Also called: Acute Care Surgeon
Operates on patients with life-threatening injuries from crashes, falls, and violence.
Waits in the trauma bay as the helicopter lands, leads the team that assesses a crash victim in minutes, then rushes to the OR to stop internal bleeding. Days on call can stretch 24 hours.
Estimate; BLS top-codes physician wages.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Professional degree (MD, JD, DVM…), about 15 years after high school. Bachelor's, medical school, a 5-year general surgery residency, then a 1-2 year trauma/critical care fellowship.
Ways in: 4-year college, Professional school. Training cost: Over $150k.
Majors to look at: Biology, Chemistry, Pre-Medicine.
Growing about average (about 3% over 10 years).
Low risk for 10 years. AI helps read trauma scans quickly; emergency operations on crash and violence victims are the definition of hands-on judgment.
Classes: AP Biology, AP Chemistry, Anatomy & physiology, Physics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 29-1249.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.