I initially was attending an orthopaedic surgeon who had a fantastic reputation-I was referred by my GP and was toll by him and a few other people that he was a fantastic knee surgeon. After some tests I was told that the only thing left open to me was two new knees but I was too young to get them just now-devastated my Gp referred me for a second opinion in a different hospital. He agreed immediatelt to do my knees as he believed it was my current quality of life that was more important. I know nothing about this surgeon and again I've heard comments from others to say how wonderful my originional surgeon is and how lucky you are to get him. I'm now wondering if I've done the right thing and waht makes one surgeon so much better than another. Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
what makes a good surgeon?
- Thread starter Joanie
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United KingdomWell now, you've hit on a really good question there, Joanie.
First off, I wouldn't actually set much store by what 'other' people say. Even if they've been treated by him, they really know nothing! So they or someone they know had an op from him, it went well, the care was good and he was nice to them. Big deal! The only opinions I would give any credence to are those who have worked with him for some time and have worked with many others as well. If they go to him for their surgery, that that's a high recommendation. But sadly, you're hardly likely to be able to access those opinions!
In my experience there's quite a few answers to your question and it rather depends upon what you're looking for in the first place.
As a summary, most patients are looking for a man (or woman) who
1. is good at what (s)he does
2. has a proven record of high end successful outcomes
3. is pleasant to interact with and
4. who listens!!
What you have to bear in mind is that surgeons are not turned out, clone-like, all with the same standards and experience. Each one will have worked with a variety of senior surgeons in his training and early career, and from each he will have assimilated the techniques and opinions that seemed to make sense to him. To these he will add his own way of working on problems and reaching acceptable outcomes. Thus each surgeon is a unique output of his experience.
So what seems like a contradiction is just a difference in what that surgeon has been exposed to in the past, seasoned with his own opinion.
For instance, your first chap may have worked with someone who had some problems in the past and therefore learned to be leary of operating on younger people while the other chap probably worked with a surgeon who didn't have such reservations and thereby learned not to be put off by the prospect because he had good experiences in his training. So, they're both good surgeons, just working to different outlooks. Neither actually has a 'wrong' opinion - just different.
But - from your point of view, one didn't give you the opinion you were hoping for and the other did. Great that you had the chance to find the other guy and get what you wanted.
Much the same as I did - I discovered about the MIS TKRs just recently and also that they were unavailable in my region so I'm off back to my old hospital in London where the surgeon does do them! Like you, I'm hoping I'll get the answer I want! But it's by no means definite.
I hope that answers your question a little
First off, I wouldn't actually set much store by what 'other' people say. Even if they've been treated by him, they really know nothing! So they or someone they know had an op from him, it went well, the care was good and he was nice to them. Big deal! The only opinions I would give any credence to are those who have worked with him for some time and have worked with many others as well. If they go to him for their surgery, that that's a high recommendation. But sadly, you're hardly likely to be able to access those opinions!
In my experience there's quite a few answers to your question and it rather depends upon what you're looking for in the first place.
As a summary, most patients are looking for a man (or woman) who
1. is good at what (s)he does
2. has a proven record of high end successful outcomes
3. is pleasant to interact with and
4. who listens!!
What you have to bear in mind is that surgeons are not turned out, clone-like, all with the same standards and experience. Each one will have worked with a variety of senior surgeons in his training and early career, and from each he will have assimilated the techniques and opinions that seemed to make sense to him. To these he will add his own way of working on problems and reaching acceptable outcomes. Thus each surgeon is a unique output of his experience.
So what seems like a contradiction is just a difference in what that surgeon has been exposed to in the past, seasoned with his own opinion.
For instance, your first chap may have worked with someone who had some problems in the past and therefore learned to be leary of operating on younger people while the other chap probably worked with a surgeon who didn't have such reservations and thereby learned not to be put off by the prospect because he had good experiences in his training. So, they're both good surgeons, just working to different outlooks. Neither actually has a 'wrong' opinion - just different.
But - from your point of view, one didn't give you the opinion you were hoping for and the other did. Great that you had the chance to find the other guy and get what you wanted.
Much the same as I did - I discovered about the MIS TKRs just recently and also that they were unavailable in my region so I'm off back to my old hospital in London where the surgeon does do them! Like you, I'm hoping I'll get the answer I want! But it's by no means definite.
I hope that answers your question a little
MIS stands for Minimally Invasive Surgery. However, this can mean different things in different surgeon's vocabulary.
This picture shows one difference between the two The red line is the traditional approach and the blue the (so-called) MIS approach.
![[Bonesmart.org] what makes a good surgeon?](https://bonesmart.org/forum/attachments/ai21-photobucket-com_albums_b286_flagady15_bones_quads-jpg.59225/ "[Bonesmart.org] what makes a good surgeon?")
You can read more about it broken link removed: https://www.orthop.washington.edu/uw/tabID__3376/print__full/ItemID__7/mid__0/Articles/Default.aspx.
This picture shows one difference between the two The red line is the traditional approach and the blue the (so-called) MIS approach.
You can read more about it broken link removed: https://www.orthop.washington.edu/uw/tabID__3376/print__full/ItemID__7/mid__0/Articles/Default.aspx.
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