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Surgeons and astronauts: so close, yet so far apart.
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Ball, Chad Geoffrey Kirkpatrick, Andrew W. Feliciano, David V. Reznick, Richard Mcswain, Norman E. |
| Copyright Year | 2008 |
| Abstract | Education is broadly defined as the process or art of “imparting knowledge, skill and judgment.”1 This can be passed on from the educator to the learner either formally or informally. When the prefix “surgical” is added to this definition, the meaning is extrapolated to incorporate all components that relate to the practice of a surgical procedure. This includes diagnosis, preoperative preparation, intraoperative technical and decision-making strategies, postoperative care, professional ethics, interpersonal communication skills and the fundamentals of the Hippocratic Oath. The job description of a surgeon varies tremendously depending on the subspecialty and on the chosen practice location. Whereas an academic trauma surgeon practising tertiary care may engage in a mix of clinical, teaching, research and administrative tasks, a general surgeon working in the community might limit the scope of his or her practice to clinical activities, with reduced responsibilities for research and teaching. The combinations and permutations are endless. Regardless of the practice type, the qualities of compassion, reliability, expertise, commitment, curiosity, ethics and dedication are fundamental characteristics of an excellent surgeon. Although the volume of medical training and practice within an astronaut's job description is minimal when compared with practising physicians (about 45 total hours for a crew medical officer, i.e., a nonphysician), the attributes listed above are ideal for astronauts as well. This commentary outlines the strikingly similar job descriptions and individual characteristics needed for both surgeons and astronauts while discussing the truly dissimilar approaches to training followed by the 2 professions. |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| PubMed reference number | 18815644 |
| Journal | Medline |
| Volume Number | 51 |
| Issue Number | 4 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://canjsurg.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/51-4-247.pdf |
| Journal | Canadian journal of surgery. Journal canadien de chirurgie |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
