General surgery is a discipline that requires knowledge of and responsibility for the preoperative, operative, and postoperative management of patients with a broad spectrum of diseases, including those which may require nonoperative, elective, or emergency surgical treatment. The certified general surgeon and surgical team is expected to have knowledge and skills for diseases requiring team-based interdisciplinary care, including related leadership capabilities. Since General Surgery is very broad, the team must undergo extensive training for a multitude of organs in the abdomen and other areas of the body.

Here in the states, General Surgeons perform an average of 23 different types of surgeries with the range being from 1 to 73 different operations, so the surgical team must always stay up to date on procedures and knowledge. General surgery often sets the standard of surgical care in the community due to the extensive range of surgeries they must perform. Each day is not like the day before, so the surgical team must always remain sharp throughout the care of each patient during their procedure.