who has a great sense of direction, driving in the dark in an unfamiliar part
of town, and yet, still knows the way home.
A phenomenal surgeon has vision, poise, insight, skilled hands and
(surprisingly) humility. Poise is what the “clutch” player has who actually
wants the ball at the end of the game. When the airline pilot Chesley
“Sully” Sullenberger realized his aircraft was doomed as his first officer
was taking off from LaGuardia, he calmly said, “My aircraft.” His first
officer, following protocol, said, “Your aircraft.” Every pilot, surgeon, and
true leader who heard that story nodded to him or herself in knowing
agreement. Surgeons who throw massive tantrums in the OR (there are
many) usually betray the fact that they do not do well under pressure, and
the “macho” display is actually an admission that their nerves also do not
do well under pressure.
Insight is a way of incorporating all your teaching from a very diverse
group of mentors and specialists in many different disciplines, and
accessing it, sometimes on the fly, to critically problem solve. Skilled
hands—truly gifted hands—are characterized by naturally tremor-free
control, powerful yet dexterous, elegant and sensitive to touch yet able to
make rapid, precise moves. A cross between Itzhak Perlman and Norm
Abrams. Humility rounds it out. Knowing when you are at the limits of
your powers, when another surgeon is better at a particular procedure,
when you were wrong—and admitting it.
Finally, the best sports medicine practitioners today all have one thing
in common: an overwhelming ability to communicate to their patients “all
will be well.” This is usually accompanied by physical touch: a comforting
pat, a solemn reassurance.
To those who were blessed to be in his sphere, Dr. Jobe was all things.
The groundbreaking elbow operation was performed at Centinela
Hospital on September 25, 1974, but it can be hard to know what happened
forty-five years ago in an operating room in Inglewood, California. I was
fortunate to know both Dr. Jobe and Tommy John, but we also have a
detailed report in a 1986 publication. The Journal of Bone and Joint
Surgery (JBJS) is the bible of orthopedics, and although it is surprising
that it took over a decade to publish “Reconstruction of the Ulnar
Collateral Ligament in Athletes,” Drs. Jobe, H. Stark, and S. J. Lombardo
give us interesting tidbits about the important operation in 1974. Typically,
medical journal articles are exceptionally dry reading, and even case
marcin
(Marcin)
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