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Medical students shun surgery departments due to heavy workload, insufficient compensation
By Lee Hyo-jin
In television shows and movies, surgeons are often portrayed as heroes, not only for their medical knowledge and surgery skills, which save lives, but also for their sacrifice and commitment putting patients first.
But the reality is different. In Korea, the surgery department has long been one of the least popular specialties among medical students due to poor working conditions and significantly lower salaries, compared to the heavy workload.
Students who have graduated from medical schools here go through a one-year internship in a hospital after which they choose a department to go through three to four years training as a resident.
But surgery-related departments have been failing to fill their slots for residencies for the past few years.
In 2021, only 141 trainees applied to the general surgery departments at 55 hospitals across the country, leaving over 30 slots empty among the total 178. The cardio-thoracic department filled only 25 out of 60 places. In 2020, 128 interns applied for the general surgery department, leaving some 50 seats empty.
During the same periods, the competition for dermatology and plastic surgery departments was high, filling all of the available places in those fields completely. Those two departments are some of the most profitable majors here if trainees later run private practices, due to the high demand for those services.
According to a survey conducted of 1,768 doctor trainees conducted by the Korea Medical Association in 2017, when asked why they found surgery-related specializations less attractive than other jobs, around half, or 52 percent replied, "the lack of appropriate compensation relative to the difficulty of work."
It was followed by "poor working conditions" and "difficulties in the training process," along with an "uncertain future," accounting for 17.5 percent and 17 percent, respectively. Another 11 percent cited "the large risk of possible medical malpractice claims."
This situation has led to concerns that Korea will face a serious shortage of surgeons in the coming years.
"It will be a disaster in 10 years," warned Lee Woo-yong, head of the Korean Surgical Society. "Things are manageable now, but at this rate, there will be almost no young surgeons to fill the places of doctors in their 50s and 60s after they retire in a few years."
Lee viewed that the dearth of surgeons will pose a serious risk to Korean society, where the demand for major surgeries is expected to surge in the near future with the population aging rapidly.
In line with the survey results, Lee suggested that the main reasons as to why medical students are turning away from surgery are the low compensation compared to the heavy workload, along with the high risks of getting involved in medical disputes.
"Being a surgeon is not only physically challenging due to having night duty as well as multiple surgeries in a single day, but also, doctors suffer from extreme mental stress. But they are simply not being paid enough."
Under the current medical system, dermatologists and plastic surgeons are paid more for conducting cosmetic procedures than surgeons who perform high-risk surgeries, he explained.
"Those times are gone when medical students opted to become surgeons to feel the sense of accomplishment and to do something meaningful for others. Now, the young generation wants suitable rewards and benefits for their work," Lee added.
In addition, surgeons, who often perform high-risk surgery procedures, are much more likely to be involved in legal disputes than doctors in other medical fields.
Lee said, "The government should revise the current measure so that surgeons can be relieved of the liability in medical malpractice claims, if the claims are proven to be unintentional."
