Clinical

Can we measure physicians and adjust pay according to their performance? – Part 1

We love ranking and rating things and have come to rely on them. What’s the highest ranked college that your kid can get into? Which restaurant has the best Yelp review?  Which beach did TripAdvisor rank as the best in the world? Rankings and ratings are increasingly permeating healthcare, too. US News and World Report already releases annual and ‘scientific’…
Clinical

Eponyms and the Synthetic Genitive Case: How to Have Yours

generic viagra www.industryrecycling.com By William J. Knaus, MD, Nicholas Caggiano, MD, and Matthew L. Iorio, MD Confusion regarding the appropriate use of apostrophes in medical eponyms is pervasive in medicine.  They are used to denote someone who had the disease (e.g., “Bennett’s fracture”), an occupation associated with the disease (e.g., “gamekeeper’s thumb”), or an homage to a description of the…
Career Path

What’s in a Name? Or a Title?

Recent events including “retirement” and a successful run for the Georgia state Senate have caused me to think about my various names and titles. Although married professional women frequently have name decisions to make, all of us are identified as “Doctor”. How much of our personhood is wrapped up in that professional title as well as other titles accumulated along…
Community

Gray-Haired Consult

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

Mobility in Medicine

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,…
Emergency Care

Hand Surgeon on Call

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,…