The changes which have taken place in the medical profession and its self-image over the past few decades, especially in the face of modern high-performance medicine, cannot be overlooked. For young physicians starting a career in cardiac surgery as little as 20 years ago, the most important thing was to learn and understand this fascinating subject and its procedures, irrespective of long working hours and overtime. Under the influence of increasingly strict legislation, the situation has changed radically. Although it is difficult to reconcile modern legislation on working hours with procedures in heart surgery and the justified desire of physicians to gain as much experience and perform as many operations as possible, the GHI has always painstakingly adhered to these legal requirements. This development started in the seventies already and for the time being has reached its peak. Although it is undoubtedly true that the highly taxing work of performing long surgical interventions calls for adequate rest periods, the statutory limitation restricting physicians’ working hours to the same level as those of employees in other fields is not acceptable. It conflicts with the continuity required in patient care, for which patients are very grateful, and which is also essential for assessing the patient’s progress as a whole, an aspect of special importance to the operating surgeon. One can only hope that, in the near future, concepts will be developed to facilitate a return to the original job of a physician, namely to maintain a direct relationship between physician and patient for the entire course of the therapy. We are currently working on concepts of this nature and hope for their successful introduction soon.

continuation