JHS Focus – Page 6 – A blog from the Journal of Hand Surgery.

“New Year’s” Resolutions

·June 4, 2018
·Felicity Fishman, MD
·3 Comments

Unlike residency and fellowship, which are typically divided into discrete rotations or blocks; the passage of time in practice seems to flow in a relatively unobstructed fashion. Certainly the long winter drags on and business inevitably picks up as summer arrives, indicating the change of season. But, without distinct check points throughout the year, it is easy to forget to…

Clinical

What is quality health care?

“Improving the quality of care is the best way to decrease cost of care.” Dr. Raja Sabapathy at Ganga Hospital in India said this to me a few weeks ago. He is one of those unique individuals that truly practices what he preaches. His hospital has grown through leaps and bounds and is establishing itself as a Mecca throughout the…

Community

Learning from Colleagues

·April 16, 2018
·Noah M. Raizman, MD, MFA
·0 Comments

I am the only hand surgeon in my practice. While I talk with my partners often about shoulder and elbow cases and provide advice for them when they are initially managing hand and wrist patients, I have no one in my practice to bounce ideas off of when it comes to hand surgery. I think often of my upbringing in…

Clinical

The Science Behind Crazy O.R. Rituals

·March 13, 2018
·Ryan Zimmerman, MD
·0 Comments

Everybody has them. If you think you’re an exception, ask your PA, scrub or circulator and get ready to be surprised. I’m talking about bizarre little rituals in the operating room. They’re usually innocuous, arbitrary habits, but if neglected, make the entire case feel “off”. Maybe you always have to be the one to clip the tourniquet towel; maybe it’s…

Career Path

What is the purpose of retirement?

·February 27, 2018
·D. Kay Kirkpatrick, MD
·0 Comments

Many doctors are increasingly frustrated about the bureaucratic and regulatory environment of physician practice. For those who are nearing retirement age, it is tempting to “hang it up” early to escape the stress of a job that has lost its fun. Since younger physicians are frequently much more adept at the use of EHR’s and other forms of technology, they…

Clinical

Is a perfect practice obtainable?

·February 13, 2018
·Julie B. Samora, MD, PhD
·0 Comments

When I was a resident, one of my attendings sat me down and tried to elucidate what he considered my “unreasonable” expectations for excellence and perfection. He asked me how many patients I planned to see each year and to write this number down (I proceeded to write “4,000”, a complete guess). He then asked me whether I was going…

Work/Life Balance

Treating, Not Ignoring, Our Own Aches and Pains

·January 18, 2018
·Amar Arun Patel, MD
·3 Comments

As hand and upper extremity surgeons, our goal is to make sure that every patient leaves with a well- formulated treatment plan to make their daily aches and pains go away. Between whipping in and out of examination rooms, we often overlook the simple suggestion that could help jump start rehabilitation for the car mechanic with a two- month history…

Community

How can we move the needle on an under-performing team?

·December 12, 2017
·Matthew M. Tomaino, MD, MBA
·1 Comment

Over the past several years I have actively cultivated my appreciation of what interferes with optimal team performance, and spent a considerable amount of time investigating possible solutions. I had the privilege recently to lead a workshop on team development with the Wake Forest Orthopaedic residents, and it became very clear to me that encountering conflict on teams during the…

Community

Conflict on your Team: Dismissed, Deplored or Discussed?

·November 15, 2017
·Matthew M. Tomaino, MD, MBA
·0 Comments

I attended the annual meeting of Team STEPPS in Cleveland in June. STEPPS stands for Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety. The initiative has been developed by the Department of Defense, and superbly practiced within most, if not all, army health centers. For any one not familiar with its key principles, it’s worth checking out the Agency…

Community

Collaboration in Science

·November 1, 2017
·Andrea S. Bauer, MD
·1 Comment

On July 4, 2012, scientists at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider announced they had found the Higgs Boson – a fundamental particle underpinning the Standard Model of particle physics. The existence of this particle had been theorized by Peter Higgs in the 1960s but was never “found” until the CERN experiments. This was a big deal for particle physics. The Standard…