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Heart Surgeons
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Researched by Ben M.
2003-04 |
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Research Summary
Basic definition
Surgery has been one of the biggest jobs in medicine since it first
started. Cardiology, pronounced kahr dee AHL uh jee, is a branch of medicine
that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the heart.
Doctors who specialize in cardiology are called cardiologists. Cardiologists
who perform surgery are called heart surgeons.
History
In 1749 surgery became a medical specialty. Although the number of
surgeons was small a long time ago it has grown since.
Tools
Heart surgeons use many kinds of tools. Some use lasers for surgery,
but most use sharp cutting tools to cut off bad or diseased parts of the
heart. When they’re done with surgery they use a needle and thread to sew
the patient up. During surgery they use clamps to control bleeding.
Good and Bad Aspects
Surgeons work under a lot of pressure. If they mess up their patient
can die. Being a surgeon requires standing for a long time, maybe overnight.
On the other hand, most heart surgeons get lots of time off of work. They
make a very good salary.
If the surgeons are going to do surgery they must wash their hands
extremely well before and also after surgery because they might spread
a disease.
Licenses
To be licensed the student must have graduated from medical school
and finished 1-7 years of residency.
Degrees
To be a heart surgeon you must have a high school diploma and good
grades. You must also have a college 4- year Bachelors degree and very
very good grades. You would have to take the MCAT test with a very good
score. You would then go to medical school for 4 years to get an M.D. You
must be a resident in surgery and cardiology for 4-6 years after medical
school.
Classes
If you want to be a heart surgeon there are 144 different U.S. medical
schools to choose from. Physicians attend labs and classes for the
first years of medical school. The rest of the years they go to hospitals
to help patients.
Outlook
The number of heart surgeons is getting smaller. If there are too few
physicians left then people will die easier if they have heart problems.
Earnings
When a heart surgeon has several years of experience, he or she can
get paid $275,000 per year.
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An interview of Dr. Snyder
I interviewed Dr. Snyder and I learned a lot of things I learned that heart
surgery has been going on for a long time and that the heart surgeons help
many people in the U.S.A. The heart surgeon is very helpful. They help
people so they don’t die. If there were no more heart surgeons there would
be a lot less people in the United States of America. I also learned that
the heart surgeon uses many tools. I learned that you go to school for
many years and they make a very good salary. But they have to work many
hours maybe all night. The scary thing about that job is the patient could
die when having surgery done. The good thing is you could get whenever
you wanted off but could get called in for work. This is what I learned
on my interview with Dr. Snyder. |
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Bibliography
Bureau of Labor, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook
2002-03 Edition, “Physicians and Surgeons”, on the Internet www.bls .gov
Crosgrove Holi, “Heart Surgery, Encyclopedia of Careers and Vocation
Guidance, 2000.
Crosgrove Holi, “Heart Surgery, Career Discovery Encyclopedia, 2000
Heart Surgeon. Encarta Encyclopedia Deluxe. 2001.CD-ROM. Microsoft Corporation.
Waller, Bruce. M.D. “Cardiology.” The World Book Encyclopedia. 2002.
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