The Daily Schedule Of A Cardiothoracic Surgeon

The cardiothoracic surgeon will consult with their hospital and ICU patients on a daily basis until they are ready to be discharged home. Post-operative cardiothoracic patients are initially managed in an ICU, before being transferred to a general ward, since they need to be monitored closely after their procedure.

The cardiothoracic surgeons' rooms are located on the hospital grounds so that these specialists can get to their ward and ICU patients, as well as casualty department patients that need to be consulted, on an emergency basis. Other specialists, especially cardiologists and pulmonologists, will consult with these specialists for surgical intervention on patients where medical therapy is unsuccessful or not indicated.

Cardiothoracic surgeons provide on call services for the hospital they work at over after hour and weekend periods. These specialists will manage patients in emergency situations such as severe coronary artery disease needing a bypass graft, severe atrial fibrillation resistant to medical therapy needing radiofrequency ablation or patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction needing implantation of cardiac support devices.

Monday

Cardiothoracic surgeons use the first half on the morning to deal with clinical and non-clinical administrative issues of the office. The specialist will also be attending staff and hospital management meetings and meetings with surgical representatives.

The surgeon will begin to consult with patients once these aspects have been dealt with. The specialist will see patients consulting them for the first time as well as those who are coming for a follow up visit after their procedure. First time patients will be examined accordingly and have appropriate special investigations performed which will aid the surgeon in making a diagnosis.

The patients may then be managed conservatively, be scheduled for an elective procedure at a later date or be admitted to the hospital for further investigations to be performed and management to be initiated or be prepared for emergency surgery. 

Tuesday

The cardiothoracic surgeon will spend this day operating on patients in theatre. The procedures that are performed on this day would be time consuming and complex ones such as heart and/or lung transplantation and coronary artery bypass grafts. These procedures take a very long time to complete and these surgeons usually find themselves operating well into the night.

READ Reviewed By Physicians: Top Ten Cardiology Apps

Wednesday

Patients will be consulted and managed in the morning. The afternoon will be used for performing operations and filling in of reports, motivation letters to medical aid companies and doing research for their own academic purposes.

Thursday

The cardiothoracic surgeon will spend the day operating in theatre again. If they are involved with the academic programme of the local medical school, then they may offer training to undergraduate medical students and postgraduate residents and fellows.

Friday

The cardiothoracic surgeon will consult with and manage patients in the morning and finalise the week's administrative issues that still need to be resolved. The surgical lists for the following week are confirmed and the work week can conclude.