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Association for Academic Surgery Presidential Address Episode VI: The Return of the Surgeon

2009; Elsevier BV; Volume: 156; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1016/j.jss.2009.02.001

1095-8673

Herbert Chen,

Healthcare cost, quality, practices

As a young boy growing up in rural Wisconsin, 1977 was a special year. In that year, the original STAR WARS movie was released. I must have watched it five to six times that year. Since then a total of six episodes have been filmed, which detail the struggles of the good Jedi Knights against the evil Empire. During this address, I want to illustrate the similarities between the Jedi Knight in the Star Wars series and modern day surgeons. As the Jedi utilized high tech light sabers to battle against the evil Dark Sith, surgeons utilize high tech laparoscopes and robots to battle against evil human diseases and pathology (Fig. 1). In fact, both Jedi and surgeons are generally extremely talented at cutting. In Episode III: the Rise of the Empire, the Jedi almost undergo extinction, when the Empire slays virtually all Jedi knights. Similarly and unfortunately, surgeons in the United States today are almost undergoing extinction. We are facing a vast shortage of surgeons in our hospitals across this country