Surgery is a challenging and rewarding career, requiring
commitment, discipline and compassion. It usually takes surgical
trainees at least five to six years to complete the Surgical Education and
Training (SET) program.
You are invited to view interviews with experienced surgeons
about the study, practice and highlights of practising surgery.
More video presentations by surgeons are available from the Royal Australasian College
of Surgeons Trainees' Association (RACSTA) (login
required).
Professor
Russell Gruen - General Surgeon
Part 1 (1min 59sec) - Why did you become a
surgeon? Do you have any advice for trainees working in remote
areas?
Part 2 (2min 52sec) - What do you like about
being a surgeon? What is the best advice you have received on being
a surgeon?
Part 3 (2min 10sec) - What advice wold you give
someone considering surgery as a career?
Read about General
Surgery
Dr Kelvin Kong -
Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgeon
Part 1 (1min 45sec) - How did you cope with the
challenges of training to become a surgeon? What are the ear, nose
and throat issues in Indigenous health? What advice wold you
give someone considering surgery as a career?
Part 2 (1min 35sec) - What do you like about being
a surgeon? What are your interests?
Read about Otolaryngology, Head and Neck
Surgery
Mr Suren Krishnan
- Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgeon
Part 1 (2min 53sec) - How was training? How did
you decide on your specialty?
Part 2 (1min 43sec) - How did you become involved
with overseas work? What is the aim of working overseas?
Part 3 (1min 36sec) - What is the best advice you have
received from a surgeon? What advice wold you give someone
considering surgery as a career?
Read about Otolaryngology, Head and Neck
Surgery
Mr Allan Panting -
Orthopaedic Surgeon
(2min 43sec) - Why did you become a surgeon? How did you decide
on your specialty? What do you like about being a surgeon? What is
the best advice you can give to a person considering surgery as a
career?
Read about Orthopaedic Surgery
Associate
Professor Helen O'Connell - Urologist
Part 1 (2min 54sec) - How did you come to
choose Urology as your specialty? What are your interests and
hobbies?
Part 2 (12min 5sec) - What was the topic for your
PhD?
Read more about Urology.
Dr Ifereimi
Waqainabete
Part 1 (1min 45sec) - What do you like about
being a surgeon?
Part 2 (1min 3sec) - How did you become involved
with the College?
Part 3 (1min 13sec) - What advice can you
give to aspiring trainees out there?
Read about General
Surgery
More
testimonials
Professor Spencer Beasley - Paediatric surgeon
Paediatric Surgery is a specialty that involves an exciting and
broad mix of conditions, and requires additional skills in dealing
with children and their families. Good surgery is usually rewarded
with good outcomes, and operations have to accommodate subsequent
growth and development of the child, and last more than 70
years!
Whereas I gained an adult general surgical Fellowship before
embarking on a paediatric surgical career, nowadays trainees enter
the SET training program in Paediatric Surgery directly. Once
"through", you become a member of a friendly and close-knit group
of surgeons who, as advocates for children, are committed to a
small but fascinating specialty.
My own inspiration comes from my children (all 6 of them), and I
still have the opportunity to follow my varied interests that
include music, photography, cycling and mountain running.
Read about Paediatric Surgery
Dr Wendy Brown - General surgeon
I had enjoyed the surgical rotations in medical school, but had
thought that it was a bad lifestyle and too technically driven.
However, in my intern year, I worked with some inspirational
surgeons who showed me that the best surgeons are not just
excellent technicians, but also good diagnosticians and good
communicators who make their patients feel safe and well cared for.
And they fixed people! They weren't just changing pills around,
they were making people well, and really changing their lives.
I chose General Surgery (sub-specialising in upper
gastrointestinal (GI) as I enjoyed the diagnostic challenges of
abdominal surgery, the overlap with medical management, as well as
the precision of the operations. I completed a PhD during my
surgical training, as I could see that for me that an academic
position would allow me to pursue this career with the support of a
major hospital behind me, and afford me a better lifestyle. And I
loved the research! It was an amazing opportunity to spend 3 years
really thinking about a problem and trying to solve it.
No surgeon has a perfectly balanced life, and in my training I
am sure that my personal life suffered with the demands of study
and constant moving. However, the same was true of all my friends
who undertook specialist post-graduate training. No matter what
specialty you choose, the training time is intense. Now that I am
finished, I feel my life is as well balanced as it can be (for a
professional woman!). Much of my work is public, which means that
my on-call is rostered, and I am able to plan my life well around
this.
I still love the fact that I am able to really help people with
my job. Even the simplest operation that I perform, such as an
appendicectomy, solves a problem for someone. I feel privileged
that I get to know so many different people at a time in their life
where they are incredibly vulnerable, and I hope along with
operating on them, that I never forget to treat them with the
respect they deserve. Just as my mentors taught me.
Read about General
Surgery
Associate Professor Helen O'Connell - Urological surgeon
Throughout my childhood and adolescence, as mothers do, mine
would fuss over my hands: 'you will do something great with those
hands'. My natural love for problem solving and the need to try to
satisfy mum's inspiration found a home in a career in surgery,
Urological Surgery. I had experienced successful squint surgery as
a toddler in the early 1960s. It set up the belief that surgery had
the power to transform or cure. Giving up glasses was good even as
a 2-year-old.
The attraction to Urology: firstly it was intriguing to know
almost nothing about an area after 6 years of medical study. What
were they keeping secret? I liked the type and range of surgery
used - cystoscopic, ureteroscopic, nephroscopic, open abdominal and
perineal. As a young woman choosing a career, in the Urology
clinics I was given encouragement for being female, patients not
all women, saying they were happy to be treated by a lady
doctor.
My favourite work is the actual operating. I feel at home with a
team of highly skilled individuals doing something that is likely
to make someone's life better, easier or cured.
I am lucky to have great help in the home, with the kids, with
the running of the practice. The help enables me to have some time
for me."
Read about Urology
Dr Simon Williams - Orthopaedic surgeon
Why does one pursue a certain career path? For me, it was
because I was lucky enough to work in some excellent surgical units
as a resident with some outstanding surgeons who subsequently
became mentors. I enjoyed the mix of surgery - the interaction with
the patients on the wards and clinics which contrasted with the
team work and discipline in the operating room. Orthopaedic Surgery
drew my interest as I found it to be so rewarding -- the ability to
reconstruct a trauma patient, to alleviate the severe pain from an
arthritic joint and to assist patients to return to their normal
activities.
Although I continue to enjoy my work, over the past few years I
have also become quite passionate about rowing. Perhaps again, it
is the teamwork and discipline of rowing which attracts me to the
sport, or perhaps it is the shared beers after almost winning
another race!"
Read about Orthopaedic Surgery
Read more about becoming a surgeon.