On the third Saturday of September, doctors from one of the most difficult areas of medicine celebrate their professional holiday – International Surgeon Day –. It is not officially installed, but every year it becomes more and more famous. The initiative to establish the Day in 2014 was taken by the International Association of Surgeons.
Surgery (from the ancient Greek χείρ – «hand» and ⁇ ργον – «action, work») – is a field of medicine that studies acute and chronic diseases that are treated using the surgical method, which involves separating and connecting tissues during surgery.
This area of medicine has been known since ancient times, and humanity used the treatment of acute and chronic diseases through surgical intervention back in the Neolithic period. This is confirmed by – finds by archaeologists, indicating that ancient people performed craniotomy, bloodletting, and corrected limb fractures. Ancient Greek and Roman healers performed rib resection, set dislocations, treated puncture and cut wounds, amputated limbs and crushed bladder stones. And in Ancient India, plastic surgery operations were performed 600 years BC.
Surgery gained powerful development in the 19th century, when asepsis, antisepsis, anesthesia, and blood transfusion were invented, which significantly increased the chances of a successful outcome of surgical operations. Russian scientists and surgeons made an important contribution to the development of science – K.I. Shchepin, P.A. Zagorsky, I.F. Bush, I.V. Buyalsky, E.O. Mukhin and, of course, N.I. Pirogov – founder of the Russian school of anesthesiology and founder of military field surgery.
Currently, surgery – is a multifunctional system of scientific knowledge and practical methods of providing specific medical care, which is constantly in development. Surgeons are in demand in many areas of medicine, so they highlight such areas of surgery as: abdominal, thoracic, vascular, maxillofacial, plastic, endocrine, cardiac surgery, neurosurgery, ophthalmic surgery, transplantology, etc.
Medical instruments using modern technical innovations make it possible to carry out surgical interventions with minimal stress on the patient’s body. But still, responsibility for a person’s life lies with doctors, whose decisions play a major role in the successful outcome of the operation.
Therefore, – surgery is one of the most complex and responsible professions that requires constant development, and a competent surgeon must not only have professional knowledge and skills, but also be able to work in a team, have endurance and the ability to quickly make the right decisions in critical situations.
It is precisely such specialists who are honored on International Surgeon Day. To once again express words of gratitude for their hard work and for the lives saved. Often, in honor of the holiday, seminars, conferences, symposia and other professional events are organized, where specialists can communicate with colleagues, exchange knowledge and experience.