Surgeons Prone to Occupational Injuries

Washington, October 12: Occupational injuries, especially muscle strains, are routine and not an exception in the noble medical profession, as per the findings of the survey on a group of more than 350 plastic surgeons.

The study is the first and the only effort to make an assessment of the risk involved to the surgical workforce as Dr. Pranay M. Parikh, the lead researcher from Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, DC points out calling it the “first systematic assessment of injuries occurring in the surgical workforce”.

Workplace injuries among surgeons are not new. But all these years, the injuries were seldom reported causing us to assume the other way round. However, it is only now that these facts are coming to the surface, thanks to the recent efforts of the medical fraternity. “As surgeons have historically been a stoic and low complaining population, the incidence of occupational injuries in this population has been underreported,” Parikh said.

The survey pointed out towards a number of potential risk factors some of which could be age, gender, number of years spent operating and the use of microscopes and loupes. Some of the commonly found occupational injuries included those related to back, arms and neck, most probably due to long and tiring work conditions.

Muscle strain was one of the most common injuries suffered by a majority of surgeons (nearly 70% of the surgeons reported this injury). Apart from muscle strain, about 40% of surgeons suffered vision changes, 30% had cervical disc degeneration, 25% suffered from lumbar disc degeneration and about 20% were affected with shoulder arthritis.

Surgery is a highly complicated and a very demanding profession. There is an immediate need for checking and putting an end to, at least, some, if not all, of these occupational injuries, thereby ensuring best standards of surgical efficiency.

“Surgery is a physically and mentally demanding field requiring more than 10 years of post-graduate training to prepare for”, Parikh added, “Avoiding preventable disability in this highly trained group is imperative to protect the surgical workforce and ensure a high level of surgical care”.

The findings will be presented at the American Society of Plastic Surgery meeting to be held in Chicago next month.