Neurosurgery

Sophie Baldwin, 10/9/23

Neurosurgeons specialize in the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases affecting the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems. They are experts in the brain, meninges, skull, and cranial blood supply. While they spend much of their time in the operating room, they can also treat patients through pain management, collaborating with neurologists (their nonoperative counterparts). Neurosurgery is one of the most competitive residencies. While this field is incredibly rewarding, neurosurgeons will also have to see a great deal of loss in their careers as their patients can be very sick. Additionally, neurosurgery is heavily research-based.

Fast Facts

• Salary: $617,000

• DO friendly? No

• IMG friendly? No

• Competitiveness: Very high

• Match rate (2023): 77.8%

• Average step-one: 248

• Surgical? Yes

Becoming a Neurosurgeon

• 4 years of undergraduate

• 4 years of medical school

• 7 years of neurosurgery residency

• 1-2 years of fellowship (optional)

Work-life Balance

Neurosurgeons have some of the toughest lifestyles. As a surgeon, they typically work over 50 hours per week, sometimes even up to 70 hours. Because they deal with many emergencies, they are on-call frequently. Neurosurgery is a high-stress environment, as their patients can be very fickle. However, neurosurgeons are also one of the best-compensated specialties. The average salary is over 600,000, with many neurosurgeons making over one million dollars per year. So, while they work a lot of hours, they are compensated very well.

Fellowships

• Endovascular Surgical Neuroradiology (2 years)

• Functional (1 year)

• Pediatric (1 year)

• Cerebrovascular (1-2 years)

• Spine (1 year)

• Skull base (1 year)

• Neuro-oncology (2 years)

• Epilepsy (1 year)

• Radiosurgery (1 year)

Job Satisfaction and Outlook

• 77.6% are satisfied with their career (NIH PubMed)

• 20.4% report burnout (NIH PubMed)

• 13% projected job growth by 2026 (Chron)

Sources

https://www.prospectivedoctor.com/how-competitive-is-a-neurological-surgery-residency/ 

https://residency.wustl.edu/choosing-a-specialty/specialty-descriptions/neurosurgery/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32942135/

https://work.chron.com/job-outlook-neurosurgeon-20074.html