The ageing surgeon workforce: A qualitative study of interprofessional perspectives

ABSTRACT

Objective: Identify, design and develop selective strategies to guide the management of ageing surgeons.

Materials and Methods: A semi-structured interview with preset open-ended questions was employed to interview stakeholders in healthcare. Questions related to the continued practice of ageing surgeons and what can be done to leverage the competencies and experiences of ageing surgeons whilst ensuring patient safety.

Results: A total of 12 respondents were included before theoretical saturation was reached. Most respondents agreed that the skills of ageing surgeons can be leveraged to improve patient outcomes or are transferable to non-clinical roles such as mentorship, teaching and research. An ageing surgeon’s personal pursuits and personality may act as barriers to this approach however. Ways to keep ageing surgeons in continued practice were explored, like the proposal of a functional evaluation. Promises of a work-life balance was also considered to incentivise the continued contributions of ageing surgeons.

Conclusion: A comprehensive, multidisciplinary and objective evaluation should be periodically conducted to evaluate the competency of ageing surgeons. Education, mentoring and research career paths can be considered for surgeons who can no longer practice clinically. Professional guidance for retirement planning may be provided earlier for ageing surgeons to be meaningfully engaged post-clinical practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Public health
• human resources
• surgery
• healthcare management
• healthcare restructuring
• ageing staff

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ainsley Ryan Yan Bin Lee

Ainsley Ryan Yan Bin Lee is an undergraduate medical student at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore.

Joelle Hwee Inn Tan

Joelle Hwee Inn Tan is an undergraduate medical student at the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore.

Hannah Jia Hui Ng

Dr Hannah Jia Hui Ng graduated from Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. She is currently a medical officer in Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore. Her research interests lie in Orthopaedic Surgery, Hand Surgery, medical education, and meta-analysis, where she has co-authored several papers in these fields.

Vaikunthan Rajaratnam

Dr Vaikunthan Rajaratnam graduated from the University of Malaya and is an accredited hand surgeon, medical educator and instructional designer and has practised and taught over the last three decades in Malaysia, the NHS in the UK and Singapore. He regularly conducts teaching and training programs in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Cambodia. He has developed and maintains open online educational programs for Hand Surgery and Medical Education.