By Raymond A. Wittstadt, MD, MPH

My career in health care has evolved over many years, beginning with my initial training as a nurse, which led to my work in an HMO with many industrial clients. I saw many traumatic injuries and when I decided to pursue a medical career, I knew that I wanted to be a hand surgeon. I have been very fortunate to have achieved that goal over the past thirty plus years.

While I enjoyed many of my rotations in medical school, my interest in hand surgery never wavered.

I think the field of hand surgery attracts a particular type of individual. This has been confirmed by my many years of training hand surgery fellows and reviewing the many applications to our hand fellowship. Medical training in any field requires certain character traits such as a willingness to undertake hard work as well as a basic commitment to help others in some way. But hand surgeons seem to take this tendency to another level.

All hand surgeons begin with a fascination for the anatomy of the hand and upper limb. The beautiful interplay of form and function, while applicable to the entire body, seems to be particularly wonderful in the hand. To quote one of my mentors, Dr. E. F. Shaw Wiligis, “The beauty of the human hand are inseparable from the expression of our humanity…to bend the natural world to our liking…to find meaning in existence.” To master this detailed anatomy and to want to be able to repair and restore its function is our most common reason for deciding to enter the field of hand surgery. The visible nature of hand injuries and the resultant dysfunction demands particular care in evaluation and treatment. This extreme attention to detail is another of the hand surgeons traits. I think this tends to promote the constant drive to look for new and better treatments for all hand conditions. With no disrespect to other fields of medicine and science, this drive promotes ongoing clinical and basic research, and a willingness to share the knowledge with colleagues. While making a living is important, I believe that many hand surgeons are more interested in providing the best possible treatment regardless of reimbursement.

Since I have not trained in other disciplines of medicine, I admit to a certain degree of bias, but my experiences with other hand surgeons, the Hand Societies, both local, national, and international, have shown a greater  tendency for cooperation and collegial interactions. The hand surgeons’ sense that the hand is so closely related to all human endeavors seems to be the guiding principle in all that we do!