Vascular Surgeon
What the work is
Performs surgery to treat patients with conditions affecting their arteries and veins.
Would you enjoy the work?
These are the main tasks in the official description. Mark how each one sounds to you.
- Assesses patients to determine the nature of diseases and problems within the vascular system, and diagnose vascular conditions
- Requests laboratory and diagnostic tests to diagnose the extent of the vascular disease
- Performs surgical procedures to repair or remove blockages in arteries and veins, such as angioplasty, bypass surgery and endarterectomy
- Performs non-invasive procedures such as cosmetic treatment of veins
Try it
A simulation and a case study from this kind of work, set in a hospital surgical ward, outpatient clinic and operating theatre. They are fictional.
The kind of days you could have
Good days
- A patient who was in pain for years walks into clinic and thanks you for giving them their life back
- An operation goes exactly as planned because the team prepared well
- A trainee you supervise handles a hard moment well on their own
Hard days
- Telling a patient or family that the operation did not go as hoped
- Long days on your feet in theatre, followed by clinic and paperwork
- Decisions where the safest option is the one the patient least wants
Written by Career Calling as a general guide. Real roles vary by employer and place.
Work a mission
Step into a simulated workplace in this field, with a brief from your manager.
Description and tasks: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Occupation Standard Classification for Australia, 2024, Version 1.0 (opens another site), occupation 264641, used under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. The skill guide above is our plain English summary.