Surgery: Third year rotations 

I’m student Dr. Thompson, I’m a third year medical student and In this video I will explain what my surgery rotation was like and at the end give you the Must have resources for doing well on the shelf exam.
So unlike many students who have 6 and even 8 week rotations in surgery, I was only given 4 weeks. Which is kind of sad because I REALLY liked my surgery rotation. Fortunately it was enough time to study and do quite well on the shelf exam.
Surgery rotation
In the OR, students are mainly there to observe. I was invited to scrub in 5-8 times per day. Scrubbing in is when you Don the surgical Cap, Gown, and custom fit gloves and get to be one with the sterile environment that surrounds the operating table. Otherwise you might observe from where the anesthesiologist is working or from the back corner of the OR.
I drove the camera. During a laparoscopic procedure the surgeon may have both hands occupied with other tools, students often get to “drive” the camera or basically point it at the site your working at.
I held retractors to widen the incision site allowing the doctor to work intra abdominally.
I also sutured laparoscopic port sites closed with a suturing technique used to bury the knot, I put a vid on my playlist for you guys.
Study the surgeries the night before. Know the anatomy as many pimping questions come from properly identifying structures. Know anatomy as it might look from a particular surgery, things look differently laparoscopically than they do in an open procedure, nothing looks like Netters. This is where Surgical Recall Comes in handy.
Return the next day and report what you have learned. This is true for any rotation, but you want your attending to know that you looked up what you missed and he will likely not remember what it was. This is your time to shine by being prepared to go further than he himself might recall right then. Impress him! So be proactive.
Do as much as you are allowed to do. Help with every little thing. Get to know your boundaries of this right away. I wasn’t allowed to write notes (dumb I know) but most of you will so learn how to do this day 1 and volunteer to do it every time. Especially post op notes. Learn how to scrub in quickly, efficiently, and before the surgeon so you are ready to go right when the surgery starts.
The Black note book. Doctors like to see that you are engaged, one way is to write down what they say in front of them, I do this with a small notebook that fits in the pocket of my scrubs.
How to succeed on the shelf exam:
uWorld Q bank
Case Files: Surgery
Blueprints: Surgery
Dr. Pestana’s Surgery Notes by Kaplan
Doctors in Training Crash Cart lectures 2015
Surgical Recall is excellent for preparing for actual surgeries and has lists of commonly asked questions doctors like to pimp you on. Very helpful. It goes through each aspect of surgery as well as just about every surgery you might possibly see performed by a general surgeon.