Throughout the centuries, surgeons have made monumental contributions to healthcare. Their innovations have saved countless lives and improved longevity and quality of life.
Patients deposit a great deal of trust in their surgeons in one of the most vulnerable moments of their lives. Surgeons must have excellent interpersonal skills. Contact Surgeon Phoenix now!
They must also be able to explain medical procedures thoroughly. They need to arrange tests and x-rays, meet with patients and their families and fill in paperwork.
A Surgeon’s Role
A surgeon is a medical doctor with extensive training and expertise in performing surgical procedures. Their wide-ranging skill set can be applied to treat conditions that affect many areas of the body, including bones and tissues, as well as internal organs. Using a mix of medical knowledge and surgical techniques, surgeons can perform operations that can save lives and improve patients’ quality of life.
Surgeons work in hospitals and other medical facilities to assess their patients, arrange tests, and schedule operations. They may also be involved in research to develop new procedures or treatments for diseases and injuries. Surgeons can also choose to specialize in a particular area of medicine, such as gynecology, cancer, or heart surgery.
Before conducting any operation, surgeons will meet with their patients and discuss the procedure’s results and risks. They will then use their medical knowledge to establish a diagnosis and prescribe any medications that may be necessary. They are responsible for preoperative, operative, and postoperative patient care and management and must adhere to all medical laws and guidelines.
During the operation, surgeons will lead their teams of doctors and nurses in a safe, efficient manner. They will be required to communicate clearly with each member of the team and must be able to work quickly and accurately. Following the surgery, they will monitor their patients’ recovery and ensure that all instructions have been followed.
Surgeons are often required to work long hours and can be on-call at all times. They can also experience high levels of stress and may be exposed to infectious diseases while working in the operating theater. In addition, there is a risk of injury or illness when working with sharp instruments. Despite these drawbacks, surgeons can find personal satisfaction in their roles, especially when they are able to help improve patients’ health and wellbeing. They can also enjoy the variety and flexibility of this career, allowing them to focus on the areas that interest them most. For these reasons, surgeons are in high demand and have a high level of prestige in the medical field.
Surgical Skills
Surgeons must be proficient in a wide range of surgical skills. This includes basic skills like knot tying and suturing, as well as more advanced techniques such as bowel and vascular anastomosis. They also need to know how to manage a patient before, during, and after surgery to ensure their patients’ safety. This requires a high level of professionalism and critical thinking. In addition, surgeons must be able to effectively communicate with their colleagues and patients.
Traditionally, students learned these skills by observing experienced surgeons in the operating room and then practicing them on their own. However, this approach is no longer feasible in today’s clinical environment. The demand for efficiency and the limited amount of time available in an operating room leave little room for mistakes. Furthermore, cadaver training is often difficult to come by.
New methods of teaching these skills have emerged. A study published in 2021 analyzed the effects of a free-to-attend local weekly skills course that incorporated virtual case-based learning with online platforms to deliver video demonstrations and student practice of surgically relevant content. Participants were surveyed regarding their perceived improvement in each skill and their overall satisfaction with the course. In addition, a qualitative thematic analysis of voluntary semistructured interviews was conducted.
The study found that participants’ confidence in their surgical skills significantly improved after participating in the course, and their satisfaction with it was high. In addition, they reported increased comfort in the OR and greater confidence in their ability to perform a variety of surgical procedures. Finally, they reported a higher interest in pursuing a career in surgery as a result of their participation in the course.
Other studies have shown that a combination of online and in-person learning improves performance. An example of this is a course developed by the American College of Surgeons for residents that utilizes a series of online and in-person learning modules to teach nontechnical and technical skills to medical students. These include leadership and teamwork, communication and advising, professionalism and critical thinking, and situational awareness and decision making. The course also involves high-fidelity operative simulations on animal and cadaver models.
Surgical Techniques
When people think of surgery, they often picture surgeons making large incisions (cuts) through skin and other tissues. This type of surgery is called open surgery and may be necessary for some procedures, such as removing cancerous tissue or organs. However, newer surgical techniques can help surgeons work with less damage to the body. These techniques use different types of tools and usually require smaller incisions, which can lead to reduced pain, shorter hospital stays and faster recoveries for patients compared with traditional or “open” surgery.
Minimally invasive surgery uses special tools and equipment, including laparoscopes (thin, lighted tubes with cameras at the ends) that allow surgeons to operate inside the body without making large incisions. This is sometimes called keyhole surgery or endoscopic surgery. It requires specialized training for surgeons to master, but it can lead to less pain and shorter recovery times than open surgeries.
Other surgical techniques involve energy-transmitting devices such as fulguration (burning) and electrocautery (using electricity to cut or coagulate tissue). Microsurgery uses a microscope to enable surgeons to see small structures and manipulate instruments, while laser and ultrasound surgery destroy tissue through the use of heat or light. In addition, surgeons often use reoperation or revision surgery to correct problems caused by previous operations.
There are four major categories of surgical techniques: wound treatment, extirpative surgery, reconstructive surgery and transplantation surgery. Wound treatment includes the care of surgical wounds, as well as dressing and bandaging injuries. Extirpative surgery includes such procedures as mastectomy (removal of a breast), cholecystectomy (removal of the gallbladder) and hysterectomy (removal of the uterus). Reconstructive surgery restores function to diseased tissues and organs, whereas transplantation surgery replaces damaged or missing tissues with donated or regenerated tissue.
Surgeons must choose the best method of surgery to treat a patient’s condition. This means balancing several factors, including the extent of the injury or illness, the availability of a suitable donor and the patient’s tolerance for surgery. For example, a patient with a very high blood pressure or heart disease might not be able to tolerate the stress of a long surgery.
Surgical Ethics
The surgeon-patient relationship is unique and has its own set of ethical issues. Little11 describes these as being rooted in the surgeon’s relationship with technology and the body as it is viewed as an object of medical knowledge that requires an infrastructure of technology to be applied.
Surgeons are expected to make decisions based on their moral values, professional integrity and personal beliefs. These are often complex and based on the patient’s individual circumstances. Surgeons also need to consider their family and social context when making ethical decisions. This is particularly true when determining treatment options for patients with limited decision-making capacity.
A study conducted in 2023 that interviewed 71 surgeons revealed that most felt that they were presented with an ethical dilemma at least once per day. The study authors suggested that a method to help surgeons think about and address ethical situations could be beneficial. One way they recommended doing this was by using a four-box model approach to clinical ethics.
This framework involves assessing the risks, benefits, and harms of an intervention. The surgeon must weigh these factors and decide whether the proposed procedure is in accordance with the Hippocratic oath, AMA code of ethics and the medical ethical principles of their country and institution.
The surgeon should be able to demonstrate expertise in his or her field of practice by meeting a number of criteria including board certification, continuing involvement in research, academic teaching, significant contribution to the literature and other scholarly activities. The surgeon must also be free from conflicts of interest, such as financial gain, prestige, career advancement or curriculum vitae enhancement, which could affect the decision to implement an innovation.
Finally, the surgeon must be able to prove that they have a reasonable estimate of the net hazards of the innovative procedure. If a surgeon is unsure of how to calculate this risk, they should seek the advice of a colleague who has experience with this type of innovation.
Surgical ethics are evolving as new technologies and innovations in medicine advance at an exponential rate. Surgeons must be prepared to apply long-practiced ethical concepts, such as the Hippocratic oath and AMA Code of Ethics to the rapidly changing landscape of surgical science and technology.