Specializing in gastrointestinal surgery is fascinating due to its wide scope
Keywords:The wide scope of the specialty and the good job opportunities are an incentive to specialize in gastrointestinal surgery. Your own enthusiasm determines the amount and scope of on-call work at Jorvi Hospital–for some, working in surgical procedures at nights is one of the spices of life associated with this specialty.
Panu Räty, who is specializing in gastrointestinal surgery, likes the on-call work associated with the field.
A gastrointestinal surgeon gets to examine and treat people and their digestive tract from beginning to end, and many internal organs along the way. It is a very broad surgical specialty, where you can see the marks of your skill in a visible and tangible way.
“What fascinates me is that surgical treatment can have a very significant and quick impact. It’s great to see a patient’s situation clearly improve,” says Panu Räty, a physician specializing in gastrointestinal surgery.
Räty is in the middle of his specialization and works at HUS Jorvi Hospital, where the working atmosphere is very good despite it being a big hospital.
“I have really enjoyed working here. We have a good work atmosphere and a big hospital offers lot of surgeries to perform. The more you get to operate, the more you learn and the more responsibility you get. We specializing physicians all have our own mentor here, with whom we can discuss our career path and talk through challenging situations together,” says Räty.
You can also enjoy being on call at night
Almost all areas of surgery have some on-call duty. In gastrointestinal surgery, on-call duty is relatively common, as many gastrointestinal problems require emergency care. Even at night, Jorvi Hospital always has a team of two: a gastrointestinal surgeon and a physician specializing in gastrointestinal surgery. In addition, there is a surgeon on-call in the evenings, specializing in emergency care.
“There are three to five overnight on-call duties a month. Everyone’s wishes are taken into account when making our on-call lists. For those who like to be on call, there may be a bit more shifts. Some want to reduce on-call duty, temporarily or permanently, and this will be taken into consideration. This system has worked really well for us at Jorvi,” Räty feels.
Räty himself likes being on call, even at night.
“It's easy to operate during on-call hours and, of course, that’s the spice of life when specializing in surgery.”
Good job prospects and lots of opportunities for research
As a gastrointestinal surgeon, in addition to a solid basic knowledge, you can acquire specialized skills depending on your interests, for example, in emergency surgery, colorectal surgery, or organ transplantation. Alongside clinical work, the specialty offers a wide range of topics for clinical research. Räty himself studies the diagnosis and treatment of small bowel obstruction.
Job prospects in the field are good. Gastrointestinal surgery is a requirement in virtually every hospital. With an ageing population, there is plenty to do.
“I highly recommend gastrointestinal surgery as a specialty. This field enables you to perform a wide range of procedures from gastrointestinal endoscopies to major open surgeries and robotic surgery. The scope is very broad. I simply cannot think of any downsides to this specialty,” Räty comments.