Tips to Ace Surgery in MBBS

When you are in medical college, your days are challenging, to say the least. Medical students have a lot on their plate. From morning classes to making notes, group studies, memorizing hundreds of medical terms, preparing for exams, and trying to stick to a study schedule, medical students are constantly doing something. Now, add surgery to this list, and you have a whole new domain where students tend to struggle.

For third-year medical students, surgery means constantly learning new and watching one surgery after another, and trying to understand every little detail of the processes being followed. During this period, students often find themselves overwhelmed with a packed routine with barely any time to study. So, how do students prepare for surgery exams amidst these challenging ward rotations? And more importantly, how do students get better at surgery? Read on to learn about some critical MBBS surgery tips that undergrads can use to excel in the field.

Brace yourself for a rocky road ahead

When it comes to surgery for undergrads, one cannot stress the importance of preparing themselves to understand surgical procedures. Watch movies and documentaries to fan interest. Then, read books, attend workshops if they are accessible, and talk to seniors to learn all about the surgery rotations and what to expect. The more prepared you are for surgery, the faster you will learn it.

Once your theories are in place, spend time dissecting cadavers, attending anatomy labs, and utilizing virtual tools to go deeper. Also, it is essential to participate in practical exercises like laparoscopic simulations to improve your motor skills. Remember, once you are all in, dexterity is critical in surgery. So know your surgical instruments well, feel them, understand them, and learn to handle them.

Focus on important topics

Focus on the high-yielding topics for surgery for the NEET-PG, INI-CET, and MBBS Prof exams. For example, get your basics right: wounds and wound healing, mechanisms of coagulation, antibiotic prophylaxis in surgery, gangrene, diabetic foot, delayed primary sutures, tetanus prophylaxis, and so on.

Remember, surgery exams are designed not just to judge your knowledge of anatomy and surgical techniques. It is also about the management of the patient in the pre-operative and post-operative phases. For example, trauma can be an essential topic. Is the patient stable from an A-airway, B-breathing, and C-circulation standpoint? Is the patient stable at all? Students must understand all aspects of surgery.

Familiarize yourself with investigation and diagnostic tools and methods such as PET-CT, mammography, MRCP (magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography), ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography), CT-Scan, FAST, and MRI. When it comes to pre-operative care, focus on things such as spinal anesthesia complications, regional block anesthesia, and endotracheal intubation indications.

Be proactive during your clinical rotations

Now that you have prepared for the complexities of operation theaters, be ready to make the most of your clinical rotations. Do not just stand idle. Be an active participant. Observe like a hawk and take initiative; raise your hand and ask the surgeon how you can be of help.

Once your day is over, make note of the new things—no matter how small they may seem—you learned during the day. Writing your learning will only take a few minutes, but it will come in handy later in your career. At this point, you need to cultivate a learning mindset. Ask questions. Read up about the kinds of surgeries you witnessed. Subscribe to medical journals.

Invest in online courses on surgery for undergraduates

Online courses are all the rage and for the right reasons. For example, Surgery for UnderGrads by Diginerve is a course that handholds students through their medical surgery journey. The course is aimed at developing students to be more attentive, hone their skills of deduction and knowledge, and understand the practical applications of their learning. Developed by Dr. Sriram Bhat of SRB’s Manual of Surgery fame, Surgery for UnderGrads contains everything students need to enhance the fundamentals of surgery.

The course has been divided into three parts:

1. General Surgery
2. Systemic & Specialty Surgery
3. Clinics in Surgery, including history taking and examination, instruments, investigations, and operative surgery aspects.

This online course helps students with their clinical skills development, giving them the ability to accurately evaluate, diagnose, and manage the patient during surgery. Students will also get an opportunity to understand physical and clinical examinations in real-time clinical settings. The idea is to enable students to understand all the tests and scans, arrive at a differential diagnosis, and be fully prepared for surgery rounds and the exams that follow.

Operative surgery heavily relies on a profound understanding of surgical anatomy, and this crucial component has been integrated into the curriculum, encompassing most structures and systems for a comprehensive overview. The course has a dedicated section on the study of surgical instruments and X-rays, making sure students understand the practical aspects of surgery well. Each topic is covered comprehensively, presenting theoretical aspects alongside practical points relevant to operative surgeries. Furthermore, the material includes important questions designed for university exams, PG entrance exams, and viva voce, ensuring a well-rounded preparation for students aiming to excel in their assessments.

In this surgery online MBBS course, students will get the best of surgery lectures, MCQs & notes, and much more. Additionally, there are tips on how to prepare for surgery exams and how to master both theory and practicals.

Students must not forget that exams such as INI-CET and NEET PG, surgery and its allied subjects have a weightage of approximately 35-40 questions each. This means one simply cannot afford to ignore surgery. The good thing is that since there is a practical aspect to the subject, surgery never gets boring for medical students. As a result, it becomes comparatively easier for students to understand important surgery topics, especially when they opt for a good online course on surgery where the authors have already done the hard work of simplifying surgery topics in MBBS.