JHS Focus – Page 5 – A blog from the Journal of Hand Surgery.

Gray-Haired Consult

·August 24, 2017
·Ryan Zimmerman, MD
·0 Comments

Don’t get me wrong. I have a smart watch, an iPhone and an iPad, and my emails, photos and passwords are all synced. I have more digital textbooks than I could ever read and I’m a regular Hand-e visitor. But despite having even more technology at my fingertips, my first two years in practice have imparted a profound appreciation for…

Career Path

Successfully Navigating Part II of the ABOS

·August 10, 2017
·Julie B. Samora, MD, PhD
·0 Comments

It’s 4 am, and it’s the third time I’ve woken up in my room at the Chicago Palmer House Hilton Hotel. I’m deciding whether to get up now, or try to get a little more sleep before my ABOS Part II examination. In the end, I decide to get out of bed, shower, and do some last minute case reviews…

Career Path

Mobility in Medicine

·June 28, 2017
·Felicity Fishman, MD
·0 Comments

It is estimated that an orthopaedic surgeon will change his or her job approximately 2-3 times during the span of their career, which seems relatively infrequent in comparison to other professions. It has been quoted that 54% of physicians change their jobs within the initial 2 to 5 years of practice. This would imply, that after the first job change,…

Patient Communication

[Un]Informed Consent?

·May 25, 2017
·Daniel A. Osei, MD, MSc
·0 Comments

“Do I need this trigger finger release?” “Should I treat my distal radius fracture in a cast or have plates and screws placed?” “What is the long term risk if I choose not to have my painful TFCC tear repaired?” The process of obtaining informed consent is an ethical obligation central to the process of counseling a patient about his…

Community

The Value of Camaraderie

I am very lucky to have a group of 50 hand surgeons, all of similar vintage out of fellowship, who are part of a travelling hand club. Multiple such clubs exist. We meet for drinks and discussion at the ASSH Annual Meeting, often at AAHS, PRS and AAOS meetings, and then have an “away” meeting on a yearly basis. We…

Patient Communication

How do you care for your patients?

·April 26, 2017
·Andrea S. Bauer, MD
·0 Comments

Dr. Francis Peabody’s well-known quote from The Care of the Patient states “the secret of the care of the patient is in caring for the patient.” I would like to think about this quote in a little more depth in the context of the increasing modernization of medical records. A few weeks ago, my department “upgraded” our electronic medical record…

Emergency Care

Hand Surgeon on Call

·April 12, 2017
·Deana Mercer, MD
·2 Comments

Hand microvascular trauma call is uncomfortable. To awaken at 1:23 am, treat hand-saw injuries until 5:08 pm, and then freshen up to start the elective hand practice at 7 am is not easy. It’s particularly difficult when the load of trauma call falls on few. In the typical life of a surgeon who takes call and cares for upper-extremity trauma,…

Clinical

50 Years of Orthopaedic Progress

·March 29, 2017
·Noah M. Raizman, MD, MFA
·0 Comments

One of my mentors, well into his 70s at the time of my fellowship, when presented with a dorsal ganglion, still presented the traditional option of hitting it with a book. I saw him do it just once, but he flashed a grin, said, “I have a special book for this,” went back to his office and returned with an…

Diversity

Mindbugs In Medicine

·January 25, 2017
·Felicity Fishman, MD
·0 Comments

There is a concept proposed in a book I recently read of the “mindbug,” which the authors define as “ingrained habits of thought that lead to errors in how we perceive, remember and make decisions” (Banaji, M; Greenwald, Anthony. Blindspot. New York, Random House, 2013). Through a series of tests that time the subject’s ability to associate different words to…

Diversity

The Power of Team Science

·January 10, 2017
·Jennifer F. Waljee, MD
·1 Comment

Science, particularly in medicine and surgery, is increasingly a team sport. In fact, both public and private funding agencies have established explicit funding avenues to promote individuals to work together across disciplines to move forward the research questions most pressing to our healthcare system. The Science of Team Science (SciTS) has now evolved as a unique discipline centered on defining…