General Surgery

 

Overview
General surgery is one of Navy Medicine’s critical wartime specialties as far forward surgical care capabilities. One unique aspect of Navy General Surgery is that ethos and culture has evolved from that of the storied naval ship’s surgeons during the Age of Sail. Throughout history, the ship’s surgeon has been integral to the world’s navies. These first naval surgeons were not only a “jack of all trades” managing illness and disease, but they were also surgical experts trained to manage naval combat casualties and emergency surgical conditions of sailors and marines with limited resources.

Today in the U.S. Navy, this tradition continues at home, abroad, and deployed. U.S. Navy general surgeons and general surgery subspecialists are integral to Navy Medicine’s support of warfighter care and their families who are forward deployed naval forces in Japan,Europe, and Guam, as will as with Navy Medicine’s expeditionary medicine (EXMED) capabilities and Naval Expeditionary Health Service Support (NEHSS) of U.S. Navy fleet and U.S. Marine Corps crisis and contingency operations.

Navy Surgeons also support Graduate Medical Education (GME) at Naval Medical Center San Diego, the Level II Trauma Center at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth and the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Additionally, they support unique research opportunities in tertiary medical centers (Portsmouth, San Diego, Walter Reed), with the Joint Trauma System, the Naval Medical Research Unit, and the Naval Health Research Center. Navy surgeons also lead Navy Medicine’s premiere strategic military-civilian partnerships at Los Angeles General Medical Center/University of Southern California, Penn Medicine in Philadelphia and at the Cook County Trauma Unit in Chicago.

Navy general surgeons also have the opportunity to apply for additional subspecialty fellowship training including colon and rectal surgery, vascular surgery, pediatric surgery, cardio-thoracic surgery, plastic surgery, surgical oncology, laparoscopic/endoscopic surgery (minimally invasive surgery) and trauma/critical care surgery. Operational medicine always has been and continues to be a key competency of Navy general surgery. What follows are just a few examples of the operational platforms Navy general surgeon’s support:

• Supporting the fleet, general surgeons are integral to the medical departments of the Navy’s 11 aircraft carriers serving as the only comprehensive surgical expert in the carrier strike group of approximately 7,000 personnel with the storied title of ship’s surgeon.
• General surgeons are also members of one of the Navy’s 9 Fleet Surgical Teams (FST) routinely deploying on amphibious warships in support U.S. Navy and Marine Corps operations.
• FST and ship surgeons not only deploy to help manage traumatic injuries from combat and other mechanisms of injury, they are also responsible for the provision of all elective and emergency surgical care needed during maritime deployments.
• Navy Surgeons are integral to the U.S. Marine Corps’ combat causality care capabilities providing NEHSS on Role 2 surgical teams based in Okinawa Japan, Camp Pendleton California, and Camp Lejeune North Carolina.
• Navy surgeons support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions on grey-hulled combatant vessels or on one of the Navy’s two hospital ships.
• General Surgeons are integral to Navy Medicine’s EXMED capabilities including the Expeditionary Resuscitative Surgical System (ERSS), a 7-person single surgeon team, trained and equipped to provide damage control surgical resuscitation in any land based austere environment or at sea on any of the Navy combatant and non-combatant vessels.

What General Surgeons Provide
General Surgeons provide the following quality healthcare, which includes combat casualty care to the injured warfighter and expeditionary surgical care in forward deployed and austere environments.

• General Surgery: At home general surgeons provide beneficiary care focusing on surgical conditions of the abdominal organs, intestines, abdominal wall, breast and musculoskeletal system.
• Colon and Rectal Surgery: In addition to general surgery specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions affecting the colon, rectum and anus.
• Vascular Surgery: Specializes in diagnosing and treating conditions impacting blood vessels including arteries and veins.
• Pediatric Surgery: Specializes in treating surgical conditions impacting children and young adults including but not limited to congenital conditions and conditions impacting the chest and abdominal organs.
• Cardio-Thoracic Surgery: Specializes in diagnosing and treating conditions impacting the chest wall and organs of the chest including the heart, lungs and esophagus.
• Plastic Surgery: Specialized in performing reconstructive and cosmetic surgery to improve the form and function of the body.
• Surgical Oncology: In addition to general surgery, specializes in the surgical treatment of cancer.
• Laparoscopic/Endoscopic Surgery: In addition to general surgery, specializes in performing minimally invasive surgery.
• Trauma/Critical Care Surgery: In addition to general surgery, specializes in providing world class trauma care at home and to the injured warfighter in forward deployed and austere environments. Employs critical care expertise to our sickest patients across the surgical spectrum of disease. An expert in systems of care including the civilian and deployed trauma system.

Financial Benefits

• Navy physicians receive base pay and entitlements like other naval officers with additional special pays for their medical specialty.  All board-certified physicians receive $8,000 per year for maintaining board-certification. Additionally, general surgeons can earn up to 182,000 per year in addition to standard officer pay depending on how long one commits to serve.

Additional Benefits:

• World class medical and dental care for you and your family. Unique international travel opportunities.
• Generous vacation time with family support with excellent paternal leave policies.
• Opportunities to support U.S. government humanitarian and disaster relief missions. Unique job opportunities supporting the fleet, U.S. Marine Corps, and special operations.
• Whether you serve for five years or 20 years, taking care of an appreciative patient population of active duty and retirees (and their families) who have or will go into harm’s way serving their country is a unique and inspiring experience as a physician and surgeon.