Ortho vs. ENT

[kenshinoro2009]

Hello,

I'm trying to decide between these two... I enjoy surgery, but I also want somewhat of a life... i'm thinking i'll probably get married in the next year or 2 and i'm about to turn 30.

Other than that.. whats the outlook for each..i know more about ortho than ENT due to my background in sports and a rotation I did (and enjoyed) in ortho... i have only had 1 week of ENT exposure.

I contemplated Rads too.. but decided I wanted more patient interaction and procedural ability.

Thanks for any insight/ advice.

I had another name before..but forgot the account info, so i'm not the newbie I come up as.. I used to post back in 04'

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[IcedTea]

Generally, ENT has a better lifestyle and Ortho is pretty variable, depending on which setting you practice in. Ortho isn't too bad though, but ENT is better in most cases.

 

[Fah-Q]

Maybe you could tell us what you liked about ortho?

ENT has much more variety than ortho. ENT also has fewer non-operative cases than ortho...in other words, ortho has to see more patients to generate one case. Ortho residency is much tougher than ENT. It obviously depends on a lot of factors but in terms of averages ortho guys make more money.

 

[DrDre311]

Tired will probably jump in and give you his spiel about maximally invasive surgeries in ortho. I personally was bored by ortho (except hand), but there are some really great ortho cases. The thing about ENT is that a lot of the cases involve like 4 or 5 people crowding around a tiny operative field while the attending or chief actually does the case. Hard to stay interested if you can't see anything.

 

[kenshinoro2009]

I like ortho mainly because I like sports and understand the musculature and skeletal structure intuitively. I'd probably want to do Sports Medicine if I did ortho, but I really kinda dread the life of a resident in ortho, and the 5-10 years after when you try to establish a practice and take tons of call. I've thought about radiology as well, but theres no interaction (unless you do IR). ENT opens the door to plastics and reconstruction, which interest me since I want to be involved in international medical trips. I considered Optho, but too small of a body area, so ENT is more appealing.

 

[Leforte]

You can do international medical missions as an orthopod, too.

Rotate in both, see what clinic is like and how you fit in with the specialties personalities.

Also, I've heard something like 75% of orthopods go on to do a fellowship.

I can guarantee you an orthopedic attending spends far more time in the ED than an ENT attending.

If you do not like managing patients medically (including both outpatients and inpatients), then ENT may not be the best choice -

 

[Fah-Q]

The thing about ENT is that a lot of the cases involve like 4 or 5 people crowding around a tiny operative field while the attending or chief actually does the case. Hard to stay interested if you can't see anything.

I've never encountered this. There is almost never more than one resident on a case where I train...is this common elsewhere??

 

[Fah-Q]

I like ortho mainly because I like sports and understand the musculature and skeletal structure intuitively.

We see our fair share of sports injuries with all the maxillofacial trauma call we take. If it is rigid fixation you like, ENT does plenty.

ENT opens the door to plastics and reconstruction, which interest me since I want to be involved in international medical trips.

You must mean clefts. If that is your goal then I would recommend an integrated or combined plastics residency. While there are fellowships through ENT that teach clefts it is still a general plastics dominated area.

 

[coastal]

I'm totally biased, so my opinion is worthless. I found my ENT rotation boring, and wasn't overly interested in the surgeries they were doing (too small). The attendings seemed kind of geeky.

The ortho attendings were awesome, and I fit in. I loved the big open surgeries and the feeling that you were doing real work.

Like I said totally biased. I wouldn't have even bothered posting if not for the fact that I wanted to say it is all a matter of where you feel you fit. Go with your gut.

 

[DrDre311]

I've never encountered this. There is almost never more than one resident on a case where I train...is this common elsewhere??

I bitch about other people trying to generalize their n=1 experience onto an entire field, but I am afraid that that's what I've done here. I did some ENT as a med student and a couple months as a junior resident in integrated PRS (at a different place than I did med school, so I guess that makes it n=2) and it was always like that at my med school and only a little less so at my residency program. Several people scrubbed in ahead of me around a tiny field. I felt like I was just wasting gown and gloves because I couldn't see anything and the upper-level and attending were the only people operating.

 

[DrBodacious]

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[ddmo]

I would spend more time on an ENT service to get a better feel. I personally love ortho for the fact that much of it is big surgery. As one attending I know is fond of saying, "I don't operate on any bones small enough to fit in my hand and swallow."

Any field will get mundane, but try and pick the one that you take the greatest interest in.

 

[TheThroat]

From what you've posted, I would go with ortho. You seem to indicate that you really like ortho, but are struggling with the lifestyle of ortho residency and afterwards. Picking a speciality just because it is a good lifestyle often can lead to feeling unfulfilled.

Picking a speciality is a pretty difficult process given the limited amount of exposure that we have to the different specialities. If you have a lot of interest in a speciality, but don't like the residency workload, you have to realize that you are picking something that you will be doing for the rest of your life, not just for the next 5-7 years.

I love oto and determined pretty early that I was not going to do ortho, but I know several orthos who appear satisfied with their lives and don't appear overly burdened with a poor lifestyle, but they are all in private practice and have been in practice for at least a few years.