Is becoming a general surgeon really a good path?

Question

Basically, I have always really wanted to become a surgeon. The human body, how it works and all the little things that make it tick fascinate me. I even used to make my parents drag me to hospitals just so I could walk around in them and take in the whole atmosphere when I was younger (probably to their annoyance) and I have looked through medical books ever since I can remember.

Recently, I have found out the high school I am attending has a very close connection with Johns Hopkins Hospital and offers some programs in unison with it. I thought this was perfect since I that is where I have always wanted my career to be. My grades are doing well and I have managed to get a pretty good scholarship to my current school, and I am willing to study even longer and harder to get into he career path I want.

Since choosing one's career is rapidly coming coming around the corner, I have begun to take more serious thought on my choice. After some research, I found out that the lifestyle of a general surgeon- to be frank- is horrible. The hours are especially hard as well as the amount of personal sacrifices one has to make. I found it distressing how many negative comments and reception the job received.

The benefits of being able to help others and watch them recover definitely outweighs the negatives, but I would like a little more insight into this. Is it really a good path?

Answer 1

You sound like you really want to work in medicine, but there's a lot more to medicine than general surgery. You can specialize in the kind of surgery you do, or be another kind of physician, or do something else in medicine, like nursing, physical therapy, respiratory tech, research, etc.

I don't know that surgeons get to watch patients recover much. They do the surgery, make sure they are medically stable and send them back to their regular doctor or specialist. But they DO do great work, fascinating work, although the hours are rough.

If you want to watch patients get well, how about rehab medicine?

On the other hand, not all surgeons work in hospitals. More and more surgery is being done in outpatient surgical centers, with regular hours, though I suppose you'd go into the hospital if your patient had a crisis. But the sickest patients aren't treated at the outpatient centers anyway.

Johns Hopkins is an AWESOME school and medical center, and if you can get into one of their programs, go for it. You'd probably do a few years of classes and rotations anyway, before you'd be expected to choose a specialty. By then you will have had a chance to observe and talk to physicians in different specialties and you'll know more about what the sacrifices and lifestyles are.  I say start on the path and you'll figure out which branches to take as you reach them.

Here are some books you may want to read. I've read the first three and highly recommend them.

How Doctors Think by Jerome Groopman

Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance by Atul Gawande

Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science, also by Atul Gawande

The Surgeons: Life and Death in a Top Heart Center by Charles R. Morris