The Operative Word

In this episode, Thomas K Varghese, Jr, MD, FACS, is joined by Serena Lofftus, MD, and James Wu, MD, FACS, from UCLA. They discuss Drs Lofftus and Wu’s recent article, “Patient-Based Decision Making for Opioid Prescriptions After Ambulatory Breast Operation: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” which evaluated whether incorporating patient choice into postoperative prescribing decisions could reduce opio...

In this episode, Lillian Erdahl, MD, FACS, is joined by Pringl Miller, MD, FACS, from Physican Just Equity, and Christine Heisler, MD, FACS, from the Mayo Clinic Health System. They discuss Drs Miller and Heisler’s recent article, “Whether and How Surgeons Took Action Against Workplace Microaggression: Survey of American College of Surgeons Members,” in which the authors found that the most freque...

In this episode, Thomas K Varghese, Jr, MD, FACS, is joined by Carrie Chan, MSN, MPH, from the University of California, San Francisco, and Karthik Balakrishnan, MD, FACS, from Stanford Medicine Children’s Health. They discuss their recent article, “Development, Validation, and Comparison of Machine Learning Models for Predicting Pediatric Surgical Site Infections Using the NSQIP-P Database,” whic...

In this episode, Thomas K Varghese, Jr, MD, FACS, is joined by Laurie J Kirstein, MD, FACS, from Memorial Sloan Kettering. They discuss Dr Kirstein’s recent article , “Results of an American College of Surgeons Prospective National Quality Improvement Collaborative to Successfully Overcome Barriers to Cancer Care Across the US,” in which 194 American College of Surgeons (ACS)-accredited cancer pro...

In this episode, Lillian Erdahl, MD, FACS, is joined by Jessica Liu, MD, MS, MPH, from the Department of Surgery, Harbor UCLA Medical Center. They discuss Dr Liu’s recent article , “Identifying Diagnostic Gaps and Mitigation Strategies for Older Adult Emergency General Surgery Patients: A Scoping Review,” in which the authors identified the current diagnostic issues, clinical tools, and clinician...

In this episode, JACS Editor-in-Chief Tom Varghese, MD, FACS, and Digital Media Editor Lillian Erdahl, MD, FACS, review 6 impactful articles from the past year, highlighting key themes shaping modern surgical practice. Dr Erdahl focuses on the surgeon as a subject, discussing research on moral distress, second-victim syndrome, health policy challenges, and peer surgical coaching. Dr Varghese then...

In this episode, Tom Varghese, MD, FACS, is joined by Ziad Sifri, MD, FACS, from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, and Matthew Linz, MD, from Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. They discuss Drs Sifri and Linz’s recent article , “Postoperative Pain Management in the US vs Low- and Middle-Income Countries by US Surgeons,” in which they found that surgeons in the US prescribe significantly...

In this episode, Lillian Erdahl, MD, FACS, is joined by Eilidh Gunn, MBChB MRCSEd, from the Surgical Sabermetrics Laboratory at the University of Edinburgh. They discuss Dr Gunn’s recent article , “What About the Coach? Mixed-Methods Study Assessing the Experience of Coaches in a Peer Surgical Coaching Program.” As peer-led surgical coaching becomes an increasingly popular professional development...

In this episode, Lillian Erdahl, MD, FACS, is joined by Jordan Rook, MD, from UCLA, and Lorraine Kelley-Quon, MD, FACS, from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and Keck School of Medicine of USC. They discuss Drs Rook and Kelley-Quon’s recent article , “Expanding the Public Health Role of Pediatric Trauma Centers: Drug Screening for Adolescent Trauma Patients,” in which the authors found that biochem...

In this episode, Tom Varghese, MD, FACS, is joined by Timothy Pawlik, MD, FACS, from The Ohio State University. They discuss Dr Pawlik’s recent article , “Association of Discharge Against Medical Advice with Surgical Outcomes and Healthcare Cost,” in which the authors found that discharge against medical advice (DAMA) among surgical patients is associated with increased 30-day readmission, complic...

In this episode, Lillian Erdahl, MD, FACS, is joined by Stephanie M Jensen, MD, MPH, and A Britt Christmas, MD, MBA, FACS, from the Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC. They discuss the recent article by Drs Jensen and Christmas, “Association of State Helmet Laws with Helmet Use and Injury Outcomes in Motorcycle Crashes,” in which the authors analyzed a decade of motorcycle collision data from...

In this episode, Tom Varghese, MD, FACS, is joined by Brett Johnson, MD, and Clifford Ko, MD, FACS, from the American College of Surgeons (ACS). They discuss the recent article by Drs Johnson and Ko, “Evaluating Outcomes of Initial Site Visits Across American College of Surgeons Accreditation Programs,” in which the authors found that ACS accreditation identifies significant gaps in hospital quali...

