Future education and practice initiatives in hand surgery: improving fulfillment of patient needs

Erika D Sears; Kevin C Chung

doi:10.1016/j.hcl.2014.05.001

Future education and practice initiatives in hand surgery: improving fulfillment of patient needs

Hand Clin. 2014 Aug;30(3):377-86, vii-viii. doi: 10.1016/j.hcl.2014.05.001.

Authors

Erika D Sears¹, Kevin C Chung²

Affiliations

¹ Section of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, The University of Michigan Health System, 2130 Taubman Center, SPC 5340, 1500 East Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5340, USA. Electronic address: endavis@med.umich.edu.
² Section of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, The University of Michigan Health System, 2130 Taubman Center, SPC 5340, 1500 East Medical Center Drive, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5340, USA.

PMID: 25066857
DOI: 10.1016/j.hcl.2014.05.001

Abstract

In the current health care environment, there are several areas in the delivery of health care to patients having hand surgery that need improvement to adequately fulfill patient needs, including difficulty in maintaining adequate emergency call coverage for patients having hand surgery, decreasing trends in hand surgeons willing to perform microsurgery and replantation, and deficiencies in musculoskeletal education of non-hand surgery providers. Both educational reforms and reforms in the practice environment are needed to improve the ability of hand surgeons to fulfill patient needs in the future.

Keywords: Competency-based learning; Emergency coverage; Hand surgery training; Milestones; Workforce shortages.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Competency-Based Education / organization & administration*
Delivery of Health Care / organization & administration*
Hand / surgery*
Health Services Needs and Demand / organization & administration*
Humans
Specialties, Surgical / education*
Specialties, Surgical / organization & administration*