As a result, I tried my best to stick it through (bad idea) and spectacularly failed both Anatomy and Neurosciences, which I was able to remediate my retaking their final exams at the end of M1. You can graduate a fellowship trained neurosurgeon in 7-8 years. Endovascular procedures, various new tumor treatment modalities (LITT, focused u/S, radiotherapy), intraoperative navigation, intraoperative imaging, exoscopes, endoscopes, etc. I had a small attending practice and took general cranial neurosurgery call during my fellowship. We'd have assigned OR cases the night before; lots of places do it weekly. This way you let the gods of NRMP decide for you. Yeah, clinic sucks but the actual spine surgeries themselves are some of the most exciting and technically engaging cases in all of surgery. Hot New Top. I'm a long-time "mostly lurker" who has found great joy in the memes, banter, trashtalk, and everything in between on this subreddit, and the advice that I found has been a real goldmine for the 8+ years I've been in med school. Downsides: Some spine surgery, which is such a big part of private practice neurosurgery, is painful and, of questionable overuse. Can you not apply to both specialties? Fellowships: Like a lot of surgical subspecialties neurosurgical fellowships were a pretty unregulated bit; except for pediatrics which always seemed more organized. I'd divy up with the juniors to talk to other faculty. As you learned in the article The Nervous System and How it Works, neurology is the study of the nervous system. Also, it's a surgical field. Dismissing some misconceptions: Plenty of surgeons are type A but most neurosurgery training programs, I get the sense, are not malignant. I have been looking up videos of craniectomies, posterior petrosectomies, and just in general am confused by why I am having such trouble coming to terms with my own decision to pursue Neurology. Our section cares for patients suffering from conditions including: Interventional neuroradiologists take Q3 call (at my institution) and rarely have non-urgent cases, whereas neurosurgeons can take on elective spine cases to keep the lights on. Neuroscience and neurology are two fields advancing very rapidly with the advancements in technology. General information about neurological surgery, neuroscience, neurosurgery residency, etc r/ Neurosurgery. Also, despite what I said above, there are some bad outcomes. You can rank all the nsgy programs before you rank the neurology programs. Hot New Top Rising. It was also during this time that I became interested in Neurosurgery - a close friend lost his daughter to DIPG, and I was just so shocked at the lack of treatment options, and about how little we understood about such a devastating illness. If neurosurgery is what you describe, Neurology is stroke, stroke, read EEGs on pseudoseizure rule-out patients, stroke, titrate AEDs on consult patients other specialties are fixing, stroke, read EEGs, stroke. Reasons why to do X specialty: It's cutting edge. If you’re experiencing symptoms of a neurological condition, you may be referred to a neurologist, a neurosurgeon, … About half of them consults. A PhD is the opposite of wasted in neurosurgery - it’s probably the single best field for utilizing a PhD if you want to continue doing research as a physician scientist, whether bench, translational, or clinical. It’s long. Except for my research year. Also, documentation, especially for endovascular procedures; what am I a radiologist? By 12 Feb 2021 12 Feb 2021 I wasn't the most thorough of chiefs. Otherwise, neurology lends itself to an immense amount of flexibility and research. Advice for an M4: Neurology vs Radiology route for Neurointerventional career or Neurosurgery Hey guys, soon to be M4 here (US DO) looking for some advice. While both fields only allow graduate medical specialists to practice in the respective fields, neurologists are focused on the diagnostic aspects of the specific condition, while neurosurgeons usually perform actual treatment on patients. Neurology attracts people who enjoy 1 hour long outpatient office visits for conditions they can’t fix or even effectively treat. All that said, I agree with your last paragraph. Neurologists and neurosurgeons both specialize in treating conditions related to the brain, spine and nervous system, but these two specialties take different paths to provide care for people with a long list of neurological disorders ranging from multiple sclerosis and epilepsy to brain and spine tumors. Parent commenter can delete this message to hide from others. Neurology attracts people who enjoy 1 hour long outpatient office visits for conditions they can’t fix or even effectively treat. Then after 48 hours go home, sleep 12 hours, then come back and work 48 hours, and then sleep 12 hours, and then enjoy your 2 day weekend. Call: As above at my county hospital it was q 4 - 5 in house as a junior and q 2 - 3 from home as a chief. My M2 year went much, much better, and I was able to not only pass my courses, but I managed to score in the mid-240s on Step 1 - which for me was really a turnaround, having been just a few questions (quite literally) from flunking out of med school. Both professionals treat people with conditions and injuries related to the nervous … Neurology is a specialized area of medicine that concerns disorders and diseases of the nervous system ranging from Alzheimer's disease through to infection and personality disorders. Background: I'm fresh out of an neuroendovascular fellowship and finished my residency last June.I had a small attending practice and took general cranial neurosurgery call during my … The actual time worked could really vary wildly but on average I'd say I got there at 6am and left at 7-8pm as chief. And why over other fields like IM specialties (cards/GI/etc.)? Also, we see a lot of badness it is true. TL;DR: Do neurosurgery because the brain is a fascinating space and there are incredible tools and toys coming out all the time to play with and you get to help people with incredibly scary diseases. 