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Post by antmon on Aug 14, 2005 10:03:49 GMT -5
Thomasville- surgery ;D ;D well Hany emailed me these questions and i thought everyone would like to know so here's the skinny 1. What are the living facilities like? The facilities are pretty nice really, its a one bedroom fully furnished apt with dishes included, the only issues I have are one the fridge must have been in storage since forever because I have been cleaning it for two weeks and its still nasty (dead bugs being kicked out of the compressor) but if you don't have anything open you should be ok, the other issue is that the TV only gets 10-17 channels 3 family channels, 2 women’s networks, soap opera network, spike TV, abc,cbs, nbc, and 2 news channels, It also get a 24 hr Bush feed with his weekly or daily radio address ( if you don’t think the guys full of Sh@##@# then you should be ok with this, personally this channel has increased my loathing for the man and lead me to believe that listening to him might finally bring the old wives tale of TV rotting your bring to reality) 2. How are you be treating by the doctors? The doctors are great but I must warn you that being the only med student in town opens you up to hospital wide pimpage by any and everyone but they are really helpful and anxious to teach, oh yea some of you my be joined by med students from FSU starting in nov. 3. Are you getting to do a lot of hands-on stuff? I get to do a lot, I have gotten to help close on nearly every case I have seen, I have gotten to make small incision for lap surgeries, and to top it all off I have seen some amazing pathology ( for those who are interested in path and other boring nonsurgical specialties this should make it fun) 4. What are your hours/call like? I have been on call 4 nights since coming here and have not been called in even once because the doctor has as a rule that he won’t call me in unless he goes directly into surgery and it’s an interesting case (so if your good student you will use this time to study and rock out on the test, alas I have not) 5. Most importantly, are you having a good time down there? I am having a ball in the surgeries cause I get to see so much but as far as things to do when I off, I am bored out of my mind so bring, books, DVDs,a bike, a girlfriend, and anything else you need to not be as bored at I am at this moment oh if you don't like surgery i am sad to say that your going to hate this rotation because you will be in the OR constantly i i give this rotation 7 grins nd a cool ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D
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Post by etingermd on Aug 21, 2005 10:43:50 GMT -5
Thanks Tony! I am there next and i am looking forward to it.. Elga
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Post by hnaggarmd on Dec 17, 2005 12:24:22 GMT -5
This rotation is AWESOME. I had a blast. The practice includes 6 general surgeons. This rotation is a good mix of vascular, GI and surg onc. There is very little trauma that goes on in Thomasville. The only trauma related exposure I saw was a AAA repair.
Hours: approximately 6:30 to 4:30 (but depends on the attending you are with)
Call: You usually take 1 full weekend. This means rounding on about 20-30 patients with the attending and PA on Saturday and Sunday. Once you are finished rounding you go home. Otherwise, they won’t call you in unless they operate. I spent 4 weeks with the same attending (Dr. Waller/Valerie Bush, PA) the entire month and took call when he did (~every 5th or 6th night).
The group (Waller, Smith, Hall, Patterson, Cascone, Deutsch) is very excited to have students and most were trained at MCG. You get a lot of hands on exposure. All are interested in teaching as long as you show interest. Try and spend time with Waller (Valerie, his PA, is really into teaching) and Patterson. Dr. Smith is known for amputations, Drs. Cascone and Deutsch are the youngest of the surgeons. Dr. Hall is known for trauma, and snake bites. Most surgeons have a PA that assists, but they will let you do more than hold a retractor. Jared got to do AK amputation. They are all for you going to see as many surgeries as possible, even outside general. Jared and I spent a day with a neurosurgeon and saw the Gamma Knife in action. You have opportunities to do intubations, spend an afternoon with a Pathologist, Anesthiologist, Orthopaedics, Plastics, etc if you are interested.
If you are interested in any of the above, these are the doctors I would seek out: Anesthiologists: Drs. Ward, Bramblett and Bragg Neurosurgery: Drs. Fredericks and Kadis Orthopaedics: Dr. Hanthingy Pathology: Drs. Simms and a very tall Turkish guy (forgot his last name) OB: Drs. Bruhn and Meyer Urology: Dr. Quintif
There may be FSU student(s) during your month. There was talk about FSU sending a resident there, but I am not sure if that will happen any time soon. The apartments are located about 3 blocks from the Hospital. Those that are doing Psych in Thomasville will also stay in the same apartment building. You spend most of the time in scrubs, so don’t bother bringing nice clothing. I wore a tie on the first day and then I wore scrubs for the remainder of the rotation.
When Jared and I got down there you are supposed to go straight to the Information desk at the Hospital to pick up your apartment keys/lease/directions to the apt. building. We had no idea who to contact regarding the rotation. So here is the contact info… Michelle Rainey, office manager 912-226-8881 sgsa@rose.net
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Post by hnaggarmd on Dec 17, 2005 12:32:44 GMT -5
I forgot to mention that the only computer/email access you have is at the clinic. You can only check groupwise from the computer in the doctors lounge at the Hospital and that is about all that you can do without a password.
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Post by jared on Dec 29, 2005 0:38:11 GMT -5
yeah, this rotation is awesome. thomasville is a long way away, like 4.5 hours if you go through macon. The tifton exit has a chik-fil-a though, which is nice. I would also bring a dvd player or something if you go, because the tv in the apartment mind-blowingly does not have espn, espn 2, cnn (or fox news if you're into that kind of thing), or just about any other channel you want to watch. and thomasville somehow has a barburrito's.
anyway, I didnt have to show up until like 730 a lot of the time. nobody yells at you and you can cut and sew a little if you want. if you want to go into surgery this would be an excellent rotation, as all the guys will be willing to write a letter and i think most of the guys who trained at mcg were on faculty here so their names probably carry more weight than you'd think at first. if you dont want to go into surgery and you dont mind being away from augusta (and who would really mind that?) this is in my mind the best rotation out there.
also, whoever goes there next, i think i left a frozen lasagna in the freezer, but you can have it. thank me later.
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Post by Bryant on Aug 2, 2006 11:00:36 GMT -5
I spent July on surgery in T'ville and it was fantastic! I got to do and see a large number and variety of procedures (including both external and intravascular AAA repairs, which were very cool). I was able to roam around to any surgery or clinic I felt like and almost all of the MDs were happy to have me. After being on another service for three days, I realize how lucky I was to have attendings and PAs who sincerely wanted to teach. I learned a ton, but it was not very laborious...I was only beeped once and that was just an hour before I was supposed to go in anyway.
I'd really suggest trying to hang out with Dr. Waller and Valerie the most. They are both very good teachers and Dr. Waller is supposedly one of the best surgeons to come out of MCG in the last few decades (more than one of his colleagues expressed this).
If you have any questions, send me an email.
-Bryant
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Post by justin on Jul 30, 2007 11:08:11 GMT -5
I'm on this rotation starting today 7/30/07 and just wanted to clarify about the current situation with housing:
It's 4 blocks from the hospital. It's an older house-type place that has been made into individual apartments, each with a kitchen (fridge/freezer/microwave/stove/toaster/coffe maker), breakfast area, living room (with TV/phone), a bathroom (small with no outlets), and 2 bedrooms. It is much nicer than I expected and it is very clean (every student is expected to clean before they leave).
You may have a roommate while you're here, each bedroom had an individual lock, so you can protect your stuff. But, I will not have a roommate while I'm here.
The basics are here: one TV, vacuum, iron, ironing board, fridge, dishes, trash cans, a shower rack. The beds are full size, bedskirt and comforter provided. You need sheets/pillowcases and some towels. I would also suggest a dirty clothes hamper and a laundry basket (the laundry room is shared and across the parking lot). If you want, you could bring a small tv and dvd player for your room so you can rent movies or whatever. The parking is covered. There are 3 wireless routers in the building, so you can always pick one up from wherever you are in the building. The cable has around 50 channels, everything you can expect from expanded basic cable (like the cable in the gym at MCG). The network/market area is Albany, Valdosta, Thomasville so that's the area they report on.
Thomasville is a quaint little town, it's about 10-15 mins to the fast food strip and publix. Mapquest says it is 30 miles to Tallahassee, but I've not tried that out. Archbold Memorial Hospital is the only trauma center (level 2) in this part of the state, the next closest is Macon, Tallahassee doesn't have a trauma center either, don't know where the closest is in Florida. Cafeteria discount with your ID badge in the hospital (40%), they take credit cards in the cafeteria and have 2 ATMs in the hospital. I wish MCG took cards in Terrace :-(
Important people:
Anne Bishop: Housing, Student help, access to the student lounge/computers, first person to find when you get here. Her office is near the snack shop in the main lobby. Jackie Gilbert: Badging, HIPAA, legal stuff for students, paperwork central, second and 4th person to find. Office is across the street from the ER, next to dialysis. Coby Bentley: Office Coordinator that sets up student stuff at South Georgia Surgical practice, third person to find. SGSA is across the street from the hospital, behind the dialysis center, 3rd floor. Erica: Information Officer, computer access, fifth person to find, next to the student lounge, in the Annex, adjacent to the ER.
EDIT: Now that I've finished, I have some more about the setup. You generally stick with 1 doctor and there is usually 1 FSU student with another doctor at the same time. The doctors are: Hall, Patterson, Deutsch, Cascone, Waller. The PA/RN surgical assistants are Valerie, Sylvia, and Frankie (they have to take call just like doctors and have to come to the OR for emergency surguries). There is a lot of office staff.
I generally work 50 hours/wk including call. Call isn't so bad, it's from home, you have a pager the entire length of your stay here. I have been called in like four times, took call four times (same nights/weekend as my doctor) - emergency appendectomy/rupture, acute cholecystitis in ER (suspected appendicitis), trauma work up, strangulated direct hernia. They're not going to call you at 2am to look at a diabetic foot infection. Otherwise you will be in at least10 surgeries a week, at least, this is a busy surgical practice!
You wear hospital-provided scrubs every day. It depends on the doctor as to whether or not you have to pre-round. I did not have to pre-round and arrived between 6:00-7:30am most days and was always off by 4:30. I would say the hours tended to be more like 7am-3pm. I was expected to take call with my doctor for one weekend and you're here for 3, so the other 2 you have MOST of the day off Friday (done at 10am?) and won't start again until 7am Monday. So, you have time to go home, go to the beach (2.5 hours to Panama City Beach), or go to Tallahassee (1/2 an hour). Remember, these other weekend destinations are closer than Augusta (4.5 hours).
They are patient with you, will help you learn to suture, staple, remove sutures/staples, wound care, etc. My doctor often would sit down and discuss topics I wanted and promoted learning through discussion. I also got to meet his family and stuff. It's a very personable, fun experience. Nobody that does this rotation will end up regretting their time here.
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