Surgeon Qualifications

Video Transcript

"As far as what is required to become a physician and or what I am a orthopedic surgeon. It requires initially a commitment fairly early in your academic career. It is very competitive to get into medical school. It requires excellent grades. It requires diversity. It requires a lot of self discipline. Usually have to have a GPA of at least 3.8 and have done very, very well on what they call the MCAT which is a nationalized test to test mainly your knowledge of scientific aspects of your schooling. Once the hurdle getting into medical school is accomplished then the opportunity to become whatever physician, or to work in any field, whatever field you desire in medicine is wide open to you. Again, during medical school there are challenges, there are tests, there are examinations that sometimes will close a door because of many of the very desirable professions or aspects of a physician, an orthopedist being one, is very, very competitive and the residency programs only take the top of the medical students so it is just a continual challenge to do and become the very best you possibly can be. Besides the academics of course there's a need for you to be able to communicate well with patients. I've had a number of medical school classmates who were extremely intelligent but were dismal in their ability to communicate with patients. You need to have compassion, understanding, be willing to work long hours and have always the Hippocratic oath of taking care of a patient with sincere, good motives to become the type of physician that people want to see and have take care of them."