General surgeon in Germany and Austria
A surgeon is a specialist doctor who operates and follows surgical patients. After medicine and the licence to practise comes about six years of specialist training in a hospital; the rules and pay depend on the country.
About the profession
A general surgeon diagnoses and treats surgical diseases, injuries and malformations and decides how the patient is followed up after the operation.
Facts
What the job is
A surgeon is a specialist doctor who diagnoses and operates on diseases and injuries: of the abdominal organs (visceral surgery), the blood vessels and the chest, and the consequences of accidents. They remove an appendix or a gallbladder, repair hernias, stitch tendons, set and fix fractures, remove metal implants after healing and perform knee arthroscopies.
More and more operations are minimally invasive — through small incisions with a camera, sometimes with robotic systems. Besides operating, a surgeon follows patients after surgery, keeps records and trains junior colleagues; at university hospitals surgeons take part in research.
Diagnosis
- ✓talk to the patient and study the medical history
- ✓order and assess tests: ultrasound, X-ray, CT, ECG, endoscopy, lab tests
- ✓make the diagnosis and decide whether surgery is needed
Operations and treatment
- ✓recognise emergencies and save lives when needed
- ✓operate on organs, bones and limbs
- ✓remove skin and soft-tissue tumours, open abscesses
- ✓perform minimally invasive operations — gallbladder, appendix, hernias
- ✓treat injuries: tendon repair, reducing dislocations, fixing fractures
- ✓perform knee arthroscopy, e.g. for meniscus injuries
- ✓operate with computer-assisted systems
After surgery
- ✓follow the patient after the operation
- ✓arrange rehabilitation — physiotherapy, occupational therapy — and monitor it
- ✓advise on prevention and screening
Organisation and training
- ✓coordinate admissions, transfers, discharges and ward rounds; lead a ward
- ✓write reports and keep records
- ✓train junior doctors and nursing staff
Research and teaching
- ✓take part in research at a university hospital
- ✓give lectures and seminars
Diagnosis and the decision to operate
Before treatment the surgeon talks in detail with the patient and orders tests: X-ray, CT, ultrasound, ECG, blood tests. They interpret the results and discuss the next steps with the patient.
Operations
Surgeons master many techniques: they operate on varicose veins, repair torn ligaments and tendons, operate on the bowel and the appendix, remove polyps and skin tumours and join broken bones. Minimally invasive surgery is becoming more important: small incisions are enough, and a miniature camera shows the operating field on a screen. Sometimes the surgeon steers the instruments through a computer. After the operation they choose the right follow-up and rehabilitation.
Prevention
Many life-threatening diseases can be cured if found early, so surgeons explain and carry out screening examinations and show how to prevent disease through diet and lifestyle.
Shifts, paperwork, training
Emergencies happen at any time, so hospitals work in shifts with night and weekend duties. Reports, discharge letters and records take a considerable share of the time. Training junior doctors and nurses is an important task.
Where to study for it
Specialities that lead to the profession, and programmes in them.
Programmes in the field «Medicine» →By country
Licence to practise, recognition of a foreign degree and other rules of each country.
Germany
- Path
- medicine (Staatsexamen) → Approbation → 72 months of specialist training
Checked by StudyInFocus, october 2026
Austria
In Austria you may practise medicine once you are entered in the register of doctors (Ärzteliste) of the Austrian Medical Chamber.
- A degree from outside the EU has to be nostrified — recognised as equal to the Austrian Dr. med. univ.
- Proof of German is required.
- Specialist training (Facharzt) takes at least 72 months including 9 months of basic training; general medicine at least 60 months.
- Licence to practise
- entry in the Ärzteliste (§ 4 ÄrzteG 1998)
- Specialist training
- at least 72 months (ÄAO 2015)
Checked by StudyInFocus, october 2026
Labour market
General surgeon in Germany — figures with their sources.
Where you can work: example vacancies
What employers offer and expect — from real ads.
- ·You are a beginner or have already gained experience in surgery or another medical field
- ·Fluent knowledge of German, both written and spoken
- ·High professional and personal competence with strong patient orientation
- ·PhD desired, but not required
- ·Leadership with high social skills
Similar professions
More about the profession
How to become a surgeon as an international student
First medical studies and the state examination, then work as a doctor in surgical training at a hospital authorised to train and an examination at the medical chamber of the Land. You need medical German at C1.