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Physician ID:

249

Hours:

Monday – Friday 8 AM to 6 PM (On Wednesday, the preceptor is on call so it is possible that the day could end well after 6 PM)

Hours have been provided by the preceptor. Hours are subject to change at the preceptor’s discretion, but the minimum total hours will remain approximately the same.

Location: Houston

This combined inpatient/outpatient US clinical experience will take place two hours southwest of downtown Houston.

Inpatient/Outpatient US Clinical Experience in General Surgery in Houston

Specialties: General Surgery

Location: Houston

Price:

Hospital Letterhead: Yes

Faculty Appointment: No

Information about this clinical experience:

You will be under the supervision of a board-certified general surgeon who is a dedicated teacher. Every year, the general surgery residency program at McGovern Medical School at UT Health Science Center sends a resident to rotate with this attending for a period of two months. This attending also teaches and mentors premedical students and PA students.

Although this attending has multiple hospital staff appointments, 90% of the work is performed at a single hospital in Victoria, Texas. This hospital serves not only the patient population of Victoria but serves as a catchment area for the approximately 200,000 patients spread throughout the region surrounding the city, an area that has limited access to surgical care.

Rotators will have the opportunity to spend time in the outpatient clinic, operating room, and on call with the attending. Typical OR cases include laparoscopic cholecystectomy, hernia repair (inguinal, incisional, umbilical), breast biopsy and other procedures, thyroid surgery, and colon resection. Every Wednesday, the doctor is on call. What this means is that the attending is available for emergency cases (e.g., cholecystectomy, colon perforation). While on call, new patient consultations will also be performed, a wonderful opportunity for the rotator to learn how to perform an evaluation of urgent surgical issues. The surgeon is also on call for acute care and trauma cases.

During your experience, you will learn the following U.S. medical practices under the preceptor’s supervision:

Taking patient histories.
Performing physical exams under the physician's supervision.
Presenting patients.
Accessing the EMR to review the patient chart (Meditech Expanse)
Researching the literature to answer clinical questions at the point of care.
Spending time with other healthcare professionals to understand their roles and responsibilities.
Observing a variety of surgeries in the operating room (rotators will be permitted to scrub in).

Who should consider this rotation:

International medical graduates (IMGs) and students seeking US clinical experience. IMGs seeking careers in surgery will find this rotation particularly useful.

How to obtain a letter of recommendation:

The rotator should ask the preceptor for a LOR near the conclusion of the rotation. Dr. Desai has provided the physician with guidelines about best practices in letter writing that meet residency program requirements. In some cases, the preceptor may ask the rotator to write a letter of recommendation draft.

During the rotation:

Our team will be checking in periodically with you to ensure that you are having an optimal experience. We encourage you to contact us if you have any questions during the rotation.

Testimonials

My rotation with Dr. X was unique and fantastic. The doctor taught me Medicine, and the most important, how to be a human taking care of other humans. Dr. X is an example of a very professional physician and sensitive person. The doctor drives the cases with a lot of expertise and knowledge. Furthermore, one of the doctor's most valuable characteristics is having a global view about the patient, taking care of the physical and psychological condition. For instance, the doctor has delicacy with each patient, bringing topics outside medicine, causing patients to feel that they are talking with another human, and not only a professional. I could say that it was amazing and I learned a lot, because most of the time the patients need more than medications and exams; they need to be heard about their feelings and concerns.

Besides the way Dr. X guides the multiprofessional health team is incredible. I worked for 10 years as a physician in Brazil and I have never seen that way. The doctor is kind and talks to each professional to know about the patients: nurse, clinical nutrition, and physical therapy. Everyone is equally important.

Finally, our routine started at 6 am every day. And no matter how early I woke up those days, I was extremely happy. We saw patients in different settings like the floor, intensive care unit and emergency. Moreover, we saw postoperatively, clinical and chronic patients. At 10 am each day we made the multidisciplinary round to discuss with the entire team the conducts and plans. After that me and Dr. X discussed the cases together with clinical aspects, medications, articles, and therapeutic plans.

To sum up, I am already missing my rotation with Dr. X. I definitely recommend this rotation for those who want to improve in Medicine, but especially how to be a better doctor and a better person.