6 years, I will be messaging you in 6 years on 2026-05-16 02:59:50 UTC to remind you of this link. For others who are confused, just IR is completely different in terms of residency path. It’s relative. If you didn’t like the day to day stuff or culture that’s a very long run for a short slide if you were to go into neurosurgery. If they’re really lucky, they’ll have a reason to consult us and we can fix the patient for them. Background: I'm fresh out of an neuroendovascular fellowship and finished my residency last June. Don't be a snowflake and be able to take some criticism but I'm friends with plenty of the faculty who trained me and my former co-residents. At the time of this writing, there are 26 medical and surgical specialities to choose from when applying for residency in the Match. From what I've seen at my med school's institution, the lifestyle of an attending interventional neuroradiologist is much worse than that of an attending neurosurgeon. Many neurological problems are characterized by pain and can be chronic, debilitating and difficult to treat. Also - spine is fucking fun. Its not a medicine ward team waiting for the attending to round (to be honest the attending may not round) to come up with the plan. Don't judge fields of medicine by the absolute coolest and best parts of the field. Rising. Cookies help us deliver our Services. It sounds like a case of grass being greener on the other side. Headaches, strokes and seizure disorders are typical conditions neurologists treat. A neurosurgeon is trained to treat conditions of the brain and spine, while an orthopaedic spine surgeon specializes in … The technical skills, for the most part, can be taught. They wanted to do surgery, then secondary to that liked neuro the most. You can't be trying to find yourself still probably (still thinking about what medicine fellowship you're gonna do). IR has 2 paths: DR or the integrated IR residency. I also loved the detailed history taking and physical exam that was part of nearly every patient interaction in Neurology. Join. Fuck that PGY17. By using our Services or clicking I agree, you agree to our use of cookies. The Neurology-Infectious Diseases Program is a unique subspecialty structured to diagnose, treat, and study the vast neurological complications of an array of infectious agents. card. 3.) Neuroscience vs Neurology Neuroscience and neurology are both related to the nervous system. Neurologist vs Neurosurgeon. Follow your heart and talk to your advisor/dean of students, ours always say it’s tough people like you should always switch because that’s what will make you happier in the end. ... help Reddit App Reddit coins Reddit premium Reddit gifts. Aspiring neurologists must complete a three-year residency in neurology units in settings like hospitals or medical centers, where they learn more about the structure and function of the brain and nervous system, different neurological diseases, and various types of treatments. In general the fellowships are: Typical day: As a resident my days varied quite considerably. We'd average 5 or 6 new consults a day. You found neurosurgery really cool, because it absolutely is really cool. I had General Surgery last, and due to COVID19 (virtual rotation, etc), the grade options were only to take it for Pass/Fail, but I passed that rotation too. But people catch only glimpses of recovery. Look into interventional neuroradiology. You meet your patient in pre op you start your OR you keep going to your OR is done. Neurointerventional radiology is certainly an option for OP and doable via the neurology route, but it is much less competitive to go through the diagnostic radiology route once you manage to get into radiology, which is not that difficult (if one's not picky about location). We'd have two to three ORs "starting" at 7:30. Really only one of the NSx residents was more into the brain than surgery itself. A Neurology Attending's Perspective: From an interview with a neurology attending at the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor . The specialty of neurology is concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of nervous system disorders involving the brain, spinal cord and other nerve and muscular conditions as well as the blood vessels that relate to them. From third year on I was basically in the OR four days a week. It’s a subspecialty of neurology and it might be better for you in terms of lifestyle and competitiveness. A neurosurgeon will perform the required surgeries. I would say do neurology. In fairness, the cool stuff is a minor part of neurology too. Of course, if there's something cool as a first start you want to see and you didn't get slaughtered the night before, then stick around. Lifestyle: Neurosurgery residency has a reputation as a difficult one. You have to be very self driven and proactive and organized; its a small specialty with small teams with big censuses. There is no cure for GBM, neurotrauma can be bad, high grade subarachniod hemorrhage can be bad. Lastly, yeah, neurosurgery is 7 years. During my third year, I fell in love with Neuro-Oncology and Neurology in general - it was so weird for me that Neuroanatomy, which was such a source of great fear for me, turned into a near-daily source of excitement as I "finally got it" and was able to understand how lesions and pathologies in specific neurologic systems/pathways could manifest as symptoms. Petrosectomies are part of like 1/100-10,000 cases depending on institution. You can be in the angiosuite playing video games with catheters. I'm terrified that I might not match given my red flags in my M1 year, and I was hoping those of us who've gone ahead could chime in on this issue as well. I'm about to start my MD-PhD and right now I'm interested in neuroscience so in case the covid-pocalypse doesn't take me out... RemindMe! TL;DR: Do neurosurgery because the brain is a fascinating space and there are incredible tools and toys coming out all the time to play with and you get to help people with incredibly scary diseases. Seems like you enjoy the neuroscience aspect and will get to see plenty of cool stuff without having to go through residency. Academic training centers are range between 50/50 to 75/25 spine/cranial. All in all, there were a lot of things about the department that felt "off" to me. I'm not sure if this line of logic makes a ton of sense but I'm happy to clarify. From the brain … If they’re lucky, they get to slow the decline as they watch their patients wither away. I spent the greatest amount of time at the county hospital which was a moderately busy trauma center and stroke center. These subjects have a close connection with biology, medicine, chemistry, computer science and even mathematics.