Debbie K. Song, M.D.
Neurosurgery - House Officer IV
Medical School: University of Michigan, Class of 2003
30, single
Why Michigan?
The Neurosurgery program here is top notch in terms of operating and clinical experience. There is a strong sense of camaraderie among residents and the staff. Everyone pretty much gets along, and there is a vested interest in each one of us as individuals. Ann Arbor is also a great place to live.
Describe a typical day.
I usually wake up around 5 a.m. and make it to the hospital around 6 am for rounds. We round as a team until about 7:30 a.m., when the OR starts. If it's a clinic day, we usually have some extra time to eat breakfast before clinic starts at 8am. Neurosurgery cases run the gamut from involving the brain, spine, peripheral nervous system, or the neck. They can take anywhere from a few hours to all day and all night for a single case. In a typical day, I may do a craniotomy, spine fusion, and a shunt. If it's a clinic day, each resident sees 10-15 patients a day in clinic, plus any consults that come in during the day from other inpatient services or from the emergency room. After visiting with the patients on service in the evening, I get home anytime between 6 and 8pm, but it can be later. Depending on the rotation, it can be earlier, too. A few times a month, I'll be on call. Calls are usually busy, and on a typical call night, I will get about 4-8 consults, mostly from the emergency room. Sometimes we will need to take a patient to the OR in the middle of the night, sometimes I will have to do other emergency procedures such as a ventriculostomy at the bedside. After a night on call, I usually make it home by noon. I should also mention that we get 2 weekends off a month, which is a real luxury in a neurosurgical training program.
What are your joys and your challenges throughout the workday?
It starts and ends with the patient. I enjoy knowing that I have made a real difference in the life of a patient. We see people in their most vulnerable states; some of them are critically ill. Neurosurgery health-related issues are always important, and it's a real privilege to have people's lives entrusted in my care.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Writing; reading mystery novels, shopping. Spending time with friends.
If a prospective resident has free time in Ann Arbor while they're here interviewing, what would you recommend they do?
Go to the restaurants on Main Street, run in the Arb, canoe in Gallup Park.
What are your plans for the coming year?
I'll be heading to Guatemala with a bunch of other people from the University of Michigan (neurosurgeons, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, nurses) to participate in Project Shunt, in which we do neurosurgical operations on Guatemalan children who otherwise wouldn't have access to neurosurgical care. As a fourth-year resident, I have rotations at Mott Hospital (pediatric neurosurgery), the Ann Arbor VA, and at the University Hospital.
Next year, I'll be doing research at the National Institutes of Health. The neurosurgery department at Michigan has been instrumental in helping residents pursue creative and productive opportunities during their 18 months of research time.
Having been here for a while now, what is the number one reason you would recommend Michigan?
People here are not crazy; in general, we get along. There is a House Officers Association that really advocates for us. Ann Arbor is great.
