When I Grow Up - Paediatric Surgery

Though many of you may be currently tackling medical school admissions, and focusing on GPA and GAMSAT® Exam preparation, it is never too early to start casting an eye towards your future specialty choice. It is obviously important to bring some light to the end of an awfully long tunnel, but planning ahead is also crucial because a vast majority of specialties need to be prepared for very early on. Long gone are the days where a recently post-graduate, junior doctor could stick their hand up and enter a training program – in the current environment, there are hundreds of hopefuls every year vying for the 1-10 training spots nation-wide in each specialty.

Next in our ‘When I grow up’ series, we’re taking a look at paediatric surgery! Similar to most surgical training, candidates must enter the Surgical Education and Training (SET) pathway, as administered by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS). Paediatric surgery, as its name suggests, is a very specialised form of surgery in the sense that it is focused entirely upon children. Paediatric surgeons can be involved across a wide range of bodily systems, and form a highly interesting range of surgeries.

As one would no doubt predict, paediatric surgeons have to have exceptionally precise surgical technique and control. Paediatric surgeons will operate exclusively on children (paediatric patients), and these surgeries may be anywhere in the body – they are not so restricted as anatomically-specific surgical specialties (i.e. neurosurgery, cardiothoracics). However, for more specialised areas, they will often be joined by adult surgeons in that particular surgical specialty, or paediatric surgeons with that specific sub-specialty interest will be in attendance. Paediatric surgery is technically challenging and highly stressful – having a child’s life in your hands can be extremely nerve-wracking, especially with the added pressure and expectation from the patient’s family, who would meet the death of their young son, daughter, niece, or nephew with despair.

Rather unsurprisingly, and I know you’re getting sick of me saying this, but entry into this specialty is extremely hard. Over the last 6 years, an average of 7 trainees across the country was accepted into paediatric surgery training programs. This difficulty is due to the lack of older surgeons to train younger hands (on average, 2 new consultant surgeons graduate the training program yearly), the extremely high minimum score needed to enter the SET program in the application to RACS, and the lack of training jobs that exist in the specialty.

Paediatric surgeons are a small group, and they are extremely hard-working, due to their high patient load. They are typically confined to working in major metropolitan hospitals where the technology and facilities are available for such specific and complex surgeries. Many surgeons in the specialty will find themselves operating to correct external birth defects, fixing musculoskeletal injuries (if complex), and be involved in repairing internal malformations. It is an extremely rewarding career, where you can truly assist patients to have a full and enjoyable life!

This is a speciality that has stringent entry requirements, and if you are interested in it, you must be networking, researching, and being involved in as many paediatric opportunities you can get into early on! Paediatric surgery selection takes into account postgraduate qualifications, research experience, and referee reports very highly.

I hope this has helped give a bit of light at the end of the tunnel, and revealed some elementary details on another one of the wonderful career paths that you will to choose from! As for now, back to GAMSAT® Exam preparation!

Check out our GAMSAT To Med School Podcast for more interesting news, tips & tricks about the GAMSAT, applying to medical school, and life at med school.