Well, I'm not so good at "embedding" video, so here is the link to the visit I had this week to Fox 13 and great talk with Big Budah regarding surgical effectiveness for Diabetes, and the suitability of most 55-75 year olds for surgery. You would be surprised how many think they are too old or too sick - rarely the case in this group.
Fox 13 Health Fix Segment
So while I am blogging - I need to make up some ground from summer.
1-I am really excited about being in a practice (Bariatric Medicine Institute) that is so focused on Obesity, Diabetes and GERD care. What a wonderful team. Everything works together in a way I have not experienced before. Unity of purpose clarifies and strengthens our effectiveness.
2-Drs. Richards and Cottam are an amazing team in the OR. There has been news in the world of surgery about improving technique by reviewing "tape" the way athletes do. My residency colleagues in the Michigan Surgical Collaborative are key players in this. Even the best trained surgeon can grow and refine technique, and learn from others. I think my partners have had 6-7 years of coaching each other, just by working together on every case. This is no longer common - probably 90% of the work most surgeons do is without another surgeon in the room. Dr Atul Gawande wrote a great article about it last year in the New Yorker, with his own experience getting a formal "coach".
I have been blessed with many surgical mentors - and got to catch up with two of them recently. Dr James "Butch" Rosser is my Jedi master. He is my "Top Gun" program teacher (6 weeks in 2003) who made me what I am as a minimally invasive surgeon. Got to spend time at SAGES in SLC this spring and at his current hospital in Florida - always inspiring.
Got to go to Florida, and to California, and to Virginia to learn more advanced robotic techniques with Intuitive. We are already seeing benefits in hernia patients and in Sleeve Gastrectomy. Many thanks to those surgeons for opening their OR to educate!
The mentor who I have spent the most time with has never been in an OR with me. Dr Kelvin Higa was a "telesurgery" mentor during Top Gun training from his OR in Fresno, CA to our lab in NYC. He made several DVD's of entire operations - and these DVD's have been my touchstone - literally hundreds of complete viewing before ALL my first 100 cases, and with every surgical assistant, and before most revision cases. This is what it is supposed to look like! FINALLY this year I made my pilgrimage to his OR in Fresno - a THRILL! He is warm and caring, and skilled beyond belief. Not just gifted, he put in years of dedicated training to make it look so easy...
3-Endoluminal, incisionless techniques... I am a bit reluctant to talk much about this, because of FDA trial rules that I could accidentally break. Sorry if this is vague, but the GI Dynamics EndoBarrier trial has been fun to be involved in as an investigator, and now as a proctor-in-training. The engineers are expert, and the science is amazing.
4-The Salt Lake surgical community has been so welcoming, and there is a real vibrancy with all the research and teaching at every hospital, including our Salt Lake Regional home base. I have always been a bit intimidated with "urban, academic" medicine, and this is an unexpected delight!
5-Telemedicine. I got a nice taste of this in Billings, and am ever more convinced that these tools are ready to be used for care. We have to work out how, but we will! Look up VSee if you want a good start. It has privacy safeguards that Skype will not offer, and is pretty easy to download and run.
6-Both Sarah and Dudley (our Corgi) have had to take it easy last few months for orthopedic stuff - now comes a winter of rehab and training to get out and enjoy Utah next year! We will get out in the snow, too. The Kiteboarding community in Utah has been great, from the Spring gathering and online presence of Utah Windriders, to the Kiter's With Attitude Facebook group, and mostly just the folks at the water! I have gotten to ride at Utah Lake, Deer Creek, Rush, Sulphur reservoirs, and scoped out Willard and Pineview also. Rob Umstead gave a very nice boat supported lesson, too.
7-Last and most awesome - the Obesity Action Coalition and ASMBS have been really making a difference in every state. We are getting people mobilized and organized for Access to Care for all... You really should join OAC if the issue touches you in any way. The convention in Orlando was incredible, and I would put it at the top of anyone's list to come to San Antonio in August with us - it will change you! Drs Morton and English among many others in ASMBS are relentless advocates also - amazing to watch and try to pitch in.
Look for videos on YouTube - will try to post here, but get behind, and overwhelmed sometimes with the tech side.
No comments:
Post a Comment