In this episode, Tom Varghese, MD, FACS, is joined by Todd Heniford, MD, FACS, and Alexis Holland, MD, from the Carolinas Medical Center. They discuss the recent article by Drs Heniford and Holland, “Limited or Lasting: Is Preoperative Weight Loss as Part of Prehabilitation Maintained after Open Ventral Hernia Repair?” This study supports the implementation of preoperative optimization and weight...

In this episode, Tom Varghese, MD, FACS, is joined by Haytham Kaafarani, MD, MPH, FACS, and Vahe Panossian, MD, from the Department of Surgery, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. They discuss the recent article by Drs Kaafarani and Panossian, “Validation of Artificial Intelligence-Based POTTER Calculator in Emergency General Surgery Patients Undergoing Laparotomy: Prospecti...

In this episode, Lillian Erdahl, MD, FACS, is joined by Judy Boughey, MD, FACS, from the Mayo Clinic Rochester Department of Surgery. They discuss Dr Boughey’s recent article , “American College of Surgeons Cancer Programs Annual Report from 2021 Participant User File.” This inaugural annual report from the National Cancer Database describes the 2021 adult participant user files (PUF) as a whole,...

In this episode, Lillian Erdahl, MD, FACS, is joined by Peter C Minneci, MD, FACS, MHSc, from the Department of Surgery, Nemours Children’s Health, Delaware Valley. They discuss Dr Minneci’s recent article , “Cost-Effectiveness of Nonoperative Management vs Upfront Laparoscopic Appendectomy for Pediatric Uncomplicated Appendicitis Over 1 Year,” in which the authors found that cost-effectiveness of...

In this episode, Lillian Erdahl, MD, FACS, is joined by Fatemeh Shojaeian, MD, MPH, from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. They discuss Dr Shojaeian’s recent article , “Refractory and Recurrent Idiopathic Granulomatous Mastitis Treatment: Adaptive, Randomized Clinical Trial,” in which the authors found that, for resistant or relapsing patients with idiopathic granulomatous mastitis,...

In this episode, Lillian Erdahl, MD, FACS, is joined by Jessica Ching, MD, from the Baylor College of Medicine. They discuss Dr Ching’s recent article , “Protective Effects of Authenticity Against Depression, Suicide, and Burnout among Surgeons,” in which the authors found that authenticity may protect against burnout, depression, and suicide, pointing to a vital intervention opportunity. This res...

In this episode, Tom Varghese, MD, MS, MBA, FACS, is joined by Anai N Kothari MD, FACS, MS, FSSO, from the Medical College of Wisconsin. They discuss Dr Kothari’s recent article, “Association of Daily Step Count and Postoperative Complication among All of Us Research Participants,” in which the authors used preoperative wearable device data from 475 patients to investigate the link between daily s...

In this episode, Tom Varghese, MD, MS, MBA, FACS, is joined by Lauren M Janczewski, MD, MS, from Northwestern University, and Yue-Yung Hu, MD, MPH, FACS, from the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital and Northwestern Quality Improvement, Research, and Education in Surgery (NQUIRES). They discuss their recent article , “Contemporary Evaluation of Work-Life Integration and Well-being in US...

In this episode, Tom Varghese, MD, FACS is joined by Calista M Harbaugh, MD, MSc, from the University of Michigan. They discuss Dr Harbaugh’s recent study , “Association of National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer Accreditation with Outcomes after Rectal Cancer Surgery,” in which the authors found that hospitals accredited by the National Accreditation Program for Rectal Cancer are associa...

In this episode, Lillian Erdahl, MD, FACS is joined by Todd Rosengart, MD, FACS, from the Baylor College of Medicine. They discuss Dr Rosengart’s recent article , “Sustaining Lifelong Competency of Surgeons: Multimodality Empowerment Personal and Institutional Strategy,” which focuses on maintaining and ensuring the competency of an aging surgeon workforce. The study provides evidence-based guidin...

In this episode, Tom Varghese, MD, FACS is joined by Jamie Coleman, MD, FACS, from the University of Louisville. They discuss Dr Coleman’s recent article, “Home Is Not Always Where the Sleep Is: The Effect of Home Call on Sleep, Burnout, and Surgeon Well-Being ”, which quantifies sleep loss and burnout associated with home call in acute care surgeons, emphasizing that there are both physical and e...

In this episode, Tom Varghese, MD, FACS is joined by Jeremy Cannon, MD, SM, FACS, from the University of Pennsylvania. They discuss Dr Cannon’s Excelsior Surgical Society Presidential Address,  emphasizing the crucial contribution of expeditionary surgical leaders in World War II and how their legacy serves as an example for military and civilian surgeons seeking to lead in austere settings today....

In this episode, Lillian Erdahl, MD, FACS is joined by Dai Chung, MD, FACS, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. They discuss Dr Chung’s recent  study , which demonstrates that poor health outcomes among pediatric solid tumor patients are associated with minority race and residence in rural or border regions, and that the 5-year rate mortality rises with increasing area depriv...