A surgical procedure is defined as a procedure that involves intentional non-transient alteration of structures of the body, and/or a procedure that necessarily involves cutting into the body. This definition includes all procedures defined by Method (attribute) with Surgical action (qualifier value).
SNOMED CT classifies concepts as surgical procedures if their methods are surgical actions based on the action hierarchy. The surgical action hierarchy distinguishes surgical from non-surgical actions based on the definition above. Note the Or in the sentence; actions that do not involve cutting or incision, but do involve the intentional non-transient alteration of anatomy, are still surgical.
Surgical procedures are not defined simply as procedures done by a surgeon (despite some dictionary definitions). Surgeons can perform many non-surgical actions and surgical procedures need not necessarily be performed by a surgeon, i.e. if a non-surgeon performs a surgical procedure, it is still a surgical procedure.
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