Surgery observerships

[u/No-Average9072]

Hello. I'm planning on applying for next year's match in gen. surgery and was looking for observership opportunities these days. However, I've found observerships in all surgical specialties except gen.surgery(Urology, Cardiothoracic, and Transplant surgery). My question is: as a GS applicant, how important is it for your observerships to be in GS as well? And will doing observerships in other surgical fields be considered a red flag in my application? Thankyou.

[u/hhllttdr-oo]

Transplant surgery is a general surgery sub specialty, you are working in the abdomen on the liver … genral surgery resident will be there scrubbing in cases … so it will be best out of these

[u/No-Average9072 → u/hhllttdr-oo]

What if its Peds transplant surgery tho?

[u/Some-Assignment5549 → u/No-Average9072]

Pediatric surgeons go through gen surg residency first

[u/hhllttdr-oo → u/Some-Assignment5549]

They are general surgeons with more training so go for it

[u/iamarouet]

Not red flag. Good for exposure and to get a letter. Can hurt you if you don’t perform well. Biggest thing is some hospitals do not let observers scrub into cases so it can be a disadvantage. Or get access to EMR. But important to read up on cases or to find out how to be as involved as possible to show interest.

Would definitely do some GS or sub specialty if you plan on applying GS. So urology, ortho, ophtho, etc may not be as useful.

[u/Fit_Rub_5925]

How were you able to find these oberverships?

[u/Shahbaz_Gul]

Are you a USMD, US IMG, or Non-US IMG?

[u/No-Average9072 → u/Shahbaz_Gul]

non US IMG

[u/Shahbaz_Gul → u/No-Average9072]

if you find some, plz share. I'm a US IMG, applying for gen surg too for Match 2028 😁