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Advice to young neurosurgeons
ELSEVIER
Resident’s Corner
ADVICE
TO YOUNG
NEUROSURGEONS
As we enter into the 21st century, neurosurgery is facing major changes socially, economically, and scientifically. The advances in the scientific world have radically changed neurosurgery. A little over 20 years ago we were still doing as Dandy did by injecting air into the cavities of the brain to discern where lesions were. In the early 1970s the CT scanner came along, and in the early 1980s MRl came along and transformed the diagnosis of central nervous system disease. The computer has made life in the operating room so much easier. Tools such as the laser and the ultrasonic aspirator have allowed us much more readily to remove tumors. Ultrasound in the operating room and in infancy has made it easy to find lesions and to diagnose conditions. There has been a tremendous price to pay for this flood of technology that has descended on neurosurgery. With this tremendous cost there has been an effort to reduce costs because of the economic times that we are experiencing at the present time. Neither government nor employer or the individual can keep pace with the increasing cost of medical
care. Thus, the neurosurgeon who wiIl be starting his or her practice at the turn of the century will have to very carefully decide which is the best diagnostic test and which is the best method of management both for the patient and for the economic situation that we find ourselves in. Despite this, neurosurgery will continue to be an exciting, vibrant specialty that will only attract the very brightest women and men to our field. No matter how difficult the economic and social milieu will be, it will not be as difficult as the neurosurgeons who found themselves practicing neurosurgery over 60 years ago when diagnosis was frequently inaccurate and when economic times were far worse than they are at the present and will be in the future. Despite that the neurosurgeons of the past weathered through and built our specialty and were never despondent. I, therefore, feel that our new graduates will also flourish despite the changes in social and economic times. Harold J. HofFman Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Y
OU HAVE RICHES AND FREEDOM HERE BUT 1 FEEL NO SENSE OF FAITH OR DIRECTION. YOU HAVE SO MANY COMPUTERS, WHY DON’T YOU USE THEM IN THE SEARCH FOR LOVE?
QUOTED
0 1996 by Elsevier Science 655 Avenue of the Americas,
Inc. New York,
IN “DAILY
NY 10010
LECH WALESA (B. ON HIS FIRST VISIT OUT OF THE SOVIET TELEGRAPH” (LONDON; DECEMBER 14,
1943) BLOC 1988)
SD1
00903019/96/515.00 0090-3019(95)00306-O
Resident’s Corner
ADVICE
TO YOUNG
NEUROSURGEONS
As we enter into the 21st century, neurosurgery is facing major changes socially, economically, and scientifically. The advances in the scientific world have radically changed neurosurgery. A little over 20 years ago we were still doing as Dandy did by injecting air into the cavities of the brain to discern where lesions were. In the early 1970s the CT scanner came along, and in the early 1980s MRl came along and transformed the diagnosis of central nervous system disease. The computer has made life in the operating room so much easier. Tools such as the laser and the ultrasonic aspirator have allowed us much more readily to remove tumors. Ultrasound in the operating room and in infancy has made it easy to find lesions and to diagnose conditions. There has been a tremendous price to pay for this flood of technology that has descended on neurosurgery. With this tremendous cost there has been an effort to reduce costs because of the economic times that we are experiencing at the present time. Neither government nor employer or the individual can keep pace with the increasing cost of medical
care. Thus, the neurosurgeon who wiIl be starting his or her practice at the turn of the century will have to very carefully decide which is the best diagnostic test and which is the best method of management both for the patient and for the economic situation that we find ourselves in. Despite this, neurosurgery will continue to be an exciting, vibrant specialty that will only attract the very brightest women and men to our field. No matter how difficult the economic and social milieu will be, it will not be as difficult as the neurosurgeons who found themselves practicing neurosurgery over 60 years ago when diagnosis was frequently inaccurate and when economic times were far worse than they are at the present and will be in the future. Despite that the neurosurgeons of the past weathered through and built our specialty and were never despondent. I, therefore, feel that our new graduates will also flourish despite the changes in social and economic times. Harold J. HofFman Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Y
OU HAVE RICHES AND FREEDOM HERE BUT 1 FEEL NO SENSE OF FAITH OR DIRECTION. YOU HAVE SO MANY COMPUTERS, WHY DON’T YOU USE THEM IN THE SEARCH FOR LOVE?
QUOTED
0 1996 by Elsevier Science 655 Avenue of the Americas,
Inc. New York,
IN “DAILY
NY 10010
LECH WALESA (B. ON HIS FIRST VISIT OUT OF THE SOVIET TELEGRAPH” (LONDON; DECEMBER 14,
1943) BLOC 1988)
SD1
00903019/96/515.00 0090-3019(95)00306-O