When kids are asked what they want to be when they grow up, a common answer is Doctor. It's one of the noblest things one can do for a career: directly help others stay health or recover, and encourage them to live the best lives they possibly can. But we worry there isn't enough information available to these ambitious young students. We designed this tool with them in mind, hoping to give them specific information about various surgeries. This allows young students to identify their desired area of expertise sooner, and eases potential stress around medical identity, while creating oppurtunities for positive visualization.
Each type of surgery presents its own unique challenges, required skills, and patient care patterns.
Using data from over 6,000 real surgeries, we break down the key characteristics of different surgical specialties. From the typical duration of procedures to ICU requirements, this visualization helps you understand what your daily life might look like in each specialty.
Explore how different surgical paths vary in complexity, time demands, and patient care requirements. Use the filters to focus on specific patient demographics and see how they influence surgical decisions and outcomes.
Before surgery begins, doctors run lab tests and assess risk. Low hemoglobin or high Sodium can signal danger ahead. Preexisting conditions can also be important determiners of what care you should recieve. It is a doctor's job to consider these factors and decide on the best course of action for treatment and operations. The following on the right is a summary of the dataset results. In this dataset, if you picked anyone at random, you'd have a 30% chance of encountering a surgery patient who has hypertension, and a 10% chance of diabetes.
This is the critical moment. The biggest thing you might want to know as someone looking into the surgical field is that each surgery operation can fluctate greatly in time, although some cases tend to have more consistent ranges. Different surgeries last different lengths, putting a toll on the patient's and surgeon's body and mind. Longer surgeries are more intensive and typically more involved, requiring more equipment, time, and manpower. Of course... this does not necessarily mean the time spent is not worth it staying focused and calm during surgeries is still crucial, especially for the patients going under. (scroll on!).
After surgery, some patients go straight home. Others stay in the ICU for days—or longer. More intensive surgeries have longer lasting repercussions and recoveries for patients, which also mean longer periods of care and vulnerable periods. Doctors must also take this into account when prescribing operations. Here you can view a comparison of how long a surgery was to how long the patient stayed in the ICU. Working in the medical field, you will quickly learn that you can't expect the same results for every patient you may encounter. Do not be discouraged, however, because for every outlier case, there are many patients who will experience excellent care and recovery.
As you've seen, each surgical specialty has its own distinct patterns and demands. From the shorter, more routine procedures in specialties like Breast surgery, to the complex, lengthy operations in Transplantation and Major resections, each path offers unique challenges and rewards. Consider not just the procedures themselves, but also the pre-operative preparation requirements and post-operative care commitments when choosing your specialty. This data visualization tool helps you make an informed decision about your surgical career by showing the real-world patterns and demands of each specialty.