Surgery – dream job under nightmare conditions?

22.12.2009 11:38

Surgery - dream job under nightmare conditions?

More than 70 percent of surgeons in this country say they have too little or no time for private and family life. The German Society for Surgery (DGCH) has come to this preliminary conclusion in the world's largest analysis of its kind on the quality of life of German surgeons. Experts reported on the first, as yet unpublished results today at a DGCH press conference in Berlin.

The everyday work of surgeons has changed significantly in recent years. In addition to operations, this includes increasingly extensive administrative tasks - often at the expense of important conversations with patients and colleagues. Overtime and extreme work have become the norm. “Surgeons have the highest workload of all clinicians, and their risky work also entails great responsibility,” says private lecturer Dr. med. Mag. Artium Thomas Bohrer, Würzburg. They spend more and more additional working time at their desk. Balancing family and work is therefore particularly difficult, says the senior physician at the clinic and polyclinic for thoracic, cardiac and thoracic vascular surgery at the Würzburg University Hospital.

With the support of the DGCH, Bohrer and other experts are carrying out systematic analyzes of the professional situation of surgeons for the first time. More than 3,600 visitors to all annual meetings of the DGCH specialist societies from 2008 to October 2009 took part in the survey. This is the largest study of its kind in the world. Never before have more doctors from a professional group been asked about their quality of life in German-speaking countries.

The initial results of 1,800 questionnaires so far show that around 40 percent of the surgeons surveyed rate their quality of life as worse than that of the rest of the population. Three quarters of those surveyed complain that they have too little time for their private and family life. They also state that with a share of two thirds, administrative work takes over and operational craftsmanship is neglected. Nevertheless, around 80 percent would choose the profession of surgeon a second time. “Most surgeons are characterized by a high degree of idealism,” says Bohrer, explaining the interim result. Because more than 95 percent say they enjoy being in the operating room. Some even describe this as their favorite job.

Bohrer and other DGCH experts discussed how working conditions and career prospects in surgery can be improved and families can be optimally integrated into everyday working life at a press conference on December 9, 2009 in Berlin. The final results of the study will be presented at the 127th DGCH Congress in April 2010 in Berlin.