DNB has been offering 6 year Superspecialty courses in the field of Neurosurgery, Cardiathoracic surgery and Plastic surgery since a long time now. These courses are extremely good for hardcore surgery enthusiasts, who live for surgery and want to die for surgery. Not all places are good for the same , but Vivekanand Polyclinic is an exceptional place for 6 year Plastic surgery course. Dr Neeraj Pandey who gave up his AIPG seat to take up Plastic surgery here gives us an exclusive interview regarding the place while busting some myths about superspecialty courses. If you still have doubts you can message him on his facebook profile : Nero pandey
DISCLAIMER : This information is for Guiding DNB /MD Aspirants only. This is not a review of Overall Patient care in These hospitals which may not be affected by what is being discussed here. The Information Provided here cannot be used for any other purpose or to asses the patient care in these hospitals. This is just a review of a postgraduate course running in the mentioned hospital and is meant for guiding medical aspirants only.
What was your rank in DNB?
My rank was 458, I had 2296 rank in NEET 2013, and 3286 rank in All India 2014 and was alloted General Surgery both times. But I preferred DNB 6 year coz I wanted to do plastic surgery only and didn’t want to wait again and prepare for Mch entrance after MS.
How many consultants are there in your department in the concerned specialty?
There are 3 main consultants
1. Prof S.D Pandey (Mch plastic surgery)
He is the backbone of our department, he was ex HOD of KGMC dept of plastic surgery, great academician, pioneer of hand surgery in India, you can call him great old man of plastic surgery . Most gentle and most royal person I have ever met. He is the person who is always keen to teach you .
2. Dr Adarsh kumar (Mch plastic surgery)
He is HOD of our department, very good plastic surgeon with excellent hand in craniofacial cleft lip palate and brachial plexus surgery.
3. Dr Amit agrawal (Mch plastic surgery)
He is second consultant in our department. Very good hand in micro vascular and brachial plexus surgery. You will get very good exposure from these 3 surgeon. They are always keen to teach you.
What are the usual working hours??
Usually 8 hours to 10-12 hours.
Best thing is you have daily OT with great exposure.
For 1st year you mainly have OPD duty from 9-2 pm, after finishing work at OPD and ward you must reach OT to assist case and 1st year is 1st on call for emergency, so 1st year is a bit hectic but emergency cases are all up to you. If you want to refer patient and want good and calm night, you are free to refer them.
In second year you will go on a 6 month rotation to general surgery only. Then rest 4.5 year you will be in plastic surgery only.
Then 1.5 year onwards to 6th year, you will get a dedicated full OT , so enjoy hands on training.
Amount of hands on/ cutting is very good , process is guided and gradual, you have to work hard, have to come in OT well prepared about cases posted in OT coz good amount of questions will be asked in our OT too . We have to gain trust of consultant then they will give you free hand in many cases.
How many emergency duties per week? Can you describe the work if possible?
Not much emergency load so no such dedicated duty hours, as you are in super speciality course . You will be on call duty only. Generally emergency is cool.
As I said earlier first year resident is generally 1st on call. If you’re not in a mood to see patient you are free to refer them. We seldom do emergency cases and mainly elective cases are done.
But they are starting trauma centre in a couple of months then emergency load may increase.
What all surgeries you have performed till now?
I have performed many surgeries independently till now.
I got my first independent split skin grafting and amputation just 3 months after joining institute.
Free hand surgery performed by me till now:
cleft lip , cleft palate, alveolar bone grafting, peripheral nerve repair, sural nerve harvesting and grafting, syndactylae release, tendon repair, tendon grafting, abdominal flap, groin flap, cross leg flap, radial artery microvascular reanastomosis, dermabrasion , numerous split skin or full thickness grafting and many z plasty , m plasty , banner , limberg , local transposition and rotation flap, cross finger flap, hair grafting, liposuction, melanocyte transfer, fillated flap and many more.
Surgeries assisted by me:
Almost all type of reconstruction, all type of free flap, from alt free flap, to gracilis free flap , serratus anterior, radial artery free flap, free fibular free flap, rectus femoris free flap, vastus lateralis free flap, lattisimus dorsi free flap, scapular free flap
Also Assisted many penile reconstruction from alt free flap and radial artery free flap, almost all sort of foot and lowerlimb reconstrution procedure including free and local flap, lymphovenous anastamosis lymphovenous anastamosis, wong 1 and 2 procedure for brachial plexus repair, assisted many craniofacial fracture mandible, maxilla and zygomatic,bed sore surgeries, hypospadias surgery.
Micro vascular exposure is very good here, per week atleast 1 micro vascular case are done some time 2-3 case per week. If you choose this institute you ill ample exposure.
Are you allowed to touch the patient??
Are you kidding ? Touch exposure is really good there, it is a trust run hospital and patients here have full trust on doctor coz it has name of saint vivekananda.
How are the academics? Any case presentations done?
Academics are very good; I think our department have best academics in our institute.
We have 2 classes per week on regular basis, 1 seminar, and 1 case presentation/journal club per week. We have covered almost all topic of plastic surgery by now on our seminar, sometimes Neligan tests (bible of plastic surgery) are conducted by the department. So academics are great as we have our own small seminar room with LCD tv and laptop. We also have collaboration with KGMC department of plastic surgery , we share some classes with them too.
How is the pass rate??
I and my senior have passed part 1 exam which was conducted after 2 year.
My senior has given the theory of part 2 result are awaited.
I m in 5 th year supposed to write final part 2 exam next year, and for passing it is all up to you, how you read how you express yourself in exam it does not depend on institute as on exam you have to perform extraordinary well , have to vomit all the knowledge that you have. I passed my part 1 theory and practical exam in first attempt so don’t worry , study hard and I m here to guide you.
How satisfied are you with your choice?
Super satisfied!!
Any other departments at your institution good for DNB??
Anaesthesia is very good, they got very heavy exposure, and they do more work than the consultant. Almost 90% of anaesthesia work is done by DNB resident only.
Medicine is equally good , good exposure because it is trust hospital so good input in medicine with good hands on and superspeiciality exposure.
Stipend and accommodation details:
Stipend is 38, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45k in respective years.Iit is going to be increased from this year.
Any other info you would like to give?
I want to bust some myths regarding 6 year course :
1. It is not 6 year — it is 5+1 year course ( 5 year course + 1 year SR ship) so you have 1 year advantage over MS , Mch 3+3 year.
2. At end of 2 year you have to give part 1 exam which is an MCQ based theory paper on plastic surgery and general surgery , very easy to pass, practical paper where only 4 plastic surgery cases are asked plus your thesis and log book viva, and one spotter viva of 20 spot station on OSCE basis. This exam is very easy to pass.
3. Even if you don’t pass this exam at end of 2 year you can proceed to 3rd year, 4th year and so on . But before giving part 2 exam at the end of 5 year you have to clear part 1 exam.
So there is no such thing like if you fail at part 1 exam at end of 2 year you cannot go to third year. Nothing like this exists, course will proceed and you will get your exposure.
4. It is not like 3+3 (3 yr general surgery + 3 year plastic surgery). It is actually 1/2+4.5+1 ( 1/2 year general surgery +4.5 year plastic surgery + 1 year SR ship in plastic surgery) so you will get best and great exposure of plastic surgery only. Much more than Mch plastic surgery which is 3 years only
5.For discrimination there is no discrimination for Mch vs DNB plastic surgery, there are only 2000 plastic surgeon in India , so there are great scope.
Why did you chose this hospital?
I chose this institute because
1. It is trust hospital so good hands on surgical side,
2. Academics are good ,
3. Prof SD Pandey was there to guide us.
Note : The information provided here may change over a period of time eg the stipend may increase over a period of 1-2 years . So Please confirm these details from a resident if the date of publishing of the blog is more than one year old.
