Surgery and surgeons

1,981 articles · Since 2004

Articles, page 15

Protein calorie malnutrition is devastating for patients [PODCAST]

December 22, 2021Dec 22, 2021

"My practice consisted of patients who suffered from serious injuries and illnesses. Concerning the latter, a significant number had cancer, especially breast cancer. The issue all patient groups have in common to a certain degree is protein calorie malnutrition (PCM).…

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“My practice consisted of patients who suffered from serious injuries and illnesses. Concerning the latter, a significant number had cancer, especially breast cancer. The issue all patient groups have in common to a certain degree is protein calorie malnutrition (PCM). The most dramatically affected are those stricken with a …

Physician voices

My patient and I were born on the same day. It took a tragedy to bring us back together.

Patrick Connolly, MD

December 5, 2021Dec 5, 2021

It was a hot afternoon, but no dog day humidity yet. I was driving back from a satellite office when our nurse practitioner called. A patient with a condition we’d seen many times before, a brain hemorrhage, her consciousness waning.…

The pressure was building and our patient was dying. She needed an external ventricular drain to relieve …

Physician voices

War is really not all it’s cracked up to be

Michael J. Collins, MD

December 5, 2021Dec 5, 2021

An excerpt from All Bleeding Stops. 42nd Surgical Hospital Phu Bai Republic of Vietnam December 1967 Private Ira Stein has so many wounds, has lost so much blood, that the corpsmen nearly bring him straight to Graves. Steve Benson can’t…

An excerpt from All Bleeding Stops.

42nd Surgical Hospital
Phu Bai
Republic of Vietnam
December 1967

Private Ira Stein has so many wounds, has lost so much blood, that the corpsmen nearly bring him straight to Graves. Steve Benson can’t get a pressure. He shakes his head. “Matthew, there’s no point taking this kid to the OR. He’s too far gone. He has no chance.”

“Bullshit!” Barrett rams the cart through the door …

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Physician voices

The pain of doctoring and a call for change

Maseray S. Kamara, MD

December 4, 2021Dec 4, 2021

Below are moments from my intern year of general surgery residency. They represent moments that occurred over three years ago, which I took home to my journal to process and work through. Back then, the moments left me speechless. And…

A silently sobbing 7-year-old the day after surgical repair of his broken femur. His face contorted. His pain …

The Podcast by KevinMD

Stories of surgery, clarity, and grace [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

December 3, 2021Dec 3, 2021

"My mother, bless her ninety-year-old heart, is slowing down. The things that made her happiest — getting to church, visiting friends, taking walks, and wandering the aisles in the grocery store —are increasingly difficult. She worries that her lack of…

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“My mother, bless her ninety-year-old heart, is slowing down. The things that made her happiest — getting to church, visiting friends, taking walks, and wandering the aisles in the grocery store —are increasingly difficult. She worries that her lack of energy will soon make every activity impossible.

It is 2005 and …

Physician voices

Do you have any idea how beautiful you are on the inside?

Sid Schwab, MD

December 1, 2021Dec 1, 2021

Do you have any idea how beautiful you are? Well, OK; maybe for some it's were. Before you got a little thick in the middle, smoked, or even just breathed city air for enough years, or drank a little, or…

Do you have any idea how beautiful you are? Well, OK; maybe for some it’s were. Before you got a little thick in the middle, smoked, or even just breathed city air for enough years, or drank a little, or did a few drugs, there was a time — and maybe it’s still true — when you were knock-down, take-your-breath-away gorgeous. While operating inside a belly, I’ve often stopped working …

Conditions and diseases

Protein calorie malnutrition is devastating for patients

Steve Snodgrass, MD

October 26, 2021Oct 26, 2021

I am a former chief of surgery and a scientific entrepreneur. My practice consisted of patients who suffered from serious injuries and illnesses. Concerning the latter, a significant number had cancer, especially breast cancer. The issue all patient groups have…

I am a former chief of surgery and a scientific entrepreneur.

My practice consisted of patients who suffered from serious injuries and illnesses. Concerning the latter, a significant number had cancer, especially breast cancer. The issue all patient groups have in common to a certain degree is protein calorie malnutrition (PCM). The most dramatically affected are those stricken with a malignancy. PCM leads to increased morbidity, mortality,

…

Conditions and diseases

Ode to a little bile bag

Arthur Williams, MD

October 10, 2021Oct 10, 2021

Surgery to remove the gallbladder is a relatively late intervention. The first laparotomy was performed in 1807 in Danville, Kentucky, and surgeons like Billroth and Kocher, were removing thyroids and even parts of the esophagus as early as the 1870s; the pricklish gallbladder was not completely excised until 1882. For years previously, the medical and surgical dogma was that the gallbladder was an essential organ and couldn’t safely be

…

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Ode to a little bile bag

The Podcast by KevinMD

Robotic surgery’s impact on training the next generation of surgeons [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

October 9, 2021Oct 9, 2021

"Technology continues to evolve every day. In the near-term future, portable and easily deployable robots will allow surgeons all over the world to perform minimally invasive surgery in an increasing number of procedure types and become even more effective surgeons.…

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“Technology continues to evolve every day. In the near-term future, portable and easily deployable robots will allow surgeons all over the world to perform minimally invasive surgery in an increasing number of procedure types and become even more effective surgeons. To achieve our goal of having a future surgeon …

Health policy

The necessity for the globalization of surgery and its barriers

Jeremy Goodwin

September 30, 2021Sep 30, 2021

For years, the surgical practice has been an essential medicine to treat many diseases, such as benign lesions or neoplasms, deliveries, cesarean sections, infections, obstructions, bleeds, and cardiovascular diseases. In many cases, the standard of care is surgical intervention as…

