This manual reviews the important critical functions of a department of surgery which are synthesized into specific departmental roles. A departmental organizational structure and the required personnel is presented along with the appropriate job descriptions and the role of hospital committees for a department of surgery. To help with process management, a listing of policies, protocols and communications are provided. To ease the access to external oversight, the conditions of participation from CMS related to surgery are reproduced and this is followed by a chapter on change management and program development. The appendix includes useful forms and templates.