In Australia, Canada, the US and the UK, general surgeons are responsible for breast care, including the surgical treatment of breast cancer. In most other countries, breast care falls under Obstetrics and Gynecology and its sub-specialty of Mastology (or Senology).
In the United States, the overall responsibility for trauma care falls under the auspices of general surgery, some general surgeons obtaining advanced training and specialty certification in this field alone.

In the last few years minimally invasive surgery has become more prevalent. Considerable enthusiasm has built around robotic surgery (or, more accurately, robotic-assisted surgery), despite the scant data currently available failing to show real benefit and effectively is a complex issue that requires innate ability, satisfactory training, and experience. For example, there are many general surgeons, without sub-specialty training, who perform complex surgical oncology operations on a regular basis. Many of these surgeons are able to achieve outcomes equivalent to surgeons with specialized training. However, this usually requires an above average training experience during general surgery residency, and/or many years of experience with the operation(s) as a practicing surgeon. One of the exceptions to this are some of the more complex vascular operations, such as abdominal aortic aneurysm repair.

Patients with these disorders have been shown in several studies to benefit by seeking care from surgeons that have completed specialized training in vascular surgery. At the current time, vascular surgery is undergoing many advances with regard to minimally-invasive catheter-based techniques. Because few general surgeons will have become familiar with these techniques during training, a vascular surgeon is usually able to offer more options to a patient requiring vascular interventions.