The dilemma with surgical practice and its globalization is that it …

The Podcast by KevinMD

Racial disparities in surgical care [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

September 19, 2021Sep 19, 2021

"As a practicing surgeon for 30 years in the super-specialized field of otology, neurotology and skull base surgery, I have been privy to some of the most disturbing realities of surgical care. Often, these realities are bleaker than most people…

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“As a practicing surgeon for 30 years in the super-specialized field of otology, neurotology and skull base surgery, I have been privy to some of the most disturbing realities of surgical care. Often, these realities are bleaker than most people expect. One thing physicians, and the general population, need …

The Podcast by KevinMD

A data-first strategy to recovering surgical volumes [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

August 29, 2021Aug 29, 2021

"The first step to hospital recovery is the collection and analysis of data. Organizations that effectively leverage data to optimize surgery can see rapid, quantifiable, and sustained improvements in metrics that directly link to operational efficiency and associated financial benefits.…

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“The first step to hospital recovery is the collection and analysis of data. Organizations that effectively leverage data to optimize surgery can see rapid, quantifiable, and sustained improvements in metrics that directly link to operational efficiency and associated financial benefits. The current situation presents a unique opportunity for hospitals …

The Podcast by KevinMD

A neurosurgeon’s lessons on love, loss, and compassion [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

August 18, 2021Aug 18, 2021

"Dehumanizing patients can lead to indifference in physicians. It is a privilege to be trusted to take care of every patient we encounter, yet we can lose sight of this and begin to see our patients as a burden, or…

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“Dehumanizing patients can lead to indifference in physicians. It is a privilege to be trusted to take care of every patient we encounter, yet we can lose sight of this and begin to see our patients as a burden, or as units of work, rather than as individuals. When individual …

Physician voices

Ageism and the mid-career physician

Nathan Kemalyan, MD

August 17, 2021Aug 17, 20213

Four years ago, I was ready to throw in the towel. I practiced for 22 years in a large metropolitan hospital, became very involved in resident education, clinical program directorship, medical staff affairs, in addition to a busy hospital-based surgical practice. I watched as the environment of care for clinicians and the quality of the relationship between the medical staff and system administration steadily deteriorated.

My small, single-specialty surgical group merged …

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Ageism and the mid-career physician

Physician voices

The bleak reality of racial disparity in surgical care

Sanjay Prasad, MD

August 15, 2021Aug 15, 2021

As a practicing surgeon for 30 years in the super-specialized field of otology, neurotology and skull base surgery, I have been privy to some of the most disturbing realities of surgical care. Often, these realities are bleaker than most people expect. One thing physicians, and the general population, need to be more aware of is the very real racial disparity in surgical care.

Are the outcomes for Black and Hispanic patients …

Conditions and diseases

You are not “asleep” under anesthesia

Edward R. Mariano, MD

August 5, 2021Aug 5, 20215

“You will be asleep for your surgery,” anesthesiologists often reassure their patients. Just before the start of anesthesia, a patient may hear the nurse saying, “Think of a nice dream as you go off to sleep.” While these statements are…

While these statements are intended to soothe patients during a stressful time, they gloss over this critical fact: Anesthesia is not like normal sleep at all. That’s why you need medical doctors – anesthesiologists – to take …

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You are not “asleep” under anesthesia

Medical education

Robotic surgery’s impact on training the next generation of surgeons

Barry Greene, MD

August 1, 2021Aug 1, 2021

While we’re not there yet, we may be approaching a point where we’re facing a significant skills shortage among surgeons. A 2017 study by Meritt Hawkins found that 52 percent of orthopedic surgeons were 55 and older, as were 48 percent of general surgeons. As many surgeons approach retirement age, there is a pressing need to up-skill and up-level the next generation of surgeons, especially with demand …

Physician voices

Our country needs a debridement: A South African physician reflects

Dr. Basil Stathoulis

July 30, 2021Jul 30, 2021

This week sees myself in the office only for a few hours. I decided to drive across the city yesterday to meet with supportive friends for lunch. All three of us are fully vaccinated. Along the way in the suburbs,…

This week sees myself in the office only for a few hours. I decided to drive across the city yesterday to meet with supportive friends for lunch. All three of us are fully vaccinated.

Along the way in the suburbs, there were still people parked at strategic barriers erected to prevent free movement into the suburbs. Some of the residents still stood guard. There was less traffic on the …

Physician voices

The medical team is at a breaking point

Dr. Basil Stathoulis

July 25, 2021Jul 25, 2021

It was a cold day in Durban. Sixteen degrees Celsius is cold for us on the East Coast of sub-tropical Africa. I had made a trip through the suburbs to drop something off for my theatre scrub sister. The roadblocks…

It was a cold day in Durban. Sixteen degrees Celsius is cold for us on the East Coast of sub-tropical Africa.

I had made a trip through the suburbs to drop something off for my theatre scrub sister. The roadblocks are manned by community commandos, most of who are my patients and it’s easy to pass through.

On the way back to the hospital, I passed a queue of cars more than …

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The medical team is at a breaking point

The Podcast by KevinMD

Pediatric patients need appropriate pain management after surgery [PODCAST]

The Podcast by KevinMD

June 29, 2021Jun 29, 2021

"We believe optimal postoperative pain management should provide adequate pain relief, minimize adverse effects, and reduce chances of drug misuse. While we cannot undertreat pain, we also cannot go back to the practice of over-prescribing or unnecessarily prescribing opioids for…

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“We believe optimal postoperative pain management should provide adequate pain relief, minimize adverse effects, and reduce chances of drug misuse. While we cannot undertreat pain, we also cannot go back to the practice of over-prescribing or unnecessarily prescribing opioids for minor operations. There needs to be a carefully nuanced balance in …

Surgery and surgeons

Articles, page 15

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