Unfortunately, you do not significantly increase the amount of free time in which you can use the money for entertaining activities. The financial rewards of this profession reflect the amount of time and devotion that you put into the practice. Since lifestyle is significantly made up by life in addition to income, one must consider this aspect when looking into cardiothoracic surgery as a profession. He usually starts in the intensive care unit and makes rounds. Then, depending on whether or not he has a first case, he will round on the floor and see his patients.
Most procedures take between six and eight hours to complete.
Following most cases he gets around on the floor, discharging patients and seeing consultations in the afternoon. Usually he operates four days a week and holds clinic on one day of the week. Often times, however, he is operating five days a week, hitting the clinic one day per week, and operating into the early evening or at night at least once a week. Most typical days end when he heads home between seven and ten o'clock at night. It is not infrequent for him to have to come back to the hospital to check in on a patient, see a consult, or perform an emergency procedure.