Brawn, meet brains
Even though I've been pretty sure for a while that I wanted to go into Orthopaedic Surgery, I was concerned up until recently that there wouldn't be much clinical decision-making involved. Just cutting and sawing. There are a few reasons I thought this, but primarily I think it's due to the perception other clinicians have about surgeons, that they're "all brawn and no brain." Well, I've now completed 4 months of Orthopaedics electives and I can safely say I'm not concerned in the least. There is PLENTY of clinical decision-making involved in being an Orthopaedic Surgeon. I would argue there's just as much as in any other medical field. I found during these electives that, to my surprise, not every patient that walks in the door complaining of knee pain gets a Total Knee. Maybe they almost all do eventually, but there's lots of evaluation and calculation to be done before a patient can be indicated for surgery. Yes, if they're 7...