motto of a surgeon

[flaming_gypsy]

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eat fast, walk fast, think fast, die young!

 

[Alexander99]

I thought it was, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

 

[TRUE]

The one I heard was: "Sometimes wrong, never in doubt."

 

[JDAD]

The one I heard was: "Sometimes wrong, never in doubt."

I vote for this one.

 

[nikolai521]

I second a vote for "Sometimes wrong, never in doubt."

 

[Gleevec]

The one I heard was: "Sometimes wrong, never in doubt."

Ive heard that one too. Then again, having doubt is probably a really bad thing for a surgeon, at least during the surgery.

 

[TheFlash]

Actually, I think a healthy pinch of fear is necessary for good surgery. Atul Gawande argues that fearless, reckless surgeons end up harming their patients. Malpractice city.

 

[dreghsSC]

but if your sure of something its more likely that you will do a better job than when you are unsure of something. Confidence in surgery "never in doubt" is a good thing.

 

[scooter31]

i keep hearing dont mess with the pancreas.

then theres also sleep when you can,sit when you can, and eat when you can.

 

[Blake]

We're all crazy lunatics, aren't we ? 😀

 

[TRUE]

Actually, I think a healthy pinch of fear is necessary for good surgery. Atul Gawande argues that fearless, reckless surgeons end up harming their patients. Malpractice city.

Well, I actually got the quote from the book 🙂 I personally think that when a surgeon goes into the OR, he/she has to be perfectly focused on what needs to be done and has to completely trust his/her skills. You do not want a surgeon operating on your heart while they doubt whether or not they can actually fix whatever it is they're working on.

 

[Fusion]

"When in doubt, cut it out."

 

[akpete]

"When in doubt, cut it out."

this one gets my vote

 

[TRUE]

this one gets my vote

The problem with "when in doubt, cut it out" is that I'm not quite sure its accurate. The goal in surgery is to leave as much of the body intact as possible while curing the ailment...

 

[kinetic]

The problem with "when in doubt, cut it out" is that I'm not quite sure its accurate. The goal in surgery is to leave as much of the body intact as possible while curing the ailment...

(1) Don't take these mottos so literally (or seriously).
(2) If you don't get them, you can't be a surgeon.

 

[45408]

It's "Eat when you can, sleep when you can, and don't f*** with the pancreas."

 

[felipe5]

I've heard this motto dealing with the long procedures: "if you need to sit down to cut, you need to sit down to piss"

 

[TheFlash]

Well, I actually got the quote from the book 🙂 I personally think that when a surgeon goes into the OR, he/she has to be perfectly focused on what needs to be done and has to completely trust his/her skills. You do not want a surgeon operating on your heart while they doubt whether or not they can actually fix whatever it is they're working on.

Yes, excessive self-doubt is certainly an obstacle during surgey, but isn't a small amount of fear and self-doubt warranted? How many good surgeons have you run across that are 100% sure that they're always right during surgery? A surgeon should be confident, but not to the point where his/her confidence phases into bull-headed arrogance. This puts the patient's wellbeing at risk for the sake of a successful surgery. Just ask Ben Carson what happened to the Siamese twins he recently (unsuccessfully) tried to separate.

 

[i61164]

First, do no harm.

 

[TRUE]

Yes, excessive self-doubt is certainly an obstacle during surgey, but isn't a small amount of fear and self-doubt warranted? How many good surgeons have you run across that are 100% sure that they're always right during surgery? A surgeon should be confident, but not to the point where his/her confidence phases into bull-headed arrogance. This puts the patient's wellbeing at risk for the sake of a successful surgery. Just ask Ben Carson what happened to the Siamese twins he recently (unsuccessfully) tried to separate.

Point taken. However, I would think that during surgery, there aren't too many surgeons who question whether or not they have the skill and know-how on how to fix the problems at hand. They might make have too much confidence before the surgery in thinking they can fix something that they really can't (ben carson for instance), but once you're in the OR, you have to trust your own skills and be confident about them.

 

[TheFlash]

Point taken. However, I would think that during surgery, there aren't too many surgeons who question whether or not they have the skill and know-how on how to fix the problems at hand. They might make have too much confidence before the surgery in thinking they can fix something that they really can't (ben carson for instance), but once you're in the OR, you have to trust your own skills and be confident about them.

Word, I think that a surgeon should be completely confident in his operating skills. Whether he can be completely confident in the outcome/decision-making of the surgery is another story altogether. That's what Gawande's book is all about. 👍

 

[Neuronix]

"The only way to heal is cold hard steel."

A gastroenterologist told me this one: "Surgeons don't let skin stand between them and a diagnosis!"

 

[HollyJ]

I heard the "right or wrong, never in doubt" thing a lot when I was doing my EMT training. It doesn't really mean that you should be arrogant, it means that you have to make a decision and go with it, rather than continually wavering or failing to follow through with a course of action once you have determined that's what you should do (in the absence of contraindicating developments, of course). When so much is on the line, it gets pretty easy (I'd imagine) to scare yourself into a doubt spiral, which doesn't help anyone.

How about a chance to cut is a chance to heal?