Practice makes perfect!

I wanted to share another story that I thought some of you may find interesting. A few months ago, my husband went to India to visit hospitals for the first time in his life. He did not really know what to expect but he came away with a new respect for Indian surgeons especially cardio-thoracic surgeons. My husband’s company makes operating room medical devices so he was there to observe operating room procedures etc. He met some of the best cardiac surgeons in the country. Apparently, Indian surgeons operate on the heart while it is still beating which requires a unique skill because the sutures are done in between the beats. It is more prevalent in India because while it requires more skill, it is much less expensive because you don’t need the heart lung machines. The specialist in this type of surgery usually have 5-6 operating rooms going and have a team of surgeons prepping and opening up the patient. The specialist come in and just do the beating heart surgery part and go on to the next cardiac patient. They can do as many as ten cardiac surgeries in a day. The key thing here is that because these surgeons get a lot of practice, they become very good at what they do. In America, beating heart surgery is quite rare I believe and very few doctors are trained to perform this type of surgery.