Clinical Orientation Manual - University of Kansas Medical Center

2. Atlas of Surgical Operations: by Zollinger: Excellent for understanding specific surgeries or
for making drawings for Dr. Thomas. Expensive; look in the library (can be found in
resident room on Unit 51)
3. Schwartz: A medicine textbook for surgeons; used by many; recommended by the Surgery
department; a reference book.
4. Fluids and Electrolytes for the Surgical Patient by Pastana: Excellent book; lots of
pictures, easy to interpret diagrams, explains well acid/base disorder well.
5. Manual of Surgical Therapeutics: The surgery version of the Wash manual; good
information on fluid and electrolytes.
6. Companion Handbook to Schwartz: Similar to Companion Harrison’s.
Hours: Expect to arrive at the hospital between 5:00 and 6:00 a.m. depending on service.
Surgeries are usually scheduled to begin at 7:30 am. Be prepared to leave the hospital
between 6:00 and 8:00 pm. Different services have highly variable hours. You will not be
leaving early on your post-call day. Keep in mind that some days you may have time for
breakfast after rounds. However, it is hard to predict which days those will be, so eat
breakfast before rounds. For those in McPherson, hours are normally 7am to 4pm (but highly
variable) with trading nights and weekend days with other student.
Rounds: Most services round sometime between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m., but some will expect
you to come see your patient before rounds. Allow 30-60 minutes for this “pre-rounding” time,
especially at the beginning of the rotation. Afternoon post-op rounds may be held by trauma
on general services (usually not on specialty services). Take the initiative to see your patients
prior to post-op rounds.
Weekends: If you are not on call, you will come for morning rounds and usually be done
before noon. The on call team will handle emergency surgeries during the weekend. There
are no elective surgeries on the weekends. You will have to take call on
weekends. Weekend duties for medical students are variable on the sub-specialty services.
Call schedule: Depends on the number of students, usually once per week during your
general surgery rotation. While on call, your team will cover the trauma room in the ER (1 st
floor of Heart Hospital). Page the intern on call, and you will follow him for the night. They
usually have you come to the swamp (see above in “Locations” section). There is no call
room, so if it is slow, you will probably be sent home.
Call Room location/code: At KUMC, KC VA, and Leavenworth VA there are no call
rooms. No call is taken at the VA’s.
Services: A word about the different services:
General Surgery services - if you desire and there is space available, you can request to do 2
general surgery months.
Trauma/SICU - This is more of an ICU/Critical care rotation than a surgical rotation. Generally,
students are only in the OR 1-2 times per week or less. Hours are basic (above) but vary as
some of the attendings tend to round very late. Good preparation for shelf exam.
Surgical Oncology - excellent opportunity to assist in surgeries that you will likely never see or
do again (esophagectomies, gastrectomies, melanoma resections, breast surgeries, bowel
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