Surgery 2019: an existential crisis

Excerpt

Confucius (551 BC–479 BC) was a Chinese teacher, politician, and philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history. One of his most famous quotes reads: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”. We fully agree with this quote. Like anybody else, we had some challenging moments during medical school, residency and later in our academic career, but we overcame those moments and adjusted to an ever changing environment, without losing the love for our work, the desire to help others along the same path we chose, and the goal of caring for our patients. Decades after completing medical school we still feel in the same way, and we do consider it an honor and a privilege to be a surgeon. …