I don't want to be too specific, but I found out today that my friend and co-resident died of cancer at 39. He was my chief when I was an intern, and played a large role in not only my surgical education, but my development into a professional. He was an extremely talented surgeon, and continued to work through his illness. He left behind a wife and 2 children. I cannot even begin to quantify his contributions to surgery, both as a teacher and as a practitioner....but, I have to agree with @jackshepard. As I contemplate his death, and feel sad about my friend, I can't wait to get home from my conference and hug my own 3 children, and it is hard for me to think about my upcoming busy week of clinics and cases with much enthusiasm.
Are surgical residency hours really that much worse?
- Thread starter dbeast
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I don't want to be too specific, but I found out today that my friend and co-resident died of cancer at 39. He was my chief when I was an intern, and played a large role in not only my surgical education, but my development into a professional. He was an extremely talented surgeon, and continued to work through his illness. He left behind a wife and 2 children. I cannot even begin to quantify his contributions to surgery, both as a teacher and as a practitioner....but, I have to agree with @jackshepard. As I contemplate his death, and feel sad about my friend, I can't wait to get home from my conference and hug my own 3 children, and it is hard for me to think about my upcoming busy week of clinics and cases with much enthusiasm.
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Sorry to hear about your loss.
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I saw your post last night on FB (and then here), and it occurred to me that this might have been a contemporary, as he looked young in the picture you posted.
I'm sorry for your loss; its especially hard when its someone we may have once/continue to look up to as a mentor and friend and when they are our age. Dying is for old people and patients, not our friends and family.
At the end of the day, as much as we argue about loving our career, our family and other loved ones are the most important. Your children and wife are blessed to have someone who realizes this.
All my best.
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I finished residency 6 years ago. I did a MIS fellowship and then one in colorectal. I now am in an academic practice with 4 other surgeons with whom I share call (1/5 per month and it is not onerous.) I am the only colorectal surgeon of the bunch. My practice consists of inheriting many redo patients, those who have a history of complications, advanced cancer, and those many general surgeons don't want to do (understandable.)
Interesting how one's perspective changes over time... I realized this recently when I was asked to participate in luncheon for first year medical students who are interested in surgery. When I asked what the hardest thing about my job, hours were no longer at the top of my list. The thing that bothers me most is when a patient entrusts their care to you and the outcome is not good. You try to make the best decisions and provide them with excellent technical work, you do everything exactly to the standard of care, you are a good technician, but bad things still happen.
You think about these things when you are out eating dinner with your family and it comes to mind again as you fall asleep at night (if you can sleep.) As if you weren't already holding yourself accountable, you get to hear about it again at M&M, or explain yourself to a quality improvement team, none of which have ever spent a day in a surgical residency. This is much more tiring than working 100 hours a week.
Residency obviously is a temporary thing, and even with the current restrictions, it's no walk in the park. That said, you do get days off from time to time, and life can change quite a bit when you finish. I trained in a slightly different era without the intern regulations and all of the signout BS, but even 10 years ago, it wasn't as brutal as it was back in the day. In regards to the hours issue, that can vary widely depending how you choose to practice and what cases you are doing. My lifestyle is much different now that I am doing major laparotomies frequently from when I did most elective gallbladders and hernias.
I have my share of 16 hour days but also usually have a few weekend days fully off every month where I can unwind. I am fortunate enough to have great colleagues and residents who take care of my patients when I go out of town, so I am able to get away from time to time.
Probably the thing I see most in my program that I do not think people anticipate is the feeling of ownership when you choose to do a big operation on somebody. I know some handle it differently, but just because I am not technically on call most of the time, I always take responsibility for my patients when I am in town. I do not check things out to my colleagues or expect them to handle the postoperative care after hours. Admittedly, I love to travel, I am a huge foodie, I love wine tasting, and I like to spend time with my family and friends. Those things do go on the back burner the days where I do big cases where my patients may need me after hours. I am not at all an advocate for never getting to enjoy life outside of surgery, but I think the checkout mentality that has been imposed upon us is not doing justice for our trainees their first few years out.
Anyways, long and short is some of the biggest challenges I have faced in my practice aren't the 16 hour days. Having residents and colleagues that trust makes my life immensely easier in regards to my personal time, but I still own my patients after hours. Your lifestyle can be hugely variable depending on what sort of cases you decide to do and whether you have people you can trust if you do want to get away for a little while.
Interesting how one's perspective changes over time... I realized this recently when I was asked to participate in luncheon for first year medical students who are interested in surgery. When I asked what the hardest thing about my job, hours were no longer at the top of my list. The thing that bothers me most is when a patient entrusts their care to you and the outcome is not good. You try to make the best decisions and provide them with excellent technical work, you do everything exactly to the standard of care, you are a good technician, but bad things still happen.
You think about these things when you are out eating dinner with your family and it comes to mind again as you fall asleep at night (if you can sleep.) As if you weren't already holding yourself accountable, you get to hear about it again at M&M, or explain yourself to a quality improvement team, none of which have ever spent a day in a surgical residency. This is much more tiring than working 100 hours a week.
Residency obviously is a temporary thing, and even with the current restrictions, it's no walk in the park. That said, you do get days off from time to time, and life can change quite a bit when you finish. I trained in a slightly different era without the intern regulations and all of the signout BS, but even 10 years ago, it wasn't as brutal as it was back in the day. In regards to the hours issue, that can vary widely depending how you choose to practice and what cases you are doing. My lifestyle is much different now that I am doing major laparotomies frequently from when I did most elective gallbladders and hernias.
I have my share of 16 hour days but also usually have a few weekend days fully off every month where I can unwind. I am fortunate enough to have great colleagues and residents who take care of my patients when I go out of town, so I am able to get away from time to time.
Probably the thing I see most in my program that I do not think people anticipate is the feeling of ownership when you choose to do a big operation on somebody. I know some handle it differently, but just because I am not technically on call most of the time, I always take responsibility for my patients when I am in town. I do not check things out to my colleagues or expect them to handle the postoperative care after hours. Admittedly, I love to travel, I am a huge foodie, I love wine tasting, and I like to spend time with my family and friends. Those things do go on the back burner the days where I do big cases where my patients may need me after hours. I am not at all an advocate for never getting to enjoy life outside of surgery, but I think the checkout mentality that has been imposed upon us is not doing justice for our trainees their first few years out.
Anyways, long and short is some of the biggest challenges I have faced in my practice aren't the 16 hour days. Having residents and colleagues that trust makes my life immensely easier in regards to my personal time, but I still own my patients after hours. Your lifestyle can be hugely variable depending on what sort of cases you decide to do and whether you have people you can trust if you do want to get away for a little while.
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That's the main thing I care about people, what type of people they are. Their job/profession doesn't have that much of an impact, since it's just a job. I know that I'll never understand why people assume a physician's career is more than just a job, and we'll agree to disagree on this issue. I guess I'm the guy who hangs his steth when I'm home and enjoy what actually matters in life, instead of being swallowed in a career. That existence would make me depressed. Family and friends always come first, and there's nothing in this world that can ever change that sentence. On the same light, there are people who have happiness for spending tons of hours in a certain career, which is good. As long as those same people realize some people WILL treat medicine as just a job, and there's nothing wrong with that.
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I'm truly sorry for your loss. So heartbreaking. 🙁
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