Orthopods and Intellect...

[Sarcoidosis]

Just had a question for all Orthopods... why is it there is a stigma perpetuated by everyone and validated by orthopods that you guys are not very intellectual, don't like books, hate studying and so on?... when in fact the top students score wise from my school match in to Orthopedics... I mean is it just to sound cool? or is there some truth to this?
Because Orthopedics is one of the most competitive residencies accepting only the top applicants and clearly this goes against the stigma.

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[Tired]

Just had a question for all Orthopods... why is it there is a stigma perpetuated by everyone and validated by orthopods that you guys are not very intellectual, don't like books, hate studying and so on?... when in fact the top students score wise from my school match in to Orthopedics... I mean is it just to sound cool? or is there some truth to this?
Because Orthopedics is one of the most competitive residencies accepting only the top applicants and clearly this goes against the stigma.

Part of it is that we're just trying to sound cool.

The other part of it is that, once we are done with internship and start residency, we usually lose our taste for the rest of medicine and have no interest in keeping up our skills in basic medical management.

Playing the "dumb" card makes it that much easier to get Medicine or Surgery to manage our patients.

 

[Sarcoidosis]

Wow that was a very sincere answer...

 

[Dr. MAXY]

Part of it is that we're just trying to sound cool.

The other part of it is that, once we are done with internship and start residency, we usually lose our taste for the rest of medicine and have no interest in keeping up our skills in basic medical management.

Playing the "dumb" card makes it that much easier to get Medicine or Surgery to manage our patients.

I concur

 

[ORS]

It is not that we are dumb, it is that we have chosen a specific career path.

We all work hard in medical school. We learn how to take care of patients on all of our rotations and usually those that go into ortho are near the top of their respective classes.

The bottom line is that orthopods need to learn an immense amount of new material that is not covered in medical school or during their intern year. AS such, they do not have time for ICU patient care or managing common issues.

We have chosen the field for many reasons.....

It is just a fact that we can not take care of issues that seem easy to an internist. One of my attendings told me not to take care of any medical issue that he has not treated in the last 10 years. That is the bottom line. As you progress in your years in an orthopaedic residency you lose medical knowledge and gain orthopaedic knowledge. The residents on the medicine service who we consult have to realize this. It is not that we are dumb and can not go to uptodate and read how to take care of a medical problem, it is that we do not have the time. Think about it...next time your kid has a fracture that needs internal fixation....Do you want the orthopod reading up on the treatment of hypokalemia or giving a dilt drip for AFIB. No, you want hime to be knowledgeable on the appproach and not bag any nerves, etc. You want your kid or wife to have the best reduction and best surgical procedure possible.

 

[PenguinHead]

The guys at my school definitely spend a lot of time reading, especially the first couple of years.

This is especially true on call, because if they don't know all about the classifications of the injuries they saw, surgical indications, tx options, etc, they're likely to get pounded at sign outs.

 

[Blesbok]

Part of it probably propagates from the fact that ortho used to be a lot less competitive.

Part of it probably propagates from the fact that most ortho guys are athletic and athletic people are assumed by general society to be less intelligent.

Part of it probably propagates from the fact that most ortho people go along with the jokes because a) a lot of times it is funny b) it is usually all in good fun and most people making the jokes realize how smart ortho people are by the fact that they matched such a competitive specialty c)in the end it really isn't worth making enemies over.

 

[mickdogg81]

I concur

pretty much right on. couldn't have said it better (referring to previous post)

 

[tkim]