Why I DIDN'T... General Surgery

General surgery is an awesome specialty. There are plenty of opportunities to subspecialize through fellowship, there’s limited clinic and rounding, and there’s the instant gratification that comes with performing surgery on patients. That being said, it wasn't for me. Here’s what I liked about general surgery, what I didn't like, and why I ultimately chose not to specialize in it.

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TIMESTAMPS:
00:00 - Introduction
00:55 - What I Liked About General Surgery
04:56 - What I Didn’t Like About General Surgery

LINKS FROM VIDEO:

#generalsurgery #medicalschool #whyididnt
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Disclaimer: Content of this video is my opinion and does not constitute medical advice. The content and associated links provide general information for general educational purposes only. Use of this information is strictly at your own risk. Kevin Jubbal, M.D. will not assume any liability for direct or indirect losses or damages that may result from the use of information contained in this video including but not limited to economic loss, injury, illness or death. May include affiliate links to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn a commission on qualifying purchases made through them (at no extra cost to you).

[fil]

I was largely undecided when I finished medical school and tried different fields and I couldn't shake a sense of dread when thinking I have to do this for the rest of my life. When I was in medicine I was completely frustrated by the lack of action, the complex patients with a thousand comorbidities and the fact that no matter how good of a job you did, the patients kept getting sicker and coming back to the hospital. I then changed to the least medical field there is: ortho. And guess what. I was also bored out of my mind. I could not give a single fuck about radial fractures, didn't care much for the elderly population with hip fractures and couldn't for the life of me sit down and even pretend to read anything ortho related. I fell asleep immediately. And while I was there, I had to do a short rotation in general surgery. After about a week of scrubbing in for lap appys, choles and a few hemicolectomies I finally knew that's what I wanted. I made moves and switched to general surgery and never looked back. I can honestly say if I have to only do the bread and butter of it for the rest of my life I would still be happy. And you don't get up in the middle of the night unless it's to save a life. Couldn't pass on that either.

[learningwithlanden]

Fantastic, honest video for someone pursuing general surgery! The fact that there’s so many sub-specialties, that I will be able to handle issues without needing as many procedural interventions, and that it is often quickly rewarding are just a few of the many reasons why general surgery is for me. Thank you!

[joywebster]

Working in remote locations, general surgeons able to do most anything in an emergency were amazing and a Godsend. They amazed me over and over. Even things like the ER Dr and me the RN stitching up someone who was severely flayed, the GS wandered in, saw what we were doing, came back with surgical staplers, and we sped up care tremendously!

[Nico-ujnd]

Unfortunately, my gen surg rotation was perpetuated by the toxic environment and burnt out residents/attendings which had me counting down the seconds until the end of that clerkship. One surgeon was on his 5th marriage!

[tensakyuubi]

I'm doing my general surgery residency it's hectic as hell but straight up bad ass

[elizabethtcherno]

Great video! I love your honesty, i'm still considering general surgery but this was great insight! Thanks Kevin!

[Mjln]

I suspect that you are correct about the difficult lifestyle of a general surgeon. In the last year, I had my general surgeon paged at 5 AM. She arrived to see me in the ER before 7 AM. And then several days later she stayed late to perform an unscheduled surgery on me starting at 8 PM.

[khalilahd.]

I was actually really curious about this one because general surgery was something I’m currently looking into 🙏🏽

[ftapon]

I believe that the compensation is much less compared to those who specialize in a particular type of surgery. So that's another downside

[njacotin]

Do why I didn’t do cardiothoracic surgery

[do.onwheels]

I'm on surgery rotation right now - luckily the residents I'm with are pretty chill (definitely sleep deprived and a little jaded) but they are great. Surgeons are pretty chill as well and they definitely tried to gage our interest during the first week. The people that are looking to do GS have a few optional opportunities to take more call, hang out longer etc so they haven't been absolutely killing us as M3s.

[yatzirimv]

Why I didn't cardiothoracic surgery?

[doctoreyeballmd]

Whoever thinks ophthalmology isn’t real surgery should come take off sometimes lateral orbital rim and remove an orbital tumor with me sometime. Or if you’re just talking about comprehensive ophthalmology with cataract surgery- I’m not sure where else in a surgical field you need to do literally hundreds of a single surgery just to have baseline competency- cataract surgery is no joke.

[teely]

There are so many why I didn’t do episodes that pop up on my feed, I was wondering what you actually do apart from telling people what you didn’t do on YouTube 😂!!

[laespositodel]

I will make a video for response as a General surgeon. Thanks for your objektive and sincere evaluation

[vukken]

Better to divide boring vs not boring.
Back in the days they used to divide into life style vs no life style....
Specialties i dont find them interesting:
Derm, ent, urology, plástics, colon and rectal, ophthalmology...
I find them interesting:
Cardiothorac with circulatory assistive device fellowship, Neurosurgery to an extent, hand surgery, trauma surgery and ER if it is true ER since 80% is primary care, interventional Neurosurgery or neurology....
The most important factors....would you be bored???? This is key.
You can make good money but if it is boring then it would be in my view a waste at least for me.
Others only care about life style

[migueltorresiii]

Why I didnt ENT!!!! How would anyone not like ENT

[Moshi]

Great video. I'm a junior radiology registrar (R1 radiology resident) in PNG after switching from emergency medicine residency. I would like to hear your subjective view on radiology.

[azeminaay]

"when my algorithms and protocols permit me to do so", I'm wheezing🤣🤣💀💀

[klaratogsverd]

Love these videos! Could you please do one on OB/GYN?