Two Operating Rooms

Medicine evolves over time. Physicians strive to bring not only a cure but also care and compassion. Surgical experience, knowledge and technique are not commodities that can be sold or transferred. Surgery creates a strong and unique bond between the patient and surgeon. Even though there are assistants, nurses, anesthesiologists and others, the patient usually places his or her trust solely in the surgeon. This essential and mutual trust and faith are fostered by truth and dedication.

Our hospital, like many, allows surgeons to delegate parts of the procedure to assistants. The assistant may be a Physician Assistant, Surgeons in training or a professional surgical assistant. Sometimes, or frequently in a busy day, some surgical practices will have two procedures at the same time. The closure of one case occurs as another is beginning. This is called Running Two Rooms. This is not our practice. Your surgery will be performed from start to finish by me. I will not have another patient at the same time in another operating room. I will also perform your preoperative consultation and postoperative care. You will not need a blood transfusion with any of our elective procedures. You will have a quicker recovery (shorter hospitalization) than other patients in the northwest.

Increasingly patients are result oriented. We recommend you pick a surgeon that has published his or her results in the peer reviewed medical literature. The quality of peer reviewed information is much greater than claims made on websites. There is abundance information that has not been rigorously reviewed for scientific validity. More than half our patients come from out of the area (many from out of state) and they base their choice on our peer reviewed published outcomes.

Integrating new techniques is an exciting challenge. Patients and surgeons have high hopes that newer will be better. When there is early success; hope abounds. With the first reports of problems; hope falters. If there are reports of serious problems or toxicity; hope sinks. Over time, more experience allows the new treatment to find its rightful place, to settle into the middle ground between major advance and just another option. New techniques often become very valuable and they come from many sources, but medical truths do not come from social media.