Kodie+Vincent

About the Job!
Surgeons consult with patients and operate on people to treat and manage disease and injuries. They may also specialise in any feild of work these include: __Cardiothoracic Surgeon__:treats diseases and injuries of the heart, lungs and chest wall. __General Surgeon__:treats diseases and injuries of the abdomen, breast and endocrine (glandular) organs. __Neurological Surgeon__:treats diseases and injuries of the brain and nervous system. __Ophthalmologist__ :treats diseases and injuries of the eye __Orthopaedic Surgeon__ :treats diseases and injuries of the bones, joints, muscles and soft tissue. __Paediatric Surgeon__ :treats a wide range of diseases and injuries in children. __Surgical Oncologist__ :usew surgery to treat people with cancer __Vascular Surgeon__ :treats diseases of blood vessels, including veins, arteries and lymphatics.

To be a surgeon takes a long time of hard work. You must have a understanding of how the human body works, knowledge of medical ethics and law and also a up-to-date knowledge of reserch, treatments and practices. Not only do you have to be knowledgeable but you have to have alot of personal qualities aswell. Surgeons need to be:
 * accurate and careful, with an eye for detail
 * motivated and disciplined
 * quick and efficient
 * able to work well under pressure
 * decision-makers with problem-solving skills
 * good time managers
 * excellent at analysis and interpretation
 * good at report writing
 * good at communicating and inspiring confidence in others.

Surgeons also need an awareness and understanding of other cultures and their attitudes to surgical treatment.A surgeons physical being is not as important although they do need to have good eyesight and hand-eye co-ordination.They also need to have a good stamina as usaually some surgerys can go for hours.

Qualifications! To become a surgeon you need to of done exceptionally well in school. You must first complete a medical degree at any university in New Zealand.Then you work and train in a clinic or a hospital for around two years. This period is ofetn reffered to as Pre-Vocational. Then if you wish to sepicalise in any feild you must complete a postgraduate vocational. If you successfully complete this then you may apply for th Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (FRACS), allowing you to practise independently as a surgeon. The shortest possible time it takes to be a surgeon is to become a general surgeon (4 years undergraduate+4 years medical school+5 years residency)=13 years total, The most time it takes is if you decide to become a nuerosurgeon (4 years undergraduuate+4years medical school+7 years residency+2 years fellowship)=17 years total, this means that if I was to persue nerosurgery that I would be 35 when I finally finished.

__ Work conditions __ Suregeons work long tiresome hours. These are often irregular and include nights and weekends. They work in hospitals,operating theaters and clinics. The work in stessful situations. They often have to deal with terminally ill or dying patients. Surgeons get to travel though. They go to conferences and speialist training overseas.

A typical day in the life of a surgeon! Here is a link that you may go to, to veiw an actual surgery gallery it includes photos of a tumor removal. Neurosurgery in action

Surgeons typically work four and a half to five days a week on a regular basis, plus any time being on-call for emergencies or urgent situations. Like most physician jobs, being a surgeon is more than a forty-hour per week job. Most surgeons work 50-60 hours weekly, including on-call time, administrative duties, and other responsibilities. Usually surgeons will have about 3 days blocked off for surgery and 2 days devoted to office hours for follow-up appointments or pre-operative consultations.

The case load can vary, based on the type and complexity of surgeries performed, and can be anywhere from 150 per year up to 500 or more. The average is about 300-400 surgeries annually.

Pay and Progression

A pay for a normal registrar surgeon can vary between $95,341 and $156,591 a year. If I was going to speicalize in Nuerosurgery I would be paid around $340,000 to start off with ( after 17 years of training) and can earn up to $1,200,000. This is the max amount that any neurosurgeon may earn in one year. It all depends on how many cases and how complex your surgerys are for that year.

Related Jobs There are alot of jobs to speicalize in surgery. The one that I have been looking through is neruosurgery. You can gain alot of positions in this sort of speicalizeation including neurosurgery, neurology and neuropsychology. These are the three that I am most interested in and hope to persue at least one. Conclusion In conclusion I believe that I have the determination and skills to become a neurosurgeon. Even though I will be 35 buy the time I complete my course the pay and progression will be worth it. I do think that only people are very committed to work and studying are right for this type of job. Is this me? I guess only time will tell if I have what it takes.

Sources 1.www.surgeons.org/ 2.www.experience.com 3.www.careermed.co.nz