How To Become A Surgeon

A surgeon is a doctor who treats patients by operating on them. In the operating room they are the ones who are in control of what happens. They tell the people assisting what to do while they are also thinking of what they should do, and at times it could be a life or death situation for the patient on the table. Since a surgeon has so much responsibility, there are many steps to becoming one. Therefore the level of education needed; the opportunity to pick a specialty; the amount of time put in; the skills required; the salary; the benefits; and the job availability are all important when it comes to looking at a career in surgical medicine.
A lot of schooling is involved in becoming a surgeon. A person needs to have a high school diploma …show more content…
A person can be in residency from anywhere between two to eight years. “Throughout the surgery residency, residents are supervised at all levels of training by assisting on then performing basic operations” (Physicians 210). After a person starts to advance in residency he or she can do almost anything an attending surgeon, which is a doctor who is done with residency, can do. Even though a resident is still in training it is when a person starts being a surgeon. In a surgeon's first year as a resident he or she starts to explore surgical specialties. After residency is finished a person will have even more training called a fellowship for what he or she chooses to specialize in. A fellowship can last from one to three years depending on the specialty. A person needs to obtain a medical license which they get from passing the Medical Licensing Examination (Surgeon: Career Summary And Required Education). The licence is usually only valid in the state where the test was taken, but some are recognized in multiple states. “Surgeons must also become board-certified in surgery and any subspecialties by the American Board of Medical Specialist or American Osteopathic Association” (Surgeon: Career Summary). Becoming board certified is the last step in becoming a surgeon; although a person does not need to be certified to perform surgery it is important because some places will not hire a non board certified surgeon, and some …show more content…
A surgeon spends his or her day helping other people therefore a person needs to enjoy doing so. “During the operation, nurses, anesthesiologists, residents, and other specialists aid the surgeon, who directs and manages those assisting” (Surgeon 323). This is important because it shows that surgeons need to be able to work well with other people. A surgeon has a lot of people that are depending on them for instruction, which means he or she needs to have good communication skills. Another reason surgeons need to work well with people is they have to be able to tell a patient what is wrong with them, how they are going to treat it, tell them risks, answer any questions, and sometimes deliver bad news to patients or their families. Surgeons need to be well organized, because they see a lot of patients a day therefore, they need to keep everything orderly. Surgeons are responsible for the patients well being and in certain situations their lives. For that reason, they need to be highly focused because they have to pay attention to what they are doing or it could go wrong. A surgeon sometimes works under stressful conditions which means he or she needs to be able to stay calm and make quick decisions. A person will need good hand-eye coordination because surgeons use their hands to operate. Surgeons use a lot different surgical techniques, for example laser surgery and laparoscopic surgery, because of that