I hear this question quite frequently. Whether it be from my medical student mentees or from the residents and fellows I teach. The answer is that I love orthopedics for many reasons.
For one, the fact I help improve a patient’s quality of life is immeasurable. Patient’s goals always vary from returning to sports, to being able to walk pain free. The important thing for me to focus on is helping people achieve these goals and to get back to a more active lifestyle.
Another reason is that I have autonomy. I can work when I want and take time off when I want. Many of my friends have high powered jobs, but their time at work is not within their control. With that being said, if my patients need me, I don’t like spending too much time away. If a patient is injured, they should be seen within a few days.
Third, I really like using my hands. Surgery is technically demanding at times and it’s rewarding to get the job done just right.
Finally, I like the variety within my patient population. It’s great meeting a wide range of individuals and I have even taken care of families before where I helped three generations, each varying in different orthopedic needs.
Every patient has a different story, but that’s what keeps my job so interesting. I am happy with what I do and enjoy spreading my knowledge and experiences.
Transcript
[Music] words can't totally explain how much she meant to me because she fixed the thing that I thought was unfixable I had been told was unfixable you're going to a doctor who's confident who knows what they're looking at who's able to give you the right kind of guidance and the right care I can very often bring my patients back to a level where they can ski again or they can play tennis again and for some of my patients they can go up and down stairs again and these are things that we sometimes take for granted the day I went in and when I finally took the brace off I walked 20 steps and I was like I do this and then that was the beginning of getting back and realizing I'm gonna be back in the game my specialty within orthopedics and sports medicine what that means is that I do shoulder and knee surgery but my passion is patellofemoral disorders i co-founded with my partner patellofemoral Center at the Hospital for Special Surgery something that's really important to me as a doctor is making my patients feel comfortable it's pretty scary to have surgery and it's pretty scary to be injured I have a team that works with me that is amazing meaning the most important thing about when I hire an employee is that they're nice and that patients feel comfortable with them and the thing goes for me I never felt that she rushed through any of the detailed explanations that she gave me and obviously should perform two successful surgeries on me that got me back on my feet I have three kids three girls their ages 13 13 and 15 and theft's twins the most rewarding part of my job is getting people back to the things they want to do having patients see me in clinic three months six months a year after surgery and say gosh I never thought I'd ride a horse again and I'm back riding a horse or I used to get up from a table and worried that I was gonna stumble because my knees hurt so much and now I get up and I don't even think about it so it can be a huge range of what patients are telling me but having a job where people say thank you all day long is pretty often [Music]
