How many days a week do surgeons work

How many hours are in the ‘average’ working week for a surgeon!

The Royal College of Surgeons represents over 7500 surgeons working in Australia and New Zealand. We all know that medical professionals often lead a busy life. Finding a work-life balance can be difficult at times. Surgeons are no exception. Working within the surgical field, and indeed any medical field, is an honour. Many surgeons love their profession to the extent that some of the long days don’t always feel like ‘work’. The long hours are often ingrained from their surgical training days, and continue throughout their consultant life.

The Royal College of Surgeons provides us with information on the sector from ‘workforce census’ data. The last published one was in 2014 and makes for a very interesting read.

The average Australia/New Zealand surgeon is working 53 hours per week. This has increased from 51 hours in 2011. This compares to a sector average for medical professionals of 42.8 hours per week. This additional 10 hours per week may not sound like much, however it represents a 25% increase, and may be the difference from finishing work at 5pm each day, compared to 7pm.

While the data doesn’t indicate how many days per week this represents, it is easy to see that this requires some long days at work with or without the addition of working across the weekend. We all know that if you are a surgeon working in private practice, that you take responsibility for your patients throughout the entire working week, and not just Monday – Friday.

Interestingly, when looking at age groups and the average hours worked per week, those in the 50-59 year old category are most likely to work the greatest number of hours per week. This tends to indicate that this pattern of working behaviour continues throughout ones surgical career.

About two thirds of surgeons are taking 4 or more weeks per year off as annual leave. This precious time away to be able to mentally unwind and relax is invaluable. It allows one to catch up with family and friends and take a step back from the hectic pace of the working week. With one in ten surgeons having sought professional assistance for stress or mental health issues, you cannot over state the importance of this time away.

We work in a beautiful country, in an amazing profession, and are very lucky to do so. While working long days may be here to stay, please ensure that you allow some time away to rejuvenate and return to work refreshed and recharged!

2 answers

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Clay Downing

security tech

9 Answers

  Raleigh, North Carolina

Clay’s Answer

I worked in the medical industry for 17 years as a medical device rep spending time in the operating room. It is good that you are looking to become a surgeon. This is a area that requires great dedication. Surgeons work in a clinic environment an d then to the operating room environment. Normally a surgeon will work 2-3 days a week in the clinic which is a 8-6pm job. ON the days he is not in clinic, he will be operating and that day schedule will vary at times but normally that is a 7 am start time for most surgeries and then it is based on how many cases and what those cases are. Those days the hours worked can be from 6-9 hours. As a surgeon, most times there is a PA that works with you and assist in the surgeries but not always. The PA is also with you in clinic seeing patients with you. You will be seeing recent surgery patients in the hospital right after surgery and that happens before clinic and often time before and during surgery days. I would say overall a surgeon is going to work about 10 hours a day.

Thank you so much! This was very helpful Yazmine May 03, 2019

Richard A.

physician

2199 Answers

Richard’s Answer

During residency, the hours can be brutal and sleep deprivation is definitely a problem. However, after training, physicians can join a practice that better suits their needs. If having more free time is important, a physician can work fewer hours. The trade-off is making less money and potentially having less interesting cases.

Generally in private practice 50-60 hours a week is standard