medisforme Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 From what I can tell, the bulk (if not all) of general surgery is based around the abdominal organs. Why is it not called abdominal surgery and treated like a specialty like urology or orthopedics. What do general surgeons do that makes their work "general?" Are other procedures routinely performed on other areas of the body? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jochi1543 Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 General surgery, in my experience, is surgery on the poo-filled parts of the body that no other surgeon wants to touch. Colorectal surgery? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macster Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 I thought that was colorectal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Macster Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Haha beat me to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtkchen Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 General surgeons have a wide repertoire of procedures that they perform. Usually only the more complex cases are referred to surgical subspecialties. They commonly perform inguinal hernia operations, cholecystectomies (gall bladder remova), appendectomies, surgeries involving intraabdominal tumors/malignancies, esophageal surgeries, gastric surgeries (eg. gastrectomy, gastric banding, gastric bypass). General surgeons can subspecialize to have additional fellowship training in colorectal / oncology / esophageal / hepatobiliary /etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leviathan Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 General surgeons have a wide repertoire of procedures that they perform. Usually only the more complex cases are referred to surgical subspecialties. They commonly perform inguinal hernia operations, cholecystectomies (gall bladder remova), appendectomies, surgeries involving intraabdominal tumors/malignancies, esophageal surgeries, gastric surgeries (eg. gastrectomy, gastric banding, gastric bypass). General surgeons can subspecialize to have additional fellowship training in colorectal / oncology / esophageal / hepatobiliary /etc. I think the OP's question was whether or not general surgeons did operations outside of the GI tract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ELA Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Thyroid surgery, ingrown toe nail removal...to name a few that Gen surg also does...they also handle trauma, gun shot wounds etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yamuh Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 Lungs, sometimes kidney... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NLengr Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 I'm pretty sure the term General Surgery is more of a hold over from years ago. I'm pretty sure in the old training system, everyone went into a common gen. surg program first and then branched out after a few years in that. It was like the way internal med is run today. Someone correct me if I'm wrong and they remember the residency system from before the 90's. Also general surgery used to be much more general than it is now. At one time (when it got the name general surgery), the scope of practice was much wider and only the most difficult things were referred to subspecialists like ENT etc (there were less sub specialists years ago). With the further specialization of medicine, general surg has basically become the GI sub specialty (with a few extra things that don't fit really well anywhere else stuck in it). That's how I understand the situation. Let me know if I'm wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kirsteen Posted February 20, 2009 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 Also general surgery used to be much more general than it is now. At one time (when it got the name general surgery), the scope of practice was much wider and only the most difficult things were referred to subspecialists like ENT etc (there were less sub specialists years ago). With the further specialization of medicine, general surg has basically become the GI sub specialty (with a few extra things that don't fit really well anywhere else stuck in it). Hi there, You're correct, in one sense, in that general surgeons practicing in urban centres tend to be specialized, but I know general surgeons practicing in smaller centres who remain true, general surgeons. That is, they perform a very wide scope of procedures with many procedures that venture beyond the GI tract. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcwxyz Posted February 20, 2009 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 It's just like the term Family Physician... doesn't make much sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rmorelan Posted February 20, 2009 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 It's just like the term Family Physician... doesn't make much sense. That's why I prefer the term general practice Seems closer to the true types of activities they perform. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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