Patient Safety in Surgery

With an estimated 300,000 million surgical procedures performed globally every year, there is a risk that the high-volume routine may dilute a true patient-centric approach towards performing “just another surgical case” as opposed to viewing each patient as an individual human being. The current featured article represents a compelling personal testimonial from a colleague at Isfahan University of Medical Sciences in Iran. 

The article provides an imperative to restore our own perspective as surgeons towards a “human-centered approach” by caring for each patient as we would care for our own loved ones and family members. This correspondence represents a much needed level-setting reminder of why most of us chose medicine as a calling in the first place – to lead a life of purpose by restoring the health and lives of others. By attempting to understand each patient as an individual human being with their own respective fears, hopes, and expectations, we may ultimately restore our own joy of practicing medicine in the present age of modern technology dominated healthcare in the 21^st century.