General Surgery: Common Procedures

A lot of young people in medicine and just the population don't really understand what a general surgeon really does.  Here are common things you will see a general surgeon in residency do depending on the institution/volume:

1. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy
2. Laparoscopic appendectomy
3. Abscess draining on extremities
4. Colon irrigation
5. Whipple procedure
6. Distal pancreatectomy
7. Fem-pop bypass
8. Perirectal abscess drainage
9. Abdominal trauma surgery
10. Colostomy
11. Jejunostomy
12. Different procedures in plastic surgery (you can do a fellowship in plastics after gen surg)
13. A lot of similar procedures in pediatric patients
14. Checking on floor patients every morning, usually around 5-6am
15. Laparoscopic hernia repair with mesh
16. Open hernia repair

But when you're on the general surgery rotation, it starts to look like this:

1. Cholecystectomy
2. Cholecystectomy
3. Cholecystectomy
4. Abscess drainage
5. Abscess
6. Abscess
7. Abscess
8. Cholecystectomy
9. Cholecystectomy
10. Appendectomy
11. Hernia
12. Hernia
13. Abscess
14. Cholecystectomy
15. Abscess
16. Hernia
17. Appendectomy
18. Hernia
19. Abscess
20. Chronic draining wound/abcess
21. Abscess
22. Pilonidal cyst
23. Debridement
24. Abscess
25. Debridement

And so on.  Throw in poor wound healing due to chronic diabetes and things start smelling and looking terrible.  Surgery isn't for complainers or people who dislike abscesses and the colon/fecal matter.  You have to love operating like a robot case after case after case and you need to do things exactly the same way every single time.  Any wonder why attrition rate in the US for surgery residents is 20%?

Remember: specialist surgeons don't live off of their specialty procedures alone.  You will keep doing laparascopic cholecystectomies and draining perirectal abscesses.