Wolfe Scott W., Hotchkiss Robert N., Pederson William C., Kozin Scott H., Cohen Mark S. Green’s Operative Hand Surgery. Part 2/3

Seventh edition. — Elsevier, 2017. — 2482 p. — ISBN: 978-1-4557-7427-2.“See one, do one, teach one” was the mantra of our past generation of surgical mentors. This rubric was emblematic of a surgical apprenticeship style of learning that had been effective for centuries. But implicit in this approach is a trial and error mentality that may only have worked in a day of lower expectations and a more narrow understanding of disease. The last half century has witnessed an explosion of technological advancements, increased scientific knowledge base, and surgical complexity, coupled with parallel changes in health care financing, regulation, and work hour restrictions that challenge our ability to teach effectively. The average adult learner requires not one, but seven exposures to learn a new concept, and retention becomes even more difficult if the learning occurs over a short, intense study period. Similarly, psychological theory holds that it may take as many as 10,000 repetitions to master a technique or a skill. How then can a medical student, or even an accomplished surgeon, master a surgical reconstruction of a disorder that he or she may only see twice in a career? Benjamin Franklin quipped, “Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.” Experience alone is not a panacea, however, as one can practice and engrain incorrect techniques. Experience should be accompanied by feedback and reinforcement, such that when skill acquisition is accompanied by reading, learning, and coaching, repetition will lead to mastery.
Enter Green’s Operative Hand Surgery, a concept that was introduced 35 years and six editions ago, and one that has remained the backbone of hand surgical learning since. David Green invited recognized masters of specific hand surgical techniques to pool their talents to create an enduring resource of expert techniques, a synthesis of current publications and novel research, and the hugely successful guide to success: the Author’s Preferred Technique. In this book, you can immerse yourself in concise tutorials of what works and what doesn’t, learn the evidence and the anecdotes that contribute to success, and
enlist the surgical mentoring of nearly a hundred recognized experts in hand surgery. The electronic version of Green’s Operative Hand Surgery, available at ExpertConsult.com, does not simply duplicate the written content but expands on it, with volumes of illustrative cases, an expert classroom of 60 video techniques, classic chapters from archived editions, and regular online updates of emerging techniques that promise to change the landscape of tomorrow’s hand surgery. Through the intensely dedicated work of its five editors, Green’s can sharpen the skills of hand surgeons worldwide and excite present and future students of hand surgery. Welcome to Green’s Operative Hand Surgery, seventh edition.