Surgeon Phoenix must be able to establish trusting relationships with patients and their families. They also must understand that when their patients are most vulnerable, they will need more than just technical explanations.
While rating surgeons is a complex task, one can get an idea of their skills by asking for referrals from friends and family, conducting research, and looking for patient testimonials.
Surgeons are trained to diagnose and treat medical conditions. They must also be able to work with patients and staff in high-stress situations. Training to become a surgeon or physician is long and rigorous, beginning with a bachelor’s degree in science, such as biology, and continuing through medical school and a residency.
Medical school includes a variety of courses, including anatomy, microbiology, chemistry, pathology, and medical law and ethics. Students may also take summer programs to learn more about their desired specialties.
During the residency, surgeons will shadow experienced physicians and receive hands-on experience in the operating room. They will also be expected to complete and maintain patient records and other documentation. Residency typically lasts five years, but more complex specialties like neurosurgery can take up to seven.
Once a surgeon has completed their education and training, they can choose the area in which they want to specialize. Some surgeons also pursue a fellowship, which is an additional year of specialized training in their field.
The ability to communicate effectively with both patients and colleagues is critical for a surgeon, as well as having excellent manual dexterity and attention to detail. The ability to manage a heavy case load and be organized is essential for this profession, as many surgeons spend time in the office as well as the operating room. Surgeons must be able to work under pressure and adhere to strict ethical standards.
Specialization
Physicians and surgeons both have a lot in common, including their commitment to patient care. However, they differ in their approach to treatment. Physicians typically focus on non-invasive methods that emphasize preventive care and long-term management of medical conditions, while surgeons use invasive procedures to address specific health problems.
While physicians begin their careers in allopathic or osteopathic medical programs, they then choose a specialty and attend a four-year residency. Surgeons can choose to specialize in a variety of areas, such as cardiovascular surgery or general surgery. They can also complete a subspecialty program, such as pediatric heart transplant surgery.
For example, thoracic surgeons specialize in procedures that involve the chest, including the heart, lungs and esophagus, according to the American College of Surgeons (ACS). They handle pathological conditions and injuries related to the diaphragm, great vessels and pulmonary valves, pleura and trachea.
Neurosurgeons, or brain surgeons, treat diseases and injuries of the central and peripheral nervous systems. They help patients recover from strokes, spinal cord injuries and brain tumors.
A pediatric surgeon, on the other hand, specializes in treating children from birth to adolescence. Duties include consultations and diagnoses, as well as surgically treating a variety of conditions, such as congenital defects, cleft lips and palates and hepatobiliary issues. Surgeons also work with other healthcare professionals, such as neonatologists and pediatricians. They collaborate with them to provide patients with the best possible care.
Bedside Manner
Physicians often jokingly extol the skills of colleagues with suave bedside manner,” but it is true that patients choose to visit doctors who are warm and approachable. Patients who feel comfortable talking with their physicians tend to be more open and honest about their health conditions, and this can lead to more effective treatment plans.
Physician bedside manner refers to a medical professional’s verbal and non-verbal communication with patients, and it is an essential component of patient care. Physicians must be able to empathize with their patients while also explaining medical procedures in an easy-to-understand fashion. This includes using words that the patient can understand, not medical jargon, and making eye contact during encounters. In addition, a physician must be able to decipher a patient’s body language and respond accordingly.
Physicians must also respect their patients’ time and be courteous in all interactions. This means honoring appointments, not rushing through consultations and always introducing themselves before conducting an exam. Physicians should be able to tell when a patient is upset and take steps to help them relax, including asking if they would like to sit down or if they need some alone time. They must be able to explain all aspects of their treatment plan in a way that the patient can understand, and they should give specific instructions on how to clean a wound or take medications at home.
Communication Skills
Surgeons must be able to communicate with their medical team, patients and family members in the operating room and examination rooms. They must also have good organizational skills to manage large caseloads of patients, and be able to travel between hospitals or private practices for their surgeries. Surgeons also need to be able to work well under pressure and must have the ability to make quick decisions in high-pressure situations.
Surgeons need to have excellent attention to detail to ensure they follow hospital and surgical protocols accurately, and so that they don’t make mistakes during operations or post-surgery care. They also must know how to properly maintain their equipment and understand the safety protocols for each type of surgery.
Patient communication is a crucial aspect of the job, and surgeons must be able to allay their patient’s fears, explain complex medical issues and surgical procedures in a way that makes sense for each individual. This can be challenging for surgeons, as it requires sophisticated communication skills, including the ability to empathize with a patient’s emotional response.
Surgeons must be able to work with other healthcare professionals, such as nurses and anesthesiologists, to ensure that each aspect of a procedure is carried out as planned. This is particularly important if the surgery involves several different steps. Effective communication between the surgeon and other healthcare professionals can help to avoid errors during surgery, which can be potentially fatal for a patient.
Professionalism
Surgeons must have the ability to interact with patients and colleagues with a level of professionalism that engenders trust within the profession and respect from those outside it. Surgical professionalism is derived from the Hippocratic Oath and encompasses a set of maxims that guide surgeons in their daily practice. The Hippocratic Oath outlines the core values of professionalism, including honor, fairness, empathy, and respect.
The recent controversy surrounding a JVS publication characterizing unprofessional content on Facebook accounts of US urology and general surgery residents prompted an urgent need to reexamine definitions and philosophies of professionalism. Although numerous publications, guidelines, town halls, and charters have been drafted on the subject of medical and surgical professionalism, there is still no clear consensus as to what constitutes professionalism.
In light of this, two of the authors of the recently retracted JVS publication proposed that the term professionalism be viewed through a lens of diversity and inclusion (DEI). They called on all surgery journal editors to commit to DEI through their editorial leadership and peer review processes and to engage trainees as associate editors in training. The authors also urged all surgical programs to establish a formalized program of DEI and mentorship. This commitment to DEI should include discussion of controversial topics such as abortion, an issue that is important to many surgical trainees. The authors also emphasized that the #MedBikini movement is a reminder that young surgeons and all physicians should be allowed to live lives outside of medicine, should be free to express their views on political and social issues, and should not be oppressed by outdated definitions of professionalism.
Ethics
Surgeons must have the ability to recognize ethical issues and understand how they may affect patient care. Surgeons must also be able to understand the impact that their decisions have on themselves and others. A surgeon should always be free from conflicts of interest, which include financial gain, prestige, curriculum vitae enhancement, honors and awards and the desire to perform innovative procedures that may not yield good results.
Surgical ethics are similar to those of other specialties in that they encompass many of the same basic principles such as respect for autonomy, nonmaleficence and beneficence. However, the surgical setting poses unique challenges. These ethical issues include the need to treat patients who lack decision-making capacity, the obligation to maintain confidentiality, and the responsibility to disclose information.
The surgeon must also be able to evaluate the risks and benefits of innovations that are being developed in their practice areas. This includes the ability to determine whether a procedure can be considered “medically necessary” given a patient’s medical history and risk factors. The surgeon must be able to weigh the potential for positive or negative outcomes as well as the cost-effectiveness of the intervention.
A surgeon who is unsure of the risks associated with an innovation can seek immediate advice from another physician trained in the same field or even a committee if needed. This allows the surgeon to more accurately determine the likelihood of net hazards and, if deemed reasonable, could allow them to proceed with the innovative procedure as long as all other criteria are met.