“Medicine is a form of art.” Those are the words my grandfather told me as I embarked on my journey through medical school. Medicine resembles literature; we, physicians, enter into people’s lives, and we become part of their life tal…
Category: surgery
If surgery is so precise, why are we leaving outcomes up to chance?
It is well known that today there is significant variability in surgical outcomes – not only in different parts of the world, but even within the hospital. And, little understanding as to why. While video is becoming a key component of surgery, u…
A Surgeon’s Knot: the realities of a surgical internship [PODCAST]
Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes! We sit down with William Lynes, a urologist and author of A Surgeon’s Knot, as we delve into the captivating narrative of the highs and lows of a surgical internship…
Heart-stopping brain surgery: a surgeon’s harrowing dilemma
An excerpt from of Paint and Pancakes. The epicenter of Jane’s cancer occupied some very expensive real estate between Broca’s area and the motor strip. Her ability to speak and form coherent words resided in Broca’s. A little further…
How a ruptured spleen saved a life
Of the many thousand operations I did in my surgical career, most were life-improving rather than life-saving. To me, life-saving implies immediate or imminent risk of death: gunshot wounds, stabbings, gastrointestinal bleeding or perforations, punctur…
The secret superstitions of surgeons: How rituals impact surgical success
“Man is a dupeable animal. Quacks in medicine, quacks in religion, and quacks in politics know this, and act upon that knowledge. There is scarcely anyone who may not, like a trout, be taken by tickling…there is scarcely a disease for which a cha…
Unleash your healing superpower: Sorting emotions in health care
We don’t always choose to tap into the power of our emotions. Our reluctance frequently comes from our background, as the transformation required to channel our feelings is uncomfortable, forcing us to examine our biases and sit with them. Even t…
Taylor Swift in the operating room: the surgeon who found strength in song
Every surgeon dreams of the day when they’ll wield the cold steel of the scalpel independently. Of the day they’ll see their name on the daily operating room (OR) schedule. Of the day they’ll be the one leading the surgery team. Of th…
Tragic turn in the OR: A rookie doctor’s race against time
An excerpt from A Surgeon’s Knot. The phone jarred Jackson Cooper, MD’s weary, anxious brain into consciousness from the edge of sleep. He jumped up, dropping the receiver on the cold floor of the call room. “Hello,” he said, te…
5 days, 5 minutes: life-changing daily habits for health care professionals
It’s no secret that health care workers are some of the most stressed and burned-out professionals in the workforce. Health care was a tough job even before we had to bear the brunt of the worst of the pandemic. Even now that we’re nearly f…
