Shortage Leads to More Temporary Surgeons

This is somewhat disconcerting. The Wall Street Journal examined how an "exodus" from the field of general surgery is "creating a growing market for temporary surgeons-for-hire." The number of general surgeons per capita has declined by 25% over the last 25 years, according to a study published earlier this year in the Archives of Surgery. The "increasingly grueling schedules, shrinking payments and the temptation of more profitable surgical niches have made the field less attractive," according to the Journal. In addition, it is now "one of the few fields where the absolute number of surgeons is actually shrinking," the Journal reports.