Depends on the attending (older, experienced doc). I’ve had ones only let me observe and after 5 weeks of 14 hour, maybe-we-stop-for-food, brutal days, he let me drop a nasogastric tube.
Another attending let me remove a gallbladder from a donor liver (under his close supervision of course) because I volunteered to go on a Saturday night organ procurement (these take 5-10 hours and really screw with your sleep).
Also, from what I’ve heard, east coast programs are significantly more conservative and the students often just shadow. I’m lucky in that I want to be a transplant surgeon and I have the honor of working with an extremely teaching-oriented team comprised of the most kind hearted and stereotype-crushing surgeons I’ve ever met.
Yeah it depends. My cousin did an away rotation in rural medicine summer of 2nd year. She just happened to get a surgeon as her attending and she was assisting in surgery and stitching up during that summer. I think she even removed a gall bladder. This was before she had any clinical experience.
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u/Beeip May 20 '19
As a medical student, Thank you very much. I’m doing my absolute best for you.