By JJ Keyser, MD, FACS, MBA

In a strictly legal sense, to be a surgeon you need only a medical license, a patient, and perhaps a decent light source. To be an intelligent, safe surgeon you need, first, to have entered the field of medicine for all the right reasons and have become a good doctor, and second, to have had the appropriate specialty education, training and experience. To be a good hand surgeon you should possess “good hands”, i.e. surgical technique, and know well the anatomy in its 3-dimensions and its biomechanical efficiency.

How then to evolve from your already achieved greatness to be a “great” hand surgeon? The path is made easier by having had as a mentor a great hand surgeon;  we cannot all be the fortunate pupils of Bill Littler, or Bob Chase, or Guy Pulvertaft, or Dick Eaton. Nonetheless, all hand surgeons have within themselves the capacity to become greater hand surgeons.

Sterling Bunnell gave first shape to the concept that hand surgery extends beyond just operating on the upper extremity.  Great hand surgeons must be coalescent with vascular, orthopedic, plastic, and neurosurgeons.    

Always seek improvement. It is in the mindset of a great hand surgeon that there is something to be learned at every patient encounter and particularly at every operation. This mindset considers how to make carpal tunnel release number 300 even better than number 299. Pursue knowledge with integrity. Integrity without knowledge is useless; knowledge without integrity is dangerous.

A great hand surgeon is available both physically and emotionally, foremost for patients, but also for colleagues, therapists, and mentees. Listen to your patient. They will tell you what the problem is. Listen to your therapist telling you the right thing to do. Be able to communicate your plans. In discussing an operation, include at least a rudimentary drawing. Yes, a great hand surgeon has artistry within.  

If you have the above prerequisites, you have god-given or earned achievements and can help others attain  greatness. What will take you to an even “higher” plane of “greatness”? Well, passing on your knowledge and creatively improving surgical techniques is a good part of that. This comes with time, teaching and more communication to show other surgeons what you know. It is great if you can do that (and we all can).

Respectfully submitted (with a little help from my friends),
JJ Keyser, MD, FACS, MBA