What does a thoracic surgeon do?
A Thoracic Surgeon is often grouped with cardiac or heart specialists for cardiothoracic surgery. He/She is a surgeon who specializes in surgery that involves the heart, lungs, esophagus, and other major blood vessels inside the chest as well as surgery of the chest wall. As a thoracic surgeon, your job is to evaluate a patient's medical history and educate him or her about her condition as well as available options. Generally, you are expected to diagnose and treat diseases in the chest, and you'll do it sometimes by working closely with the primary care doctor or other specialists.
Thoracic surgeon responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real thoracic surgeon resumes:
- Room patients, check vitals, verify meds, H+P on new patients, EKG as requested by provider.
- Coordinate with patients and medical staff at civilian and military treatment facilities to schedule medical appointments and retrieve medical documentation.
- Apply all HIPPA guidelines to everyday office procedures
Thoracic surgeon skills and personality traits
We calculated that 57% of Thoracic Surgeons are proficient in Patient Care, CME, and Lung Cancer. They’re also known for soft skills such as Communication skills, Compassion, and Detail oriented.
We break down the percentage of Thoracic Surgeons that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Patient Care, 57%
Advanced patient care by continuously expanding core knowledge associated with surgical and technical procedures.
- CME, 21%
Maintain personal CME and training logs.
- Lung Cancer, 14%
Focused on lung cancer, esophagus cancer and mediastinal tumor treatment.
- Surgical Procedures, 5%
Experience extracting procedure codes from surgical procedures as well as assigning diagnosis codes and auditing for correct E/M services.
- Community Hospital, 4%
Answered phones, scheduled appointments, scheduled surgeries at the Irving Community Hospital (Baylor Hospital of Irving).
- EKG, 0%
Roomed patients, checked vitals, verified meds, H+P on new patients, EKG as requested by provider.
"patient care," "cme," and "lung cancer" are among the most common skills that thoracic surgeons use at work. You can find even more thoracic surgeon responsibilities below, including:
Communication skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a thoracic surgeon to have is communication skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "physicians and surgeons need to be excellent communicators." Thoracic surgeons often use communication skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "strengthened knowledge of the importance of communication skills between physicians and patients"
Compassion. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling thoracic surgeon duties is compassion. The role rewards competence in this skill because "patients who are sick or injured may be in extreme pain or distress." According to a thoracic surgeon resume, here's how thoracic surgeons can utilize compassion in their job responsibilities: "calm and educate patients regarding procedures performed, using special care and techniques with compassion to young children. "
Detail oriented. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of thoracic surgeons is detail oriented. This skill is critical to many everyday thoracic surgeon duties, as "patients must receive appropriate treatment and medications." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "obtain detailed historical data from patients and perform focused physical examinations. "
Leadership skills. For certain thoracic surgeon responsibilities to be completed, the job requires competence in "leadership skills." The day-to-day duties of a thoracic surgeon rely on this skill, as "physicians who work in their own practice must manage a staff of other professionals." For example, this snippet was taken directly from a resume about how this skill applies to what thoracic surgeons do: "delivered advice to surgeon general and executive leadership on public health policies, project implementation, and milestone establishment. "
Physical stamina. Another common skill required for thoracic surgeon responsibilities is "physical stamina." This skill comes up in the duties of thoracic surgeons all the time, as "physicians and surgeons should be comfortable lifting or turning disabled patients, or performing other physical tasks." An excerpt from a real thoracic surgeon resume shows how this skill is central to what a thoracic surgeon does: "general physicals of children and adult surgical patients.diabetic rotations"
Problem-solving skills. Another skill commonly found on thoracic surgeon job descriptions is "problem-solving skills." It can come up quite often in thoracic surgeon duties, since "physicians and surgeons need to evaluate patients’ symptoms and administer the appropriate treatments." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day thoracic surgeon responsibilities: "solved many problems with patients accounts if any. "
The three companies that hire the most thoracic surgeons are:
- UPMC4 thoracic surgeons jobs
- HealthTrust3 thoracic surgeons jobs
- Integrity Locums3 thoracic surgeons jobs
Compare different thoracic surgeons
Thoracic surgeon vs. Eye physician
A Neurosurgeon is responsible for diagnosing conditions related to the nervous system, determining treatment plans, and administering medications. Neurosurgeons perform surgeries and conduct further laboratory tests to track their progress and adjust treatment plans as needed. They also discuss the medical procedures and processes with the patients and advise them about the treatments. A Neurosurgeon must have excellent communication and organizational skills, pervasive knowledge of the medical expertise to help patients with accurate recovery plans and development.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, thoracic surgeon responsibilities require skills like "cardio-thoracic," "cme," "lung cancer," and "ecmo." Meanwhile a typical eye physician has skills in areas such as "exam rooms," "eye drops," "patient appointments," and "field testing." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, eye physicians reach similar levels of education than thoracic surgeons. Eye physicians are 0.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 5.3% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Thoracic surgeon vs. Surgeon's assistant
Each career also uses different skills, according to real thoracic surgeon resumes. While thoracic surgeon responsibilities can utilize skills like "patient care," "cardio-thoracic," "lung cancer," and "ecmo," surgeon's assistants use skills like "patients," "ortho," "emr," and "epic."
Average education levels between the two professions vary. Surgeon's assistants tend to reach similar levels of education than thoracic surgeons. In fact, they're 4.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 5.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Thoracic surgeon vs. Foot and ankle surgeon
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, thoracic surgeons are more likely to have skills like "cardio-thoracic," "lung cancer," "ecmo," and "st." But a foot and ankle surgeon is more likely to have skills like "private practice," "emr," "physical therapy," and "hospital surgery."
Foot and ankle surgeons typically earn lower educational levels compared to thoracic surgeons. Specifically, they're 5.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 27.8% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Thoracic surgeon vs. Neurosurgeon
Types of thoracic surgeon
Updated January 8, 2025
