A surgeon is a medical doctor who is trained in the art of performing surgery on patients, meaning to cut open the patient’s body in order to repair, remove, or replace a vital organ. Such a specialty requires years of study and practice, in order to be good and competent enough to be trusted with patients’ lives. As such, the day of a surgeon is a very important, and hectic one. Here are just some of the things that surgeons do on a daily basis:
Firstly, surgeons do more than just stay in the operating theater. Before surgeons make the decision that surgery truly is necessary, surgeons also conduct interviews and examinations of their patients’ physical and medical conditions to truly determine if an invasive operation is required. As surgeries are highly sensitive procedures, the odds of risk and complications are high. As such, the first line of defense when it comes to health is to actually prevent surgeries as much as possible.
However, if a surgery is unavoidable, it is also the surgeon’s job to help prepare the patient both physiologically, and mentally. Since operations are very invasive procedures, patients need to be debriefed on what sort of food, water, and how much rest they may need before going under the knife. A surgeon’s responsibility is to help reduce the risk of complications as much as possible, and preparing the patient physically is one of the first things a surgeon does to ensure that.
Aside from physical preparation, surgeons also assist their patients with mental preparation. More often than not, surgeries are quite intimidating for the patient, as it is a serious procedure that may even spell life or death for them. For a lot of people, the thought of a stranger cutting open their bodies with sharp tools is a very nauseating one, and can lead to severe anxiety attacks. It is also part of the surgeon’s job to ensure their patient that they are in good hands, and that the procedure is safe.
All of this is what a surgeon does on a daily basis, multiple times a day. Most of the time, surgeons take on consultancy roles in advising their patients on what to expect for their upcoming surgeries, or even monitoring and eventually deciding whether a surgery is necessary or not. This is done several times throughout the day, because if you think about it, surgical doctors are a very rare breed. It takes years, practically over a decade to attain their doctorate in medicine, let alone their surgery license, so it stands to reason that for every surgeon, there are hundreds of patients that they need to attend to.
Because of this, surgeons also handle the scheduling of all of their patients throughout the day. While they have their personal secretaries to help with the scheduling for them, they still need to stay on top of all of their appointments, especially when a surgeon is in a very common specialization. In one day, a surgeon may attend to as many as twenty patients a day.
And of course, one cannot forget the stressful hours that surgeons have to contend with every day and week. There’s no overselling the fact that a person’s life is quite literally in a surgeon’s hands, and to work on multiple people a day, each with different situations and cases and conditions, it’s almost mind-boggling how a surgeon manages to keep track of what they are supposed to do, and how they do it.
Surgeons are also sometimes known to go from patient to patient, operating room to operating room, managing and supervising multiple surgeries at a time. This is commonly done by senior surgeons who have gone on to take a more advisory role among the younger doctors who are still taking up their residency. But even so, senior surgeons continue to get their hands dirty during the most serious and life-threatening of operations that requires their skilled and experienced hands.
Indeed, it’s not easy being a surgeon on a daily basis. Surgeons have one of the most hectic schedules in the medical world due to the necessity of their services, and the commonality of people with conditions that require an operation. And yet, believe it or not, most surgeons still take the time and effort to continue studying their science and practice.
As we all know, medical science is an ever-evolving field, with many new advancements and discoveries being found and published every day, it’s almost impossible to keep up with all of it. For surgery alone, there are multiple scientific journals being published on a monthly basis that detail new techniques, methodologies, and discoveries in the surgery field that could help further reduce the risk of complications, and especially death. With this, it is also a surgeon’s duty to remain in the know for all of these new advancements to further improve their patient’s chances of survival.
A surgeon’s daily routine is one filled with commitments, crucial work, and continued study. Surgeons form one of the most important roles not only in medicine, but in human society as well, due to them being the last line of defense between a person and death. Often, this would manifest in mental health problems among surgeons, however modern medical school and hospital workplaces have taken great strides in taking care of their mental health. It is only human nature for the mind to be worn down by the sheer weight of the responsibility that a surgeon bears, and it’s even more worn down by the never-ending stresses and scheduling that plague the lives of surgeons. However, it is still a crucial job, so it only makes sense that steps have been taken to ensure the mental longevity of surgeons, which in turn, ensures the career longevity.
According to multiple surveys, a surgeon works an average of 51 hours a week. This means that assuming they also work Saturdays, they work a whopping eight and a half hours a week. While this may not seem as bad to someone like an office worker, we must keep in mind that they also work Saturdays, and their work is often filled with many different cases, people to look after, and incredibly complex surgery where mistakes cannot be afforded. Surgeons are a truly remarkable breed, and one we must appreciate for the things they do on a daily basis.
