WHAT THE BLEEP?
Orthopaedic surgery although often compared to carpentry, is a speciality with a good variety of work, a large practical component and with an ageing population is only becoming more relevant. It is a career that offers the technical demands of a rapidly progressing speciality with high levels of job satisfaction and options for academic work.
PERSONALITY
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Very physical and intellectually skilful
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Good spatial awareness
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Thinks rationally under pressure
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Confident and driven
AVERAGE WEEK
On average a trauma and orthopaedic consultant will have a varied week with fracture and elective clinic sessions, trauma and elective surgical lists, on-call duties as well as administrative and teaching and research commitments.
BEST BITS
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Largely practical speciality with a direct approach to surgery.
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Performing an operation which will vastly improve the mobility and therefore the functionality of a patient can be very rewarding.
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Often options for private work.
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Get to use great toys.
CHALLENGES
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Operations can take much longer than you expected which will often delay getting home.
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Highly competitive speciality.
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On-call commitments can be exhausting.
WHAT THE FACT?
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Around 70,000-75,000 hip fractures occur in the UK each year.
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The oldest person in the world to have a hip replacement was a 101-year-old lady who was treated at Good Hope Hospital in the West Midlands. More than 89,000 hip replacement operations were carried out in 2006-07.
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Hugh Owen Thomas, a Welsh surgeon is responsible for numerous inventions, methods and tests that carry his name including the 'Thomas splint' that could stabilise a fractured femur and prevent infection, 'Thomas's collar' to treat tuberculosis of the cervical spine, 'Thomas's manoeuvre', an investigation for fracture of the hip joint, 'Thomas test', a method of detecting hip deformity and the 'Thomas's wrench' for reducing fractures.