Surgeon Lifestyle Near the End of Career

[Dunkthetall]

Incoming M1,

My school is a research powerhouse which pushes/encourages us to do research ASAP. I know career interests usually change, but as I’m looking at different labs/specialties, I’m drawn to vascular surgery (though stank feet give me some
pause haha), endovascular neurosurgery, and interventional cardiology.

I’ve been exploring each path, and it got me wondering; what do surgeons do near the end of their careers? I’m much more drawn to surgery, but I’m an older student and will be in my late 30s or early 40s by the time I’m done with residency and fellowship, so I think a lot about what the end of my career might look like. Surviving surgical residency is one thing, but I don’t know if I’d be up for 4am emergent cases as a 65+ year old.

Based on my experience in healthcare, going through IM residency seems like a bit of slog, but I think I’d enjoy cardiology fellowship, especially the interventional part. Plus, I’d have the option of doing slowing down to do outpatient general cardiology when I’m older. I’m kind of a workaholic, and want the option to work 35-40 hours when I’m in my 60s, and/or do quicker cases, but I don’t know how feasible that is as a vascular or neurosurgeon.

But…again I think I’m much more drawn to surgery and the possibility of going open. So tldr; does anyone know how/if vascular and neurosurgeons slow down when they’re older?

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[Medstart108]

Surgeons slow down in different ways, some switch into admin roles, some start by assigning themselves mid-week OR days or more favourable call days, others operate less, do more clinic, refer away complex cases to junior colleagues, assist in ORs instead of operating. etc.

 

[Dunkthetall]

Surgeons slow down in different ways, some switch into admin roles, some start by assigning themselves mid-week OR days or more favourable call days, others operate less, do more clinic, refer away complex cases to junior colleagues, assist in ORs instead of operating. etc.

Thanks for the response!

Is that fairly common or standard? Both surgical specialities seem to have a lot of long or emergent cases, which makes me wonder if finding a more clinic-based job or junior colleagues willing to take on the harder cases is difficult.

 

[DOVinciRobot]

Thanks for the response!

Is that fairly common or standard? Both surgical specialities seem to have a lot of long or emergent cases, which makes me wonder if finding a more clinic-based job or junior colleagues willing to take on the harder cases is difficult.

Yes it’s very common in most surgical fields.

As for vascular in particular you can easily slide into just doing elective angios and vein clinic as an older surgeon. Vein clinic can be extremely lucrative.

 

[Dunkthetall]

Yes it’s very common in most surgical fields.

As for vascular in particular you can easily slide into just doing elective angios and vein clinic as an older surgeon. Vein clinic can be extremely lucrative.

Good to know!

Thanks for the answer!

 

[pazzer2]

Surgeons are also highly trained in ICU care. Many ICUs will allow surgeons to cover. This is basically shift-based work, and so older surgeons could do this instead of being in the OR.

 

[ACSurgeon]

Surgeons are also highly trained in ICU care. Many ICUs will allow surgeons to cover. This is basically shift-based work, and so older surgeons could do this instead of being in the OR.

Not sure this is the case in any major city. And, in the next 20-30 years this probably won’t be the case even in the smallest of hospitals. Finally, Critical Care is a dynamic specialty and if you don’t do it regularly you cannot expect to be able to just start doing it after 25 years of practicing as a surgeon. And finally part 2: Critical Care isn’t something to retire to. It causes burn out in its own right.

 

[operaman]

Yeah pretty much every senior surgeon I know has started slowing down in some respect. Junior partners are often very willing to take on more operative cases - I’m currently in the more junior role and love it when my senior partners send me patients because I know they need surgery and the workup has been done.

They also tend to fade from the call pool as more younger partners join up. While this does somewhat mean a bit more call for me now, it’s fairly minimal and I like the precedent of people over a certain age no longer taking call so that I can benefit from it myself when the time comes. If I hated call enough I would just find a job that doesn’t require any (there are many).

My personal plan is to operate aggressively for 20 years or so and then start dialing it back a bit over the last 10 years. I’ll start by handing off anything where I have to stand longer than 3 hours. Then the more stressful airways and whatnot. Then toward the end hand over my block time to junior partners and just do clinic. The last 10-15 years should hopefully be sans call as well if all goes well. Savings should be such that I can retire anytime during that last decade if I wish.

 

[Dunkthetall]

Yeah pretty much every senior surgeon I know has started slowing down in some respect. Junior partners are often very willing to take on more operative cases - I’m currently in the more junior role and love it when my senior partners send me patients because I know they need surgery and the workup has been done.

They also tend to fade from the call pool as more younger partners join up. While this does somewhat mean a bit more call for me now, it’s fairly minimal and I like the precedent of people over a certain age no longer taking call so that I can benefit from it myself when the time comes. If I hated call enough I would just find a job that doesn’t require any (there are many).

My personal plan is to operate aggressively for 20 years or so and then start dialing it back a bit over the last 10 years. I’ll start by handing off anything where I have to stand longer than 3 hours. Then the more stressful airways and whatnot. Then toward the end hand over my block time to junior partners and just do clinic. The last 10-15 years should hopefully be sans call as well if all goes well. Savings should be such that I can retire anytime during that last decade if I wish.

Thanks for the reply!

Sounds like a great plan. Surgeons are so intense I wondered if they just kept operating on all/any cases until something or someone forced them to retire completely haha.

 

[ACSurgeon]

Thanks for the reply!

Sounds like a great plan. Surgeons are so intense I wondered if they just kept operating on all/any cases until something or someone forced them to retire completely haha.

Some do. Literally.

 

[Dunkthetall]

Some do. Literally.

Not surprised haha😅