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Category: August 2019

This month, we asked members to tell us what keeps them up at night. Do fears of failure and cases gone wrong drive worry deep into the night? Although the prompt itself inevitably spurs negative thoughts, our members were able to put positive spins on their anxieties and concerns.

Patient Safety Scenario #14: Rocket Fuel

This essay is the fourteenth installment of the monthly Patient Safety essays, produced by the Patient Safety Subcommittee of the Ethics and Professionalism Committee. The essays are written in the spirit of the aviation industry’s “Black Box Thinking” in order to inform and improve our medical safety record. To read earlier essays and learn how to […]

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Making Injections Less Painful

By R.D. Beckenbaugh, MD Hand surgeons in general have the knowledge to properly administer injections of lidocaine and/or medications for treatment of minor surgical procedures or inflammation of tendons in the hand and upper extremity. Unfortunately, many are not skilled in performing these injections with the least amount of discomfort possible. To achieve a minimally painful […]

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What Wakes Me Up Early?

By Efrain Farias-Cisneros, MD, PhD “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” – Benjamin Franklin. When I was kindly asked to write down something with the topic, “What keeps me up at night?” for this forum, I wasn’t sure I had something useful to share with the community. […]

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Waiting for Transfers

By Devesh Sharma, MD Working in a rural tertiary care hospital and being the only hand surgeon in an 80-mile radius is both challenging and interesting. After the enforcement of new state laws, prescription drug abuse has decreased significantly. But unfortunately, the use of methamphetamine has skyrocketed. So is the use of intravenous drug abuse […]

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The Perfectionists

By Owolabi Adebayo Shonuga, MD As surgeons, we are tasked with fixing anatomic conditions. The capacity to fix a tangible problem can be an extremely rewarding experience, yet it can also serve as a driving force behind sleepless nights when complications arise or results fall short of desired outcomes. It is said that surgeons are […]

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Taking Call in Underserved Communities

By M. Lance Tavana, MD Working at a large Level 1 trauma academic center, many of my call nights over the past several years have been spent taking care of trauma patients from both the local as well as the regional area. As South Carolina is a fairly rural state with a significant amount of […]

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Worth the Loss of Sleep

By Dan A. Zlotolow, MD We all know the feeling of a case that has gone well. High-fives all around and the proud moment talking to family and telling them that everything went great. At the first post-op visit, you see the patient’s name on your schedule and you smile. You look forward to going […]

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