General Surgery
By Deborah Knight
Surgery is a career for the committed. Much of your life is dictated by the demands of the operating room. The training is long and demanding. But for those who love it, a career in surgery is hard to beat.
Perhaps it’s the desire to save and cure people, or the excitement of the operating room. Perhaps it’s the chance to play a lead role on a highly skilled team of medical professionals, or the combination of art and science that surgery requires. Or perhaps it’s all these things, taking place in an emotionally charged situation.
Like other areas in medicine, surgery has many different specialties—currently 14! One of these is general surgery. The general surgeon is specially trained to deal with almost any area of the body. As a general surgeon you would do the following:
• Diagnose patients and provide pre-operative care
• Operate on patients and provide post-operative care
• Provide comprehensive management of patients, including trauma victims and the critically ill
• Deal with congenital and infectious diseases (both malignant and benign)
What kinds of operations would I do?
You would be most likely to operate on the following: the alimentary tract; the abdomen and its contents; breast, skin, and soft tissue; the endocrine system; some cancers; and the vascular system. You would coordinate with other surgical specialists and would also take overall responsibility for the care and treatment of injured or critically ill patients.
How would I become a general surgeon?
After medical school, you must complete a surgical residency of at least five years, often longer. You must then pass an exam to receive Board Certification. The training is mentally and physically demanding, and it’s important to understand that during this time family and outside interests invariably take a back seat. While in your final year of residency, you must perform between 250 and 350 major operations.
After training, what would my life be like?
Busy. Most surgeons work at least 50-60 hours a week and are also frequently on call. Fortunately, they can generally afford to pay for services such as child care and household help. According to a 2006 survey, the average annual salary for a general surgeon ranges from $249,700 to $336,000. More women are becoming surgeons, but progress is slow. In 2002, women averaged about 24% of residents and fellows in general surgery programs.
As a surgeon, there are many paths you can take in your career. You might combine caring for patients with research or teaching. You might work in a private practice, for a hospital or clinic, or the military. Or you might be employed by the government and have the chance to work in places where people often have the least access to quality medical care—for example, prisons, Indian reservations, low-income urban and rural areas, and developing countries.
How do I know if I have what it takes?
Surgery is a calling. It’s also an art. And surgical residencies are highly selective. The job description of a surgeon is not for the faint of heart: the health and welfare of other people is in your hands.
If the idea of becoming a surgeon appeals to you, you’ll have many years to explore it while you’re training. You’ll grow as a person, discover more about who you are, and pursue a variety of interests. Time and again you will be challenged to reevaluate your dreams. More than many other paths you could choose in life, a career in surgery requires commitment.
For more information, visit the American College of Surgeons’ “Online Guide to Choosing a Surgical Residency” at www.facs.org/medicalstudents, the website from which much of this information was drawn. Check out especially the Frequently Asked Questions.
