Why is Peds Surgery so competitive?

[Atton]

Peds Surg is probably the most competitive fellowship coming out of Gen Surg. Why is that?

It is my understanding that in general, very competitive specialties tend to offer either high $$$ (eg, NSG, Ortho) and/or a potentially nicer lifestyle with clinic hours, elective cases, less call etc. (Derm, Rad-Onc, ENT possibly).

Does peds surg offer something like that that would justify it being so competitive?
It seems to be the exception, the other "Peds" specialties not being too terribly competitive (at least not the most competitive in their respective fields).

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[cpants]

I think it's because of the cool surgery you get to do. You get to be a true generalist. General peds surgeons dabble in everything from thoracic surgery to urology. Plus you get to operate on healthyish kids for the most part which is fun.

 

[kemper6036]

likely has to do with the smallish number of programs as well as the factors mentioned by cpants above. my impression was that the pay was not that amazing nor was the lifestyle. also the people who match into it tend to self select as the type with multiple first author publications, good connections, and superb ABSITE scores, etc.

personally after doing my pediatric surgery rotation in residency, i couldn't see what the big deal was, but to each their own i guess

 

[Winged Scapula]

True general surgery, operating on a wide variety of conditions with some spectacularly cool things in some hospitals and practices. The patients rarely smell, are often cute and don't present with diseases they caused by smoking and drinking etc.

Finally, the number of programs and positions is small, creating high demand.

Not everyone defines a good life as working as few hours as possible and making a ton of money.


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[doc05]

Nothing more than supply and demand. It's not particularly "desirable" as a field, f

 

[Winged Scapula]

Nothing more than supply and demand. It's not particularly "desirable" as a field, f

what is desirable is highly debatable though right?

There are many surgical specialties and or cases that I dislike and others would find desirable.

That's my whole point: low hours and high wages just aren't necessarily the marker of what's desirable for everyone.

 

[caffeinemia]

Pretty sure I mentioned this in a different thread somewhere -- I really think peds surg is the biggest scam out there. Wanna operate on kids? Do plastics, urology, ENT, even oromaxillofacial. You can cut the little buggers up all you want and it probably won't cost you an eternity and a half in residency and research --- where most of it will be spent WATCHING people operate on kids. And honestly, the procedures aren't even that cool, cuz the subspecialties have already carved out most of the stuff anyhow -- clefts/face/hands/feets/ - plastics/ent/omfs. Uro stuff -- peds uro. Brain/spine stuff - neurosurgery. Bones and trauma? Plastics and ortho. Heart? CT surgery. That really leaves you with some GI baloney and managing incredibly ill (usually terminal) malformed neonates. Uber lame.

 

[surgonc2017]

The specialties have carved on less in peds surg than general surg. My experience had everything from the "GI baloney", to liver resections, to vats lobes, PDA ligation, chest wall reconstruction, nephrectomies, gynecologic stuff. Peds surg is very very broad.


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[caffeinemia]

The specialties have carved on less in peds surg than general surg. My experience had everything from the "GI baloney", to liver resections, to vats lobes, PDA ligation, chest wall reconstruction, nephrectomies, gynecologic stuff. Peds surg is very very broad.


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in new york at least, there's a specialist for everything. and truly how much of that was done yourself and how much was done in consultation with a specialist from another field. Peds surg is getting carved for a far greater proportion of the population than you think.

 

[surgonc2017]

My residency is in a fairly large city (not New York, Chicago or LA) and it was the peds surgeons doing all of the above at the children's hospital. Like most things I'm sure the more rural you get, the more "general" you get but in a city with millions, those procedures I listed about where still done by the "general" peds surgeons. And they were all comfortable doing them as they did them in varied fellowships as well.


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