In the past 15 years or so, there has been exponential growth of technology in surgery. This new era requires a specialized workforce. The 20th century was truly the age of surgeons; however, the 21st century will be the age of multidisciplinary patient care. One good example is the treatment of cancer patients
Are General Surgery trained personnel perform better in other specialties too?
How are their performance on other surgical specialties?
Any evidence to suggest their skill transferability to other disciplines?
http://www.jcmrp.eg.net/text.asp?2020/5/4/375/301045
http://www.jcmrp.eg.net/article.asp?issn=2357-0121;year=2020;volume=5;issue=4;spage=375;epage=378;aulast=L.
Dear Dr Sunny Chu Lik Au
Very pertinent question in the era of multimodality care. General surgery is very important for preparation and training of future generation of surgeons in all the specialities. This includes Neurosurgery, CTVS, Plastic, Urology and Oncosurgery. Not very sure about ophthalmology. Before going to these specialities a training stint in General Surgery is a must. General surgery training offers a strong preparation for overall surgical competence. This is the core of all surgical training and is broad based and gives experiences that give them an edge over others. It is like a foundation programme, where they learn all the nitty gritty of surgery; from abscess drainage to laparotomy. All the experiences of doing surgeries in emergencies and elective setting under supervision and independently make them future ready for the real world surgery. Here they learn all the practical and academic aspect of surgery. So those who have a strong General Surgery background does well in their chosen field of specialities.
General surgeon is the basic but sub specialety should be the aim.
Dear Dr Sunny Chu Lik Au:
Thank for raising this important question. There is a dilemma of general or subspecialty. Subspecialty is important in developing the management of cases but in the same time it created a pinhole vision of the physicians and no one is looking to the patient as one unit and look to the overall need. Each subspecialty want to put the optimum for his work regardless of the overall need of the patient or his stage need.
I support my colleagues in the importance of training in general surgery for every other surgical specialty. I suggest 1 year as minimum time spend in general surgery if not making degree in general surgery as requirement for doing subspecialty study.
General surgery is very important step toward subspecialty! So I agree that one year or even two in general surgery, would be mandatory for subspecialty (exception is, I think, neurosurgery)!
General Surgical principles - examining a patient, decision making, appropriate work up, discussing treatment options, surgical techniques, recognition of a sick patient, approach to complex medical problems, team approach, etc are common to any Surgical branch. The basics are the same with modifications to suit the specialty. A well trained General Surgeon can excel in any branch / subspecialty based on the dedication / inputs.
After qualifying as a General Surgeon, he / she may choose to do a particular branch (eg only Oncology work / Minimal access) depending on the area of interest.
General Surgery training is very important for super speciality surgical positions. The General Surgery training can be a seperate degree or a part of direct speciality Surgical training.
After training and working with general surgery for 5 years
I went over to cardiac surgery and had great use of my skills from general surgery.
The general surgeon, due to its specificity, is somehow forced to face during duty and emergency operations with other emergency pathology of related specialties (gynecology, urology, vascular surgery, thoracic surgery, traumatology, and others), and sometimes has to make a decision himself, without having time to wait for a narrow specialist. Those general surgeons who work in district hospitals, as well as those general surgeons who provide emergency care when going to these district hospitals, are more susceptible. The basics of general surgery are of great use as a foundation for all narrow surgical specialties.
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Organizational Psychology
- Training