up at 4:30 in the morning to make a 5 o'clock train to get to the hospital on time. Trauma rounds usually lasted in hour or so, usually leaving us with at least half an hour before the operations are scheduled (started prompted at 8, every morning). Operations were long and physically exhausting, even as a student who has little to no responsibilities in the OR. Six to eight hour operations were almost daily, and the meticulous art of neurosurgery was extremely captivating.

It was easy to feel academically inferior in a room full of neurosurgeons and their trainees. In first year, we covered very little of neuro, which they save exclusively for the first semester of third year. Oftentimes, I was pimped, only to respond with I don’t know and its variants several times in the span of ten minutes. We’ve all heard jokes about neurosurgeons and how they have an inflatable superiority complex (oftentimes comparing themselves to God), but that was no where laid the issue. The issue was my own lack of knowledge, and thereby slowing down the process of teaching for the older and more knowledgable students. I was pointed towards a book, called “Do No Harm” written by British neurosurgeon Henry Marsh, and was opened to a very private and intricate life of those in neurosurgery. The embarrassment I felt only fuelled my motivation to further expand my knowledge, as I slowly picked up the anatomy of the CNS. At the end of the day, it is YOU who is benefiting from this observership which is why it is what YOU make of it. You could take it day by day and just absent-mindedly watch, or you could be proactive in your studies to full benefit from the opportunity you’ve been given.