Favorite specialty and why?

Scrubby · Apr 1, 2008

My favourite area is vascular.

The vascular team at my work are a great to work with, the theatre is very organised and has a good teaching program. I felt really supported when i rotated through this clinic. Yes you do tend to get the sickest patients and it can be tense at times but i always remind myself that what we are doing may make a huge improvement to their health outcome.

I find the types of surgeries, open AAA, carotid, fem-pops fascinating. I love scrubbing in vascular because you get to see what is going on. Not too keen on varicose veins and amputations though...

My least favourite clinics are ENT and Plastics. I loathe free flaps and neck dissections. You can't see very much and the work is quite tedious.

At the moment i have just started rotating in neurosurgery, not quite sure what to make of it yet....

ewattsjt · Apr 1, 2008

I love spine and gyn. It sounds like weird choices at first but let me explain.

I had a back injury while young. I developed osteomyelitis and was in and out of the hospitals a lot. A few surgeries later I can function most normally but still have problems from time to time. It isn’t as bad as some diseases but still life altering enough that I want to help people like I was helped (at one point I could only ambulate by using forearm crutches and had to lay on a bed for most of the day). Now, unless I am having a bad day or I tell someone; it is difficult to know that I have had spine problems.

Ovarian Cx runs in both sides of my family. I lost my last grandparent to Ovarian Cx when I just started in the OR. My wife has had many problems with her reproductive organs. A couple of surgeries seem to have helped the problems. Seeing how these problems can affect the everyday life of the women in my life I feel obligated to help treat other women in hopes of improving their lives. I guess it would be best summed by saying that I am very empathetic for the patients in my specialties.

I hate ENT. Well, it is really the nose part; ears and throat don’t bother me. It is because I simply have a psychological block. When I see a pituitary shoved up a nose or hear a crunching noise, I get so weak kneed that I can barely stand. I also get N&V typically as well as.

brewerpaul · Apr 1, 2008

Not a specialty as such, but I like laparoscopic cases. I like to see what's going on and as a circulator I don't really see much in open cases: surgeons hands in an incision, occasionally a specimen coming out.

ShariDCST · Apr 1, 2008

my favorite services are general - for the reasons you mentioned, and ob/gyn. i just recently spent 2 years working on a 20 room labor and delivery unit as one of the two day shift csts to do their c-sections, pptls, d&cs, and cerclages. i love love love doing c-sections when everyone is relatively healthy and it's for things like cranial/shoulder dystocia, big babies because of gestational diabetes (my personal "record" for size is a 12 pound 10 ounce baby boy! he got up and walked down the hallway to the nursery on his own!! :chuckle) and the like. it's always a "birthday party" :balloons::smiley_aa in my room, complete with singing happy birthday to the new little one, and our blue "party hats" and the works. it's almost always a happy occasion - but then sometimes it's not, and that's always the worst........i've only had one loss in my room the whole time i was there - and really the whole 15 years i've been a cst, of anyone of any age - and it was quite traumatic to watch the nicu staff close up their carryalls of supplies, and walk slowly out of the room, not taking the baby with them, or bringing him/her over to mom and dad. :sniff: :crying2: i did my best not to lose it at that point - and i did ok. i took it home with me at the end of the day and did it in private though. i think it was bad on everyone, but under the circumstances we were presented with, it wasn't too surprising.

i did also spend 6 years working prn as a cst at an outpatient surgery center for a group of 12 podiatrists, and it was a very light-hearted atmosphere, and almost everyone there was friendly and helpful, and most of the docs were a pleasure to work with. you know there's always got to be one thorn in the rose garden though - it's inevitable! those are the challenges for me though - to figure them out and decide how to work around them. i had fun with it - but it came to a point where i had to have more reliable hours and pay - prn just wasn't cutting it anymore. i could probably go back anytime, but it'd still be prn, and i don't think i like that uncertainty.

i also liked peripheral vascular, and most ent. i still get that queasy thing though when they're working up a nose, and i hear that crunchy stuff going on! :bugeyes:

not too fond of plastics or neuro - too tedious, labor intensive and time consuming. other folks love it - they can have it!

my least favorite happens to be orthopedics. it's nothing in particular - but everything in general. which sounds strange in comparison with what i just told you, but podiatry is "smaller" and less physically stressful. i love working with the equipment - the saws and drills and whatnots - but i've done enough total joints in my time to know that it's just not my "cuppa!" that's ok though - i'll leave it to the guys and the girls who like that sort of excitement! gimme the babies any old time! :yeah:

zerby1470 · Apr 2, 2008

My two faves are very dissimilar on the surface, like Ed's. Spines and urology. Spines for me are very technically challenging for me, lots of stuff, and both delicate and brutal at the same time...going from saws and drills to gently moving a nerve root...and the post op outcomes! Someone with debilitating pain and drop foot having surgery and then leaving with a significant increase in quality of life...wonderful! And then there is urology...my other love! You can live without limbs, or without a colon, but you need your kidneys. Watching a kidney pink up and produce urine...that is the magic of the body working, and it's amazing. Even the simple procedures...stones and such cause such a great deal of relief to the patients, it's worth it! Even 'spadias repairs on kids...they are just plain fun to do, and rewarding.

