General surgery is one of the highest-paying medical specialties a doctor can choose. If you want to be the best general surgeon you can be, you should plan on pursuing board certification after you finish your medical education and training. Although voluntary, board certification is important, according to the American College of Surgeons. That’s because certification demonstrates your level of skill and knowledge, as well as your commitment to the medical specialty of general surgery.
Understanding General Surgery and Board Certification
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The medical specialty of general surgery might sound too generic to be truly specialized. What it means is that the doctor specializes in surgical treatment but, instead of focusing on just one organ or system of the body, they provide total care to the whole of the patient. General surgeons perform procedures on many parts of the body, including the alimentary tract, abdomen, breast, skin, chest, head and neck, vascular system and endocrine system. This branch of medicine also includes the surgery performed on critically ill patients, cancer patients and patients who have sustained traumatic injuries.
A certified general surgeon is one who has gone through the process of pursuing board certification. Board certification means that you have met high standards of education, experience and knowledge of the specialty set by an objective entity – one of the 24 medical and surgical specialty boards that collectively make up the American Board of Medical Specialties. Unlike a license to practice medicine, you can be a doctor – and even a general surgeon – without acquiring board certification. However, becoming board certified gives your career a boost and your patients more confidence in your skills.
Since you already spend a minimum of seven years preparing for your medical career, between medical school and your residency training, becoming board certified is often worth the additional effort it takes to demonstrate the caliber of care you provide.
Start the Journey By Getting an Education in Medicine
If you would like to be a general surgeon, you are going to be looking at eight years of education followed by three to seven years of internship and residency programs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Before they can go to medical school, general surgeons need to earn a bachelor’s degree. Although any major can qualify you for admission to medical school, many students choose biology or chemistry to build a foundation for their doctoral studies.
Getting into medical school can be very difficult. Before you apply, you will need to earn high scores on your Medical College Admission Test and secure letters of recommendation from instructors, supervisors, any physician mentors you may have shadowed and others who can speak to your potential. The first two years of medical school typically consist of courses that range from biochemistry to the laws governing medicine. Students spend the last two years in clinical rotations, working with patients under supervision.
Graduating from medical school means that you are technically a doctor, but your training isn’t over yet. After medical school, general surgeons can expect to undertake four to five years of residency. If you want to delve into a subspecialty of general surgery, you should expect to spend at least one more year completing specialized training through a fellowship program.
Subspecialties for general surgeons include breast surgery, cardiothoracic surgery, colorectal surgery, critical care medicine, hand surgery, minimally invasive surgery, pediatric surgery, surgical critical care, surgical oncology, and transplant surgery.
The Path to Board-Certification
Once surgeons have completed their residency, they should begin working on attaining board certification promptly. The American Board of Surgery states that there is a seven-year period to get certified. If a surgeon fails to complete their certification requirements within that time period, they will have to pursue a readmissibility pathway to re-enter the certification process.
To become certified, surgeons must complete two exams, the General Surgery Qualifying Examination (QE) and the General Surgery Certifying Examination (CE). The exam period starts immediately after completing the residency program. Failing to apply on time will reduce your opportunities to take the exams, since each of the exams can only be taken once a year.
The QE is a one-day exam that lasts around eight hours and consists of four 115-minute sessions. Each of the four sessions contains about 300 multiple-choice questions on general surgical principles and applied science. Surgeons are not allowed to revisit questions from completed sessions.
After completing the QE, surgeons can take the last step towards becoming board-certified by completing the CE. This exam is much shorter than the eight-hour QE and consists of three thirty-minute sessions. Each session is an oral exam conducted by two examiners to test the surgeon’s clinical skills.
While test-takers completing the QE can take three optional breaks during the exam, the CE does not allow for breaks between the three oral exam sessions.
Additional Resources
What Is the Difference Between Inpatient and Outpatient Surgery?
Isn’t It Better to Be a Specialist in an Area of Surgery Instead of Being a General Surgeon?
What Are Some Areas of the Body That Fall Under “General Surgery?”