The Daily Schedule Of A Colorectal Surgeon

Colorectal surgeons provide post-operative care for their patients on a daily basis. Once these patients have become clinically stable and their surgical wounds are free of infection, they are discharged home and then given follow-up dates to see the surgeon again. The offices of these specialists are located in the hospital so that they have quick access to their patients in the wards and ICUs, as well as patients who need an opinion in the emergency department. The colorectal surgeon will be consulted by other specialists such a general surgeons and gastroenterologists regarding patients' conditions.

The colorectal surgeon will provide on call services during after hours and weekend periods for the hospital they work at. They will consult with patients who present with emergency cases such as a flare-up of Crohn's colitis, perforated diverticules and severely thrombosed haemorrhoids.

Monday

Usually an administrative day, a colorectal surgeon will deal with aspects such as confirming and attending meetings with hospital staff, management and surgical representatives during the morning period.

Once the administrative tasks have been dealt with, the colorectal surgeon will then begin consulting with their patients. The patients that are consulted can be first time patients or patients who are having a follow up after their procedure was done. The specialist will manage these patients conservatively, send them for further investigations which will be followed up and then discussed with the patient, admit them to the ward for further invasive investigations and management or they will receive a date for elective surgery to be done.

Tuesday

The colorectal surgeon will usually be busy in the operating room for the entire day performing surgeries. The surgical procedures that are done on this day include the ones that have been mentioned in 'Surgical forms of treatment' above. 

Wednesday

The colorectal surgeon will use the morning to consult with and manage patients and the afternoon will be used for performing investigative procedures such as the ones mentioned in 'Diagnostic procedures' above.

The afternoon can also be used for filling in surgical motivation letters to the medical aid companies, filling in of patients' chronic prescriptions, doing further research for their own academic needs, sending feedback to referring physicians or reporting on their findings regarding the diagnostic procedures that were done.

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Thursday

The specialist may spend the morning consulting with patients, performing diagnostic procedures or operating in theatre. The afternoon will then be used for training undergraduate medical students and postgraduate general surgical residents and colorectal fellows.

Friday 

The colorectal surgeon will consult with and manage patients for the morning and the afternoon will be used to finish up any unresolved administrative tasks.

The work week can then be finalised once all the patients have been consulted, the administrative tasks have been completed and the specialist has confirmed and printed the surgical list for the following week.