So You Want to Be an ORTHOPEDIC SURGEON [Ep. 7]

so you want to be an orthopedic surgeon you like the idea of fixing broken bones and bro out let's debunk the public perception myths of what it means to be an orthopedic surgeon and give it to you straight this is the reality of orthopedic surgery doctor jabal med school and ciders comm welcome to our next installment in so you want to be in this series we highlight a specific specialty within medicine such as orthopedic surgery and help you decide if it's a good fit for you you can find the other specialties on our so you

want to be playlists a lot of you asked for orthopedic surgery and our poll so that's what we're covering here if you want to vote in upcoming polls to decide what future specialties we cover make sure you are subscribed if you'd like to see what being an orthopedic surgeon looks like check out my second channel kevin jabal MD where I do a second series in parallel called eight-day and the life we've already covered two episodes on orthopedic surgery so definitely check them out after this video ortho coming from Greek orthos meaning straight or to correct

and pedia meaning rearing of children was originally concerned with treating children with skeletal deformities like bow legs or knock knees in essence orthopedic surgery focuses on the musculoskeletal system this translates to fractures meaning broken bones but also surgeries involving tendons ligaments and sometimes nerve or vascular injuries the sports injuries you see on TV of your favorite athletes like ACL tears Achilles ruptures or rotator cuff issues are handled by orthopedic surgeons but there is much more to it than that there is a variety of ways to categorize orthopaedic surgery you can look at interventions that deal

with fractures of bones versus soft tissue for mentis and tenderness repair you can look at non acute versus acute surgery such as trauma outpatient versus inpatient arthroscopic minimally invasive versus open surgeries adult versus pediatrics or regionally you can look at orthopedic surgery as spine versus pelvis versus extremities to become an orthopedic surgeon you'll have to complete a five-year orthopedic surgery residency after medical school a single research year is generally optional and can be pursued by those interested in becoming Sergent scientists in terms of competitiveness orthopedic surgery is consistently in the top five in most recent

years being ranked fourth only behind dermatology Plastic Surgery and neurosurgery to be considered at an orthopedic surgery program your step one score and one rep max on benchpress must exceed 500 otherwise your application will be tossed out I'm kidding obviously but only sort of orthopedic surgery candidates are top students with very high step one and step two scores the field is highly dominated by men at approximately 95 percent however that is changing for the better and I've personally worked with several talented female orthopedic surgeons during my training like all surgical residences orthopedic surgery residency will

be incredibly taxing there will be a significant amount of time on inpatient services compared to outpatient which translates to earlier and longer hours after completing residency you can choose to sub specialize further with a fellowship most of which last one year while there are some general orthopods over 80 percent to decide to sub specialize and some even complete two separate fellowships in trauma you'll be dealing with fractures of the long bones of the extremities such as the femur tibia forearm and humerus as well as fractures of the pelvis and hip socket oftentimes these fractures will

be open meaning the bone came through the skin and was exposed to the outside world you'll often be managing intra articular fractures at joints such as the elbow shoulder knee and hip intra-articular refers to fractures extending into the actual articulating surface of the joint many of your patients will have multiple if not all extremities injured in some way necessitating planning and coordination of multiple surgeries you'll be working side-by-side with general surgery trauma surgeons as these patients often have accompanying intra-abdominal and intrathoracic injuries this is the subspecialty for you if you don't mind irregular and unpredictable

hours while on call you will often see patients on the worst day of their lives but help them recover from debilitating injuries in order to get back to a normal life the surgeries that you do each day will be diverse and unpredictable but are oftentimes very rewarding the pay not as high compared to other orthopaedic subspecialties because many traumatologist treat uninsured patients and are employed by hospitals instead of being private practice of all these sub specialties pediatric orthopedic surgery is the most broad as you'll be operating on a variety of conditions in patients less than

