By Nick Iannuzzi, MD

As surgeons, we are privileged. It may be possible to lose sight of our privilege during the daily toil of charting and calling for peer-to-peer authorizations; however, patients seek our help in periods of weakness and discomfort. They find us in their most vulnerable moments and ask us to cut them, to remove bones, to reposition tendons, or to append plates or screws to their skeletons. Patients surrender to anesthesia under the cold glare of operating room lights in order to find wellness. 

Our interactions with patients are built on trust, and development of this trust requires that we lessen our patients’ vulnerability. We can provide patients with knowledge of their condition and an understanding of the expected outcomes and restrictions following surgery. As surgeons, we can maintain awareness of our skills and limitations in order to ensure that a patient’s expectations are not beyond what we are able to deliver. Ultimately, we can take the time to recognize the physical and emotional toll that illness has taken upon our patients. We can be compassionate.

Carlos Pelligrini, a former president of the American College of Surgeons, described the physician-patient relationship as an arch. The physician is one pillar and the patient the other. Trust links these two pillars and forms the keystone of this arch. Surgery is an art that we are fortunate to practice, but it is an art that requires a patient. We must appreciate and foster our patients’ trust as we practice our profession, lest this arch deteriorate and collapse.