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Promoting yourself and building your practice

Training in cardiothoracic surgery is long and arduous. Through it all, one’s chief concerns are generally limited to becoming a proficient physician and surgeon while attending to the basic necessities of life (i.e., sleep and the occasional meal). Then, mercifully, it ends, and you take that first job, typically move to a new city, and, if you’re lucky, get right to work with a full clinic and caseload. On the other hand, as is common for many, you now have an ample amount of time and very few patients or cases. At this point you have two options: Sit and wait, or get out there and do what comes least naturally to most of us; promote yourself.

Full disclosure, I’ve done a lot of…

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Articles of Interest

Heart-Valve Patients Should Have Earlier Surgery, Study Suggests

The results of a new clinical trial have overturned the “wait and see” approach that cardiologists have long favored for symptom-free patients.

Hospitals printing 3-D hearts to help in surgeries

Though the practice still isn't widespread, some doctors and hospitals are printing 3-D models of patients' hearts to help prepare for operations. With use of 3-D printed heart models expected to grow...

How to Build Your Academic Career

Four esteemed cardiothoracic surgeons and mentors discuss how they were influenced, important things to look for and consider, the value of having good mentors, and more.

Managing Controversial Issues in Thoracic Surgery

This issue of Thoracic Surgery Clinics depicts the contemporary controversies around the management of both benign and malignant conditions in Thoracic Surgery. The discussions are very relevant to the daily practice of surgeons and provide an organized summary and interpretation of the latest published literature relevant to each topic.

Michael DeBakey: What I've Learned

One of the rarest things that we do is think. I don't know why people don't do it more often. It doesn't cost anything. Think about that...

More than half a million heart surgery patients at risk of deadly infection

More than half a million patients who had open-heart surgery in the United States in the past several years could be at risk for a deadly bacterial infection linked to a device used during their operations, federal health officials said Thursday.

Surgeons and Engineers Are Revolutionizing Pediatric Cardiac Surgery

New collaborations and technological advancements in 3D modeling mean experts at Boston Children’s can plan and simulate heart surgery with precision — before anyone even enters the operating room.

The Challenges Facing Cardiothoracic Surgeons

The profession of cardiothoracic surgery is facing many challenges. The forces affecting cardiac surgeons today are similar to those that affected vascular surgeons 5 to 7 years ago. Cardiologists and vascular surgeons have developed catheter-based skill sets that are being used to treat cardiovascular disease with less invasive approaches. Cardiac surgeons are now at a crossroads and many are learning these minimally invasive techniques.

Resources

10 Things We Can Learn From the World’s Greatest Surgeon

On July 12, 2008, the world lost an incredible talent. A renegade physician, a pioneer, the father of open-heart surgery, and perhaps the best surgeon who ever lived, Dr. Michael DeBakey died of natural causes at 99. Because of his groundbreaking research, cutting-edge medical devices and maverick approach to cardiac surgery, DeBakey literally changed the rules of the game and thousands of lives are saved each day.

CTSNet

CTSNet's organizational vision is to "Leverage Internet connectivity to facilitate communication, collaboration, education, and interaction amongst cardiothoracic surgeons and their teams across the globe."

EuroSCORE

Operative mortality is a good measure of quality of cardiac surgical care, as long as patient risk factors are taken into consideration. EuroSCORE is a method of calculating predicted operative mortality for patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Multimedia Manual of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery

The Multimedia Manual of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery is the premier online video manual of cardiovascular and thoracic surgery tutorials.

Resources for Residents

The Thoracic Surgery Residents Association (TSRA) offers various resources for medical students, general surgery residents, and cardiothoracic surgery residents and fellows interested cardiothoracic surgery education.

The Patient Guide to Heart, Lung, and Esophageal Surgery

A website presented by cardiothoracic surgeons committed to improving patient care.

Best Hospitals for Cardiology & Heart Surgery

The 50 top-scoring hospitals are ranked. The rest are listed alphabetically.