“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” – Diane Ackerman Nathan picks up a pen from the tray next to the dry erase boards. “OK,” he s…
Category: surgery
Medical students and physicians are forever looking to milestones
“I don’t want to get to the end of my life and find that I lived just the length of it. I want to have lived the width of it as well.” – Diane Ackerman Nathan picks up a pen from the tray next to the dry erase boards. “OK,” he s…
Excellent surgeons those who are quick to recognize their mistakes
“Dr. Rahman, this is the nurse in OR 12, Dr. H is doing a robotic/laparoscopic hysterectomy. He thinks he’s injured the ureter and is requesting help. Are you available?” I knew what came next was going to be complex — challenging surgically, disruptiv…
The challenge of no to arthroscopic surgery
Nearly half of Canadians aged 65 and over experience osteoarthritis in their knees. Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis and occurs when the protective cartilage on the ends of bones wears down over time leading to pain, stiffness and de…
Physicians sacrifice a lot to deliver care. Technology shouldn’t ask for more.
I had a great case the other night. Around midnight on a Friday, the hospitalist physician called me to evaluate an incarcerated femoral hernia. I thought this elderly and medically ill patient would likely die no matter what I did. I spent a grim half…
A surgeon mistakes a kidney for a tumor. How can this happen?
A number of media outlets recently featured a story about a Florida general surgeon who removed a normal kidney from a woman who was undergoing spine surgery. How could this have occurred? The 51-year-old patient who had been injured in a car crash was…
What a kitten taught me about critical care
I recently read an article entitled “The family said, ‘Do everything.’” It described the case of an elderly patient at the end-stage of life. The article concluded that “If your loved one has reached an end-stage of life, do the right thing. Let them d…
Lead your health care organization toward a culture of sustainability
On a recent vacation, I went out to eat at a small, out-of-the-way restaurant we always visit on our trips to the Outer Banks. There, I spotted a poster on the wall explaining why the cafe no longer uses plastic bags or plastic straws: to keep the mate…
A beloved mentor falls
I walk by the closed double doors and frosty windows of the ICU. You’re lying in there, intubated. It feels weird to go to work now. I can’t see you or talk to you, don’t know the drips, don’t know the plan … and it’s killing me. I, along with ma…
How urologists can be more sensitive to male patients
Most urology practices in the United States do not employ male nurses or assistants, even in larger cities. This is a serious problem because approximately 75 percent of urology patients are male. Often people wrongly assume that men don’t care a…