18 years of age most commonly this includes trauma since kids love breaking things but it also includes sports injuries like ACL tears spine surgeries to correct scoliosis deformity and deformity correction of congenital limb defects you'll see everything from healthy kids who broke their wrist to kids with multiple congenital syndromes who need multiple procedures throughout their lives a great deal of pediatric orthopedic surgery is non-operative this is the subspecialty for orthopods that enjoy a broad scope of practice and have the patience to work with both children and their parents spine includes surgical intervention to correct spinal

deformity trauma degenerative disease and nerve compression spine surgeons are consistently among the highest compensated orthopedic surgeons you'll be dealing with multiple areas of the axial skeleton operating primarily on the cervical thoracic and lumbar spine and occasionally the sacrum there is some overlap between orthopedic spine surgeons and neurosurgeons as both operate on the spine with similar indications and techniques however neurosurgeons will also operate on lesions that affect the actual spinal cord that extent into the dura which is the outermost layer of the meninges as an orthopedic surgeon you'll stick to just the bony spine and leave

the spinal cord to the neurosurgeons hand surgery obviously includes the hand but also the forearm wrist and sometimes up to the elbow or even higher approximately 70% of fellowship-trained hand surgeons first completed an orthopaedic surgery residency but 25 to 30 percent of the time it's plastic surgeons general surgeons can train and hand fellowship as well although it is quite rare this is the subspecialty for the cerebral and intellectual orthopods it's the second most competitive fellowship and deals with incredibly complex anatomy you have to find enjoyment in the nuances and esoteric variations of anatomy and function

given the highly complex anatomy you'll be doing a lot of micro surgery operating on microscopes or using surgical loops to better visualize the tendons nerves vessels and bones the pathology treated is extremely broad you'll be dealing with fractures infections nerve compression degenerative disease overuse injuries congenital defects and traumatic amputations of the fingers wrist and hand hand surgeons also deal with revascularisation of amputated digits or limbs with repair of the peripheral nerves hand surgeons also do targeted muscle reinnervation which is straight science fiction this provides patients with traumatic amputations to the upper extremity with the ability

to use myoelectric prosthesis with more intuitive function in short nerves that would have innervated muscles that no longer have function can be rerouted such that a prosthetic limb can perform more complex movements magic baby for example the starfish procedure allows for independent digital flexion and extension through a myoelectric prosthesis straight crazyness I'll have a link to this paper down in the description while hand deals with several bony and soft tissue pathologies foot and ankle surgery is comprised of mostly bony and only some soft tissue work most of foot and ankle surgery is outpatient but you'll

still be dealing with very serious pathologies like post-traumatic arthritis and pain degenerative pathology cosmetic surgeries and lots of trauma ranging from ankle fractures to the notorious calcaneus or heel fractures that no other orthopedic surgeons like to treat unfortunately you'll also be dealing with diabetic foot infections and stinky feet you may be wondering how this compares to podiatry podiatry generally deals with more non-operative treatment of calluses corns bunions and the like some would argue that orthopaedic surgeons are better equipped for more complex surgeries as they completed a five-year residency after medical school learning to fix the

entire musculoskeletal system plus a one-year fellowship in foot and ankle surgery orthopedic oncology also known as ortho tumor is a tiny specialty with only a couple hundred trained across the country cardiothoracic surgeons deal with intrathoracic tumors general surgeons specializing in oncology deal with primarily intra-abdominal tumours but as an orthopedic surgeon specializing in tumor you'll be dealing with both soft tissue and bony tumors in the extremities spine and pelvis if you are an orthopedic tumor surgeon you'll likely work in a major city at a major hospital in coordination with many other cancer doctors such as medical

oncologists radiology oncologists surgical oncologists pathologists and more Sports is by far the most common fellowship for orthopedic surgeons but they treat far more than just athletes while they treat sports related injuries like tendon and ligament tears they are also generalists they deal with ligamentous injury tenderness injuries shoulder and elbow disease and foot and ankle overuse oftentimes their focus is on the knee and shoulder joints whether it is replacing these joints called arthroplasty or treating pathology surgically with the use of a small camera called arthroscopy the more serious trauma is reserved for trauma orthopods but sports

orthopods also handle a good amount of orthopaedic trauma work when your favorite athlete tears their meniscus ACL or rotator cuff these are the surgeons to find these procedures all pay well but you won't be as highly compensated as a spine surgeon and as a sports orthopedic surgeon you can work anywhere from the smallest town to the largest city joins primarily comes down to hip and knee replacements which we call arthroplasty joint surgeons also perform procedures to help delay hip or knee replacements in younger patients but the majority of their practice is becoming the best at

hip and knee replacements as a joint surgeon you'll also do revision surgeries meaning when something goes wrong with a hip or knee replacement like infection fracture or loosening you'll be the person to go in and remove the implants that need to come out this is one of the most competitive fellowships the field is highly desirable due to arthroplasty being a predictable lifestyle and hip replacements being one of the most successful surgeries that exists patients come in having pain with every step and walk out the hospital then next day it's an extremely rewarding field if you

like repetition and becoming really good at a few different procedures this is the subspecialty for you there's a lot to love about ortho first you'll actually be fixing pathologies rather than just managing them as you do in many Medical Specialties patients come in with a distinct problem and you have a way of fixing it also orthopedics usually has good outcomes with most patients having substantial improvement to their condition after surgery second the surgeries are fun scopes and minimally invasive surgeries are becoming more widespread in all surgical specialties and while they are great for patients they

aren't as fun to perform orthopedic surgery still has plenty of open cases with amazing exposure and anatomy to appreciate third it's a team sport the personalities within orthopedics vary widely from the days of everyone being massive Bros however the common theme remains that most orthopedic surgeons are team players there is a sense of camaraderie amongst orthopods and they generally will work hard for each other at the end of the day orthopods know how to work hard but also have a good time fourth you'll be well compensated orthopedic surgeons are consistently the number one or number

two highest compensated physicians duking it out with neurosurgeons lastly you get a focus on a particular system you won't have to do much medical management which is what you spent so much time and effort learning in medical school some medical students are disappointed by this and others consider this a unique benefit whether it's a feature or a bug is for you to decide as with many surgical specialties orthopedic surgery can have challenging hours that being said be thankful those long hours are in the emergency department and operating room doing actual procedures and not so much

in clinic diversity in the field has historically been lacking both in gender and in background the field is 95% dominated by men one of the most skewed of any surgical specialty the good news is that it's slowly changing for the better with women making up at least 14 percent of residents in 2016 to 2017 and that number is growing every year for better or worse it will be difficult to escape the bro stereotype all personalities are welcomed and present but some do dominate and lastly oftentimes it's not very precise or meticulous when I was weighing

in neurosurgery versus orthopedics versus plastic surgery it was readily apparent that most orthopaedic surgery is not as concerned with finesse precision and nuance however hand and tumor sub specialties within ortho are big exceptions depending on your personality this can be a good or bad thing how can you decide if orthopedic surgery is the right field for you the stereotype is if you say dude frequently can bench at least two plates and are pro to fist bumping over handshakes you may be an orthopedic surgeon at heart with that said anybody can be an orthopedic surgeon if

you love musculoskeletal Anatomy meaning bones nerves and muscles then it may be for you if lots of effort hammers drills scopes and big incisions aren't enticing for you then consider looking elsewhere and finally orthopedic surgery is a highly competitive specialty so you'll need to be willing to work your tail off in medical school that translates to more than just high board scores but also playing the research game being a leader and crushing your clinical rotations beyond just surgery and who better to learn from and be mentored by than orthopedic surgeons themselves big shout out to

the orthopedic surgeons from med school insiders that helped me in the creation of this video if you need help a singh your MCAT USMLE or other exams our tutors can maximize your test day performance if you're applying to medical school or orthopedic surgery residency our orthopods can share the ins and outs of what it takes and how to navigate the highly competitive process most effectively we've become the fastest growing company in the industry and it's no surprise our customers love us because we're committed to delivering results period learn more at med school and ciders comm

thank you all so much for watching what specialty do you guys want me to cover next leave a comment down below and make sure you're subscribed to vote in those upcoming polls if you enjoyed the video hit that thumbs up button to keep the youtube gods happy much love to you all and I will see you guys in that next one [Music]