Hiya

I would just like to reiterate what your other 2 replies have said; neurosurgery is a great placement to get, and you will easily develop respiratory, neuro and msk skills.

I would def recommend phoning the unit to determine exactly what they see; for example the unit I worked on the ICU patients were seen by the respiratory team, and the neurosurg unit had 'level 3' beds (a bit like HDU) and the normal ward beds.

There were a variety of conditions including spinal cord injury (traumatic and tumours), elective spinal surgery, brain tumours, brain haemorrhages, traumatic brain injury, deep brain stimulation. A lot of these patients were multi-trauma and therefore you also get to see orthopaedic injuries and patients with respiratory issues (e.g. low GCS, tracheostomies etc) as well.

What I woud say is don't bog yourself down too much with the specific conditions, as there are loads. I think you need to be aware of them, but you will develop specific detailed knowledge as you see the patient. Just ensure you can do good solid musculoskeletal and neuro assessments, as you need to understand what you see to be able to problem solve, plan and set goals etc.

I hope you enjoy it.

:-)