Least favorite is eye procedures. I get squeamish at pointy objects being used on eyes. Yes, I realize that they are the same type of things used on a ureter, but I can't stand it. And they are so short and hectic usually. Ah well, at least in my OR we have people that are fond and proficient in all of our areas, so even with the lack of "teams" the patients get the best care available to them!

GadgetRN71, ASN, RN · Apr 2, 2008

I love spine and gyn. It sounds like weird choices at first but let me explain.
I had a back injury while young. I developed osteomyelitis and was in and out of the hospitals a lot. A few surgeries later I can function most normally but still have problems from time to time. It isn't as bad as some diseases but still life altering enough that I want to help people like I was helped (at one point I could only ambulate by using forearm crutches and had to lay on a bed for most of the day). Now, unless I am having a bad day or I tell someone; it is difficult to know that I have had spine problems.
Ovarian Cx runs in both sides of my family. I lost my last grandparent to Ovarian Cx when I just started in the OR. My wife has had many problems with her reproductive organs. A couple of surgeries seem to have helped the problems. Seeing how these problems can affect the everyday life of the women in my life I feel obligated to help treat other women in hopes of improving their lives. I guess it would be best summed by saying that I am very empathetic for the patients in my specialties.
I hate ENT. Well, it is really the nose part; ears and throat don't bother me. It is because I simply have a psychological block.
When I see a pituitary shoved up a nose or hear a crunching noise, I get so weak kneed that I can barely stand. I also get N&V typically as well as.

Me too...I REALLY hate the closed nasal fracture reductions. That's the only time I've ever thought I was going to pass out in an OR!

MsLeylaBar · Apr 2, 2008

i like neurosurgery...craniotomies, spine surgeries, i never get bored doing these type of cases. the brain fascinates me. i do work in pediatrics so it is very sad sometimes to deal with kids diagnosed with malignant tumors. i also work with great neurosurgeons who are fun to work with. i know---neurosurgeons and fun---a bit rare but they crack me up most of the time. we also do a lot of big craniofacial surgeries, love those too.

i like trauma. i don't get to do that anymore where i work but past experiences were incredible. gets your adrenaline going, patient crashing from the er direct to or. mva's, stab wounds, gunshot wounds. one bizarre experience i had was a trauma victim and we did an evac of subdural hematoma and a hip fixation at the same time. i had 2 techs but i was the only one circulating. crazy.

i also like transplants. a sad story turns into a good one. it is very touching to see previous morbidly sick patients get on with their lives after an organ transplant.

i like ortho too. arthroscopies are boring but i like total knees, total hip, spine cases.

least favorite---ent, urology, gyn.

justjenny · Apr 5, 2008

Only been in the OR since the beginning of Feb. but so far I like Ortho Spines (NOT Neuro!) and GYN. The Ortho spine docs are great to work with and I wind up having a great day - they are very level headed. The Neuro docs take forever and so far have not been willing to teach and/or explain anything to me. I have always enjoyed womens health (background is postpartum and NICU) so GYN "makes sense" to me...and I already know some of the docs.

I am excited to learn plastics...don't know if I will like it or not but I am interested. I have heard the docs are a nightmare.....

Jenny

Surgerygirl · Apr 5, 2008

There is nothing better than a big, open bowel case. It ususally keeps me busy. I also love to circulate neuro spines....PLIFS etc. They are long but with enough to do just getting started and doing implants. I hate doing short cases like ENT, Bardports........ I do not like rushing around to " get back to the room " fast " I really love to circulate. :redbeathe

GadgetRN71, ASN, RN · Apr 6, 2008

My likes: Ortho, general, vascular, neuro(the surgeries, NOT the docs. Most are PIAs),trauma, urology and eyes.

My dislikes: GYN, ENT and most of plastics(I tend to enjoy the reconstruction surgeries but I find many of the other cases boring and the patients can be vain and demanding).

My favorite color is blue and I'm a Gemini!.

shodobe · Apr 11, 2008

Definitely ORTHO! Power tools, saws, hammers, screws stuff like that. I guess it's a guy thing. Love trauma ortho, nothing like a good mangled leg or arm(just kidding). All total joint procedures are different in away and all fractures are not alike. There are some general cases I can't stand, like appys, lap choles, hernias, etc...........I guess I have done so many in 30 years they all seem the same.

Favorite color, Blue and I am a Virgo!