In your opinion, do surgeons really have great lifestyles???

Diahni · Dec 8, 2007

Why are you curious? And why are you asking this on a nursing forum?

Curiosity killed the cat. But satisfaction brought him back! Nurses know what's going on better than anybody else, so I'd say she picked a good venue to pose the question.

Diahni

KGMJansen · Jun 14, 2011

Hi - I am just curious about this because I know of someone who is a surgeon and really thinks something of himself. I've heard from a nurse friend that she would never want to be married to a surgeon because of the lifestyle but what do you guys see at work...
So, from your perspective:
1 - Do you think surgeons lives are stressful?
2 - Is the money really worth all the time and stress of work?
3 - Why the chip on their shoulder?
4 - Do they spend a lot of time at work?
5 - Does home life (wife and kids) suffer?
Or, are they just in cloud 9 all the time because life is so great being a surgeon???????

I was reading various blogs and stumbled onto this one. I realize it is quite old but I thought I would share my opinions on the matter. I am currently married to a surgical resident and going to nursing school. It has been quite the journey, I must say.

So, to answer the questions that you asked.

1 - Do you think surgeons lives are stressful?

Yes, they are. I think a lot of the topics were covered, such as patient responsibility, expected to perform miracles, fixing other peoples mistakes, time commitment, long hours, sleep deprivation and never having that 'light at the end of the tunnel' feeling.

2 - Is the money really worth all the time and stress of work?

In a word, no. I can't speak for others that have gone into the medical field but I can explain why my husband decided on becoming a surgeon. I think the inital push into medicine was that he liked the challange and the subject matter. The reason he chose to be a surgeon is because of the versitility it offers him. Once he is done with his training, he is literally capable of doing almost anything. He can go into any practice with miminal to no training. However, he just loves operating. He likes the idea that you can cure someone in surgery, instead of just slowing the process down or treating the symptoms.

3 - Why the chip on their shoulder?

I think some of the chip has to do with the personality/ego. Sometimes it almost seems like you have to have a chip to get anyone to do anything. Or so they may have been taught. Personally, I don't think my husband falls into this category, however I am a bit bias. Also, I think it has to do with the time of day. My husband has a lot of patience at the beginning of a call shift but when he gets to the 24 hour period, and usually he has been on his feet the whole time, he can be very short. Then by the end of his call shift which pushes at 30+ hours, it is almost like they don't want to be paged/called unless the patient is actively dying. They just want to sleep. :)

4 - Do they spend a lot of time at work?

Yes, they spend a lot of time at work. His normal days are between 12-16+ hours, the day startes at 5am for him. When he takes call the days are 28-30+ hours, again the day starts at 5am and will end usually around 12noon the following day.

5 - Does home life (wife and kids) suffer?

Well yes it does. We are currently pregnant with our first baby and I am nervous as heck because of the time commitment. For me, the key has been to find a balance between being a supportive wife but also having my own activities and life. It was hard being a new wife because you want to do all these social events together, but you fast learn that you can't make plans around my husband's schedule. You make plans and stick with them and have a good time if he gets to come along and have a good time if he doesn't.

I hope this answers some of your questions.