Cardiac Surgeon - Canada.

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Just a few questions:
What higher studies would one have to pursue in order to become a cardiac surgeon in Canada? How many years would that take? How are the employment prospects? What is the average salary range?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[greaterthaninfinity]

You need to have an undergraduate degree under your belt for medical schools. There are no medical schools in Canada that will take high school students. I think this is one of the biggest misconceptions that most people have. There aren't requirements on what kind of degree you have, but you have to fulfill certain prerequisites like chemistry and biology. For specifics, check out the websites of medical schools. Read this too: [url="http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas/pdf/b_omsas_e.pdf"]http://www.ouac.on.ca/omsas/pdf/b_omsas_e.pdf[/url] Your undergrad degree usually takes four years, because many medical schools require an honours degree.

Med school itself takes another four years. Following this, you have to go through training in an actual hospital. This is called residency and generally, the minimum needed is two years. However, since you want to become a cardiac surgeon, this could take a lot longer and will probably take an extra three or four years. So basically, undergrad (four years) + med school (four years) + residency (five/six years) = 13 or even 14 years training to become a cardiac surgeon.

The employment prospects, to my knowledge, are pretty decent. There is kind of a cap on the supply of doctors in Canada, because of how exclusive medical school is. Universities have very few seats and there is generally, to my knowledge, something like a 4% - 8% acceptance rate for most med schools in Canada. So yeah, once you get into medical school, I'd say that you have it pretty much made.

Doctors are the most well-paid profession in the country, no doubt about that. In terms of the different specializations, cardiac surgeons definitely earn one of the highest, if not the highest, salaries amongst different doctors. Here is a website which provides a nice neat summary of incomes of doctors in different provinces: [url="http://www.cma.ca/multimedia/staticContent/HTML/N0/l2/MedStudentCentre/Medicine/income.pdf"]http://www.cma.ca/multimedia/staticContent...cine/income.pdf[/url].

You didn't ask for a personal opinion on this, but I would say that only go for it if you REALLY REALLY REALLY LOVE medicine. Don't become a doctor for the money. It's not going to be enjoyable and many people who do for money give up because the road is so arduous and long. Most students in med school are VERY MUCH in debt. It's extremely expensive and you won't be able to pay it off until you're officially a doctor. The salaries for resident doctors are pretty crappy, something like 40k to 60k a year. It might not sound that bad, but considering you work looooong hours of 80 hours a weeks (on average), it's not such a great pay.

Edited March 18, 2009 by greaterthaninfinity

[moneyfaery]

Slight correction. Undergrad is actually 3 years, unless I researched something wrong.

[__inthemaking]

[quote name='Irene' post='40928' date='Mar 18 2009, 05:08 PM']Slight correction. Undergrad is actually 3 years, unless I researched something wrong.[/quote]

Undergrad is generally 4 years. But many people apply for med school in their third year and if they can get in then, they end up graduating early.

Edited March 18, 2009 by __inthemaking

[Ashika]

Either way, most med schools in Canada require you to have one undergraduate degree.
I think there is a school in Alberta that takes you in after 2 years of being in university.
Providing you get through all the screening etc.