Connection key to good health
IN LIFE, it can be very helpful to give oneself honest answers to the questions: what am I doing, and why am I doing it?
I live on the Sunshine Coast and am an Orthopaedic Surgeon. I came to the Sunshine Coast for the great opportunities for my family and me. I chose Orthopaedics because the intellectual and physical elements of the career were rewarding and because it is one of the medical specialties that most improves the quality of life for people.
Almost all of us will end up as patients needing healthcare. I have in the past, as have members of my family. This experience of being a patient, or their next of kin, informs how I approach my role as a surgeon. I aim to provide the care that I would wish myself or my family to receive and be part of a healthcare community that has that as its standard.
We live in an era of increasingly sophisticated technologies, such as computer-modelling, 3-D printing, artificial intelligence, and robotics. All of which, if used ethically, can improve our effectiveness at doing our jobs.
Orthopaedics is no exception.
I feel fortunate to have tools and implants at my disposal, and technology to improve the accuracy and reliability of their use in operations, that my predecessors could only find in science fiction.
But technology should serve the humans. People need time to explain their story, be accurately diagnosed, helped to understand their disease, its course, and the treatment options they have. I enjoy meeting people in this process. I value community and connection. That is why I sponsor the Sunshine Coast Symphony Orchestra – music connects people.
As healthcare becomes more complex, and outside interests pressure Australia towards depersonalised American-style Managed Care, patients need to be treated as people, not data points and funding sources.
That is what I want for my family and me.
sunshinecoastjointsurgery.com.au
