Downsides to Being a Surgeon?

So, I have experience in oncology (radiotherapy) and some in GP, but I have no experience of surgery. I have recently started reading a few books on what it's like to be a surgeon and I think I would be well-suited to a career in surgery. I hope someone with insight into the career would be kind enough to offer some advice.

I'm doing what research I can but, being a healthcare professional, I am all too aware of how the negatives of a profession only seem to reveal themselves once you have started working. I understand that there is a lot of information on the cons of surgery such as long hours, exposure to malpractice and risk of injury, amongst others. However, I am looking for information on the working conditions i.e. mobility, pay, career progression, ability to change surgical specialty.

So, that's the kind of insight I'm hoping to get. What are the challenges for a surgeon working in the NHS in 2020 that are rarely discussed? Thank you.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 1

nexttime

22

Original post by Radiation Nation

I understand that there is a lot of information on the cons of surgery such as long hours, exposure to malpractice and risk of injury, amongst others. However, I am looking for information on the working conditions i.e. mobility, pay, career progression, ability to change surgical specialty.

So, that's the kind of insight I'm hoping to get. What are the challenges for a surgeon working in the NHS in 2020 that are rarely discussed? Thank you.

Not sure what you mean by mobiity.

Pay is the same as other NHS consultants - you can google. Private work is relatively available, but has to be done in addition to NHS work.

Career progression... like any other doctor. Become a registrar, become a consultant, potentially take on other roles like more responsibility in management, audit, education etc.

Your first two years surgical training (after FY1/2) are 'general'. After that you become more specialised, and it becomes harder to switch again without reapplying and going back years. I'm afraid I don't know details.

I think for me the main off-putting things about surgery were 1) long inflexible hours, less known for ability to go part time 2) repetitiveness of procedures, especially in some areas, and 3) lots of off-putting characters.

Reply 2

Hype en Ecosse

20

There's still very much a toxic work environment against women in surgery - in the short time that I spent working a surgical job, I regularly saw both my female peers as well as the senior female registrars being treated differently from their male counterparts: even affecting the opportunities that they were given.

Surgery eats hugely into your personal life: there's also a large expectation within surgical specialties that you give up large amounts of your personal time to further your surgical skills, and that's not okay.

Reply 3

Democracy

20

You have to stand still in one spot for hours on end.

Reply 4

nexttime

22

Original post by Hype en Ecosse

There's still very much a toxic work environment against women in surgery - in the short time that I spent working a surgical job, I regularly saw both my female peers as well as the senior female registrars being treated differently from their male counterparts: even affecting the opportunities that they were given.

Yep. There was an official (albeit unwritten) rule on my ortho placement that male SHOs get scheduled for theatre, female do not.

Its hard to advocate judging a whole speciality on individual cases, but its also hard not to once you experience things for yourself in such a volume as I have done personally. I do think that, at the very least, surgical trainees are encouraged to go along with the competitive environment, and to strongly rely on the hierarchy as a measure of competence and 'worth'. But then, I've only seen this from the 'outside' so willing to be told otherwise. Obviously, there are many lovely surgical trainees out there too.

Reply 5

Letournel

15

Original post by Radiation Nation

So, I have experience in oncology (radiotherapy) and some in GP, but I have no experience of surgery. I have recently started reading a few books on what it's like to be a surgeon and I think I would be well-suited to a career in surgery. I hope someone with insight into the career would be kind enough to offer some advice.

I'm doing what research I can but, being a healthcare professional, I am all too aware of how the negatives of a profession only seem to reveal themselves once you have started working. I understand that there is a lot of information on the cons of surgery such as long hours, exposure to malpractice and risk of injury, amongst others. However, I am looking for information on the working conditions i.e. mobility, pay, career progression, ability to change surgical specialty.

So, that's the kind of insight I'm hoping to get. What are the challenges for a surgeon working in the NHS in 2020 that are rarely discussed? Thank you.

Mobility is same as other specialties, climb the ladder with applications at the relevant stage. Pay is the same everyone else whilst in training, opportunity for private comes once established. Changing specialties at ST3 and beyond is difficult and would i assume entail restarting on the relevant training programme.

Then the usual stuff, long hours, expected to spend a significant proportion of your own time doing audits/publications/presentations. You receive plenty of unfounded opinions of your specialty from people who've not done it (or have only done a foundation post in it) which can be a little tiring, particularly given that most people could do most specialties if they really wanted too.

That being said i'd far rather long days in theatre than short days on the ward. Opinions on the internet will only get you so far, if you really want to answer the question for yourself then spend some time with the team and see if it will work for you.

Downsides to Being a Surgeon?

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