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After medical school, youʼll join the paid two-year foundation programme where youʼll work in six placements in different settings. After your foundation programme, you can apply for paid specialty training to become a cardiothoracic surgeon, which will take a minimum of six or seven years.

You cannot be a part-time cardiothoracic surgeon. Thatʼs something that I always tell people that look into this, that they need to think about. Again, once you are in it, there is no way that you can practice two days a week or three days a week. We canʼt take a vacation.

Peyman Benharash, MD, a cardiothoracic surgeon at UCLA, begins his day around 5 am. He arrives at the hospital before 6 am to make the rounds with patients, examining them, talking to the intensive care team and taking notes. He performs bypasses, aortic valve repairs and mitral valve repairs, among other procedures.

Shifts can be long and irregular, as they may be called into work whenever emergencies and the need for surgeries arise. Cardiothoracic surgeons may work 60 or more hours a week. They may perform two surgeries one day and five the next. A surgical procedure can take up to eight hours or more.

A cardiothoracic surgeon treats people with diseases or injuries in their chest. They diagnose them and discuss treatment options, do the surgery and follow up with people after theyʼve had surgery.

A cardiac surgeon specializes in surgery on your heart and the major blood vessels that carry blood to and from your heart. A cardiothoracic surgeon operates on anything in your chest: your heart, lungs, esophagus and trachea.

Surgeons work an average of 50 to 60 hours per week, and this does not include their on-call hours. Surgeonsʼ shifts can be anywhere from 12 to 28 hours long. Many private surgical practices and hospitals do not allow surgeons to work for over 80 hours a week.

The American Board of Thoracic Surgery has certified 4500 cardiothoracic surgeons since 1975, but only 1300 in the last 10 years. The US Department of Health and Human Services predicts only 3620 full-time cardiothoracic surgeons in 2020.