Clinician vs surgeon

The differences between clinicians and surgeons can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a clinician, becoming a surgeon takes usually requires 4-6 years. Additionally, a surgeon has an average salary of $155,553, which is higher than the $60,150 average annual salary of a clinician.

The top three skills for a clinician include social work, patients and patient care. The most important skills for a surgeon are patients, general surgery, and healthcare.

Clinician vs surgeon overview

	Clinician	Surgeon
Yearly salary	$60,150	$155,553
Hourly rate	$28.92	$74.79
Growth rate	9%	7%
Number of jobs	105,023	37,918
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 49%	Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Average age	45	49
Years of experience	4	6

What does a clinician do?

A clinician specializes in providing diagnosis, treatment, and direct care to patients with different illnesses. A clinician's duties mainly revolve around conducting extensive research and analysis, providing medical care through various therapies, and improving one's overall health condition. Furthermore, a clinician must obtain and analyze a patient's complete medical history, provide diagnostic tests, always monitor the effects of treatment on a patient, provide prognosis and consider the overall impact on a patient's health and well-being.

What does a surgeon do?

A surgeon is a medical professional who conducts surgical procedures on the human body to treat injuries and diseases such as broken bones and cancerous tumors. Surgeons are required to review test results to identify abnormal findings and recommend a plan of treatment to patients. They must manage surgical technicians during the surgery process to ensure all standards of care and safety are followed in the operating room. Surgeons must also address concerns that the patients have about their health and well-being.

Clinician vs surgeon salary

Clinicians and surgeons have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Clinician	Surgeon
Average salary	$60,150	$155,553
Salary range	Between $34,000 And $103,000	Between $85,000 And $284,000
Highest paying City	San Francisco, CA	Lewiston, ME
Highest paying state	Nevada	Maine
Best paying company	Pace University	MaineGeneral Health
Best paying industry	-	Professional

Differences between clinician and surgeon education

There are a few differences between a clinician and a surgeon in terms of educational background:

	Clinician	Surgeon
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 49%	Bachelor's Degree, 40%
Most common major	Psychology	Medicine
Most common college	California State University - Long Beach	Duke University

Clinician vs surgeon demographics

Here are the differences between clinicians' and surgeons' demographics:

	Clinician	Surgeon
Average age	45	49
Gender ratio	Male, 24.3% Female, 75.7%	Male, 51.2% Female, 48.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 7.9% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 3.1% White, 74.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%	Black or African American, 1.8% Unknown, 3.8% Hispanic or Latino, 5.0% Asian, 12.7% White, 76.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.1%
LGBT Percentage	15%	12%

Differences between clinician and surgeon duties and responsibilities

Clinician example responsibilities.

Perform thorough substance abuse assessments incorporating instruments such as ASAM, SASSI and urine drug screens; provide individual therapy.
Spearhead the development of rehabilitation programs serving adults with chemical dependency and mental health diagnoses with the manager.
Follow all ethical CARF standards when treating the residential client.
Facilitate stabilization, assessment, care and compassion for those in critical need.
Provide CBT and motivational interviewing for individual and group therapy to clients' who are on methadone.
Used motivational interviewing to lead recovery and therapy groups for IOP and PHP programs in the evenings and on weekends.

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Surgeon example responsibilities.

Manage insurance authorization and hospital bookings for surgery.
Assist senior staff in dental treatment of several complex procedures including dental treatment of medically compromise patients.
Coordinate with patients and medical staff at civilian and military treatment facilities to schedule medical appointments and retrieve medical documentation.
Observe fracture plating, skin grafting, wind cleaning, amputation, and other Orthopaedic surgeries.

Clinician vs surgeon skills

Common clinician skills

Social Work, 26%
Patients, 14%
Patient Care, 4%
Individual Therapy, 4%
Mental Health, 4%
Mental Illness, 3%

Common surgeon skills

Patients, 26%
General Surgery, 12%
Healthcare, 12%
Patient Care, 7%
Mohs, 5%
Private Practice, 4%

Clinician vs. similar jobs

Clinician related careers

Clinician related jobs

Clinician jobs by location

Updated January 8, 2025

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