From training appraisal to relocation, authors explore the neurosurgeon perspective in AANS Neurosurgeon’s The Mind of a Neurosurgeon. Prominent neurosurgeons discuss their unique experiences in a field in which few have the opportunity to work and thrive.
Changing Gears: Mid-Career Relocation as a Catalyst for Better Patient Care
Daniel Orringer, MD, FAANS
- Inspirational leadership; state-of-the-art facilities; a cumbersome electronic medical record; affiliation with a top-notch medical school; and a culture and history of excellence.
- Navigating geographic change – from Ann Arbor to New York.
- Navigating institutional change – evaluating essential components of a routine.
- A new team – leading with the patients’ interest in mind.
The Mindful Neurosurgeon and the Art of Doing What’s Right
Edward C. Benzel, MD, FAANS
- The desire for personal gratification, professional advancement and monetary gain can lead one to their neurosurgical calling.
- The mindful neurosurgeon does not look at a job from the perspective of the job being a commodity generator, but from the perspective of the job as a calling.
- Good leaders are selfless guides, reflective and empathetic.
- The truly mindful neurosurgeon values doing what is right over all else.
Building the Neurosurgical Mind: Critical Appraisal in Neurosurgical Training
Beverly C. Walters, MD
- Neurosurgical training goals focus on specialty knowledge acquisition, development of technical skills involving eye-hand coordination, learning how to collect important patient data and enhancement of critical thinking ability.
- Look at the structure of research that tries to promote changes in practice to develop skills in evaluation of data and to be able to decide, factually, whether the ideas are worthy of inclusion in clinical practice – or, more importantly, if they are not worthy.
- This basic concept of understanding the successes and failures of clinical research in our specialty and development of the ability to use data in the treatment of patients became known at the end of the twentieth century as evidence-based medicine.
Read More from The Mind of a Neurosurgeon.