"patients," "patient care," and "hand surgery" aren't the only skills we found plastic surgeons list on their resumes. In fact, there's a whole list of plastic surgeon responsibilities that we found, including:
Plastic surgeons must have skills in hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, organization, communication, and teamwork. This career also requires a bachelor's degree in a premedical major and completion of a four-year M.D. and a surgical residency. Those who choose this career path perform reconstructive plastic surgery in order to restore form and function following illness or trauma and/or perform cosmetic surgery for simple alteration of appearance.
Here are examples of responsibilities from real plastic surgeon resumes representing typical tasks they are likely to perform in their roles.
We calculated that 55% of Plastic Surgeons are proficient in Patients, Patient Care, and Hand Surgery. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Dexterity, and Leadership skills.
We break down the percentage of Plastic Surgeons that have these skills listed on their resume here:
Provide exceptional customer service to patients.
Assisted Dr. Busch, as well as the team in ensuring optimal patient care.
Specialized in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, microsurgery and hand surgery.
Front Desk Coordinator * Assisted Dr. with starting private practice.
Prepare rooms for medical procedures.
Scheduled and coordinated surgical procedures with doctor, anesthesia group and nursing staff for both in-house and hospital-based surgeries.
"patients," "patient care," and "hand surgery" aren't the only skills we found plastic surgeons list on their resumes. In fact, there's a whole list of plastic surgeon responsibilities that we found, including:
Optical lab technicians, also known as ophthalmic laboratory technicians, create prescription eyeglasses and contact lenses. They work together with optometrists, opticians, and ophthalmologists. They received orders from optometrists and opticians to create prescription eyeglasses or contact lenses as per requirement. They also do the cutting, polishing, and grinding lenses as per prescription for products like microscopes, binoculars, or telescopes. They do their work by a computer program and automated tools to make the prescribed lenses before it is sent off to the customer.
We looked at the average plastic surgeon annual salary and compared it with the average of an eye physician. Generally speaking, eye physicians receive $115,703 higher pay than plastic surgeons per year.
While the salaries between these two careers can be different, they do share some of the same responsibilities. Employees in both plastic surgeons and eye physicians positions are skilled in patient care, in-office procedures, and exam rooms.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. A plastic surgeon responsibility is more likely to require skills like "patients," "hand surgery," "private practice," and "medical procedures." Whereas a eye physician requires skills like "eye drops," "field testing," "consent forms," and "ehr." Just by understanding these different skills you can see how different these careers are.
On average, eye physicians reach similar levels of education than plastic surgeons. Eye physicians are 1.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 3.8% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.
Now we're going to look at the optical technician profession. On average, optical technicians earn a $135,559 lower salary than plastic surgeons a year.
While the salary may be different for these job positions, there is one similarity and that's a few of the skills needed to perform certain duties. We used info from lots of resumes to find that both plastic surgeons and optical technicians are known to have skills such as "patients," "patient care," and "scheduling appointments. "
But both careers also use different skills, according to real plastic surgeon resumes. While plastic surgeon responsibilities can utilize skills like "hand surgery," "private practice," "medical procedures," and "surgical procedures," some optical technicians use skills like "chrome," "dexterity," "manual dexterity," and "cnc."
Optical technicians may earn a lower salary than plastic surgeons, but optical technicians earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $47,206. On the other side of things, plastic surgeons receive higher paychecks in the professional industry where they earn an average of $194,121.
On the topic of education, optical technicians earn lower levels of education than plastic surgeons. In general, they're 6.8% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 3.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.
Let's now take a look at the surgeon's assistant profession. On average, these workers make higher salaries than plastic surgeons with a $195,490 difference per year.
Using plastic surgeons and surgeon's assistants resumes, we found that both professions have similar skills such as "patients," "medical procedures," and "surgical procedures," but the other skills required are very different.
As mentioned, these two careers differ between other skills that are required for performing the work exceedingly well. For example, gathering from plastic surgeons resumes, they are more likely to have skills like "patient care," "hand surgery," "private practice," and "breast reconstruction." But a surgeon's assistant might have skills like "ortho," "emr," "epic," and "general surgery."
Additionally, surgeon's assistants earn a higher salary in the health care industry compared to other industries. In this industry, they receive an average salary of $199,491. Additionally, plastic surgeons earn an average salary of $194,121 in the professional industry.
When it comes to education, surgeon's assistants tend to earn similar education levels than plastic surgeons. In fact, they're 2.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 4.9% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.
Now, we'll look at foot and ankle surgeons, who generally average a higher pay when compared to plastic surgeons annual salary. In fact, the difference is about $268,305 per year.
While their salaries may vary, plastic surgeons and foot and ankle surgeons both use similar skills to perform their jobs. Resumes from both professions include skills like "patient care," "private practice," and "surgical procedures. "
Each job requires different skills like "patients," "hand surgery," "medical procedures," and "breast reconstruction," which might show up on a plastic surgeon resume. Whereas foot and ankle surgeon might include skills like "cme," "emr," "physical therapy," and "hospital surgery."
Foot and ankle surgeons reach similar levels of education when compared to plastic surgeons. The difference is that they're 3.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree less, and 18.7% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.
Most plastic surgeons work 40 to 60 hours per week. During residency, they work around 80 hours weekly, so this is much lower than how they first began their careers.
Most plastic surgeons work shifts that are either 8 hours or 12 hours long. These shifts can be during the daytime, evening, or overnight depending on the location of where they work and their specific availability.
You need a bachelor's degree from an accredited college and a medical degree to become a plastic surgeon. There are additional steps after earning these degrees that must be completed before someone can practice as a plastic surgeon.