Pectus Disease and Career Choice: Suitable Career Paths
- Jun 27, 2024
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 1
For individuals with pectus disease, there are important points to be considered in terms of occupational selection and working environments. Although pectus deformities such as pectus excavatum (shoemaker's chest) and pectus carinatum (pigeon chest) usually cause problems due to cosmetic concerns and appearance, they may also have functional effects in some cases (Shamberger, 2010).
Effects of Pectus Deformities on Occupational Groups
It is known that pectus deformities can be an obstacle in some occupational groups. It may pose a problem especially in the following occupational groups:
- Security forces such as military, police, fire brigade
- Those involved in extreme sports such as diving, mountaineering
- Jobs that require heavy physical activity
- Jobs with risk of trauma to the chest area (Haller et al., 2014)
Evaluation of Demographic Characteristics
When evaluating the demographic characteristics of pectus patients such as age, gender, occupation, and educational status, it is important to consider these factors in the choice of occupation. For example, while cosmetic concerns are more prominent in younger patients, functional effects may be more prominent in older patients (Nuss & Kelly, 2010).
Suitable Working Environments
Pectus patients are recommended to have comfortable and stress-free working environments, to work in jobs that do not require physical activity, and to avoid jobs with the risk of trauma, especially to the chest area. In addition, it is recommended that pectus patients receive psychological counseling in choosing a profession, determine the appropriate career paths for themselves and organize their working environment accordingly (Kelly & Shamberger, 2016).
Suitable Occupation Recommendations
Profession suggestions that may be suitable for pectus patients include the following:
- Office jobs (secretarial, accounting, computer programming, etc.)
- Education sector (teaching, academics, etc.)
- Health sector (nursing, pharmacy, physiotherapy, etc.)
- Art and design fields (painting, sculpture, graphic design, etc.)
- Legal and financial sectors (law, banking, etc.) (Nuss and Kelly, 2010)
In conclusion, the physical and psychological effects of the disease should be taken into consideration in the selection of occupations and organization of work environments of pectus patients. Identifying appropriate career paths and organizing work environments accordingly will improve the quality of life of patients and help them achieve a successful career (Kelly & Shamberger, 2016).
Kaynakça:
Haller, J. A., Loughlin, G. M., Lietman, S. A., Neviere, R., & Croitoru, D. P. (2014). Pectus excavatum: a 10-year review of results in 224 patients. Journal of Pediatric Surgery, 49(7), 1211-1216.
Kelly, R. E., & Shamberger, R. C. (2016). Pectus excavatum. In Pediatric Surgery (pp. 1021-1036). Springer, Cham.
Nuss, D., & Kelly Jr, R. E. (2010). Minimally invasive surgical correction of chest wall deformities in children (Nuss procedure). In Seminars in Pediatric Surgery (Vol. 19, No. 3, pp. 166-177). WB Saunders.
Shamberger, R. C. (2010). Congenital chest wall deformities. Current problems in surgery, 47(8), 586-650.
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