Introduction: how I became a writer

Hi, everyone. Today, I am starting my journey as a write. Although I am not a big reader or writer, I have been feeling a sense of urgency and need to write these days. I would like to share with you what prompted me to write.

As an orthopedic surgeon and physician, I only have a brief moment to meet each patient. This moment can be exceedingly brief as I unfortunately (just like many other physicians) squeeze 40 patients into each daily slot. Chaos can ensue as there might be emergency in hospitals that I might have to attend to. Even without any other distractions, I am almost always behind my schedule. I need more time to explain certain topics. I am writing so that I can address these topics that can be less patient-specific, more generalizable. Those patients who might felt that their questions were not answered in our brief encounters can always refer to my blogs.

Furthermore, I am writing so that I can lead you (my readers) to have more up-do-date knowledge. Certain information in regards to medical conditions and their treatments can be fleeting. Old ideas often get proved wrong and new information is presented each week. Although my recommendations might sound reasonable to you, there might lie controversies behind these recommendations and my recommendations might soon get outdated.  I will write so that I can explain my recommendations in details and what these controversies might be as well as correcting any outdated information that I might provided before. I hope to become a reliable source of information for anyone who is interested in adult hip and knee conditions and treatments.

Finally, I am writing for my own self growth as a physician. I am compelled to write these days because there is so much to learn. Despite spending the latter half of my life learning medicine, I still do not know a lot about orthopedics in general and adult hip and knee reconstruction more specifically. Writing is a way for me to continue my lifelong journey in learning about my own field and to organize my thoughts and ideas into a readable, digestible form. I will constantly question my decision making process and stay up to date with my knowledge and skills so that my patients can get the best possible care that the whole community of orthopedics can provide at this moment of our time.  

So, in essence, this is my diary as an orthopedic surgeon – both educator and learner. I welcome you in my journey. I hope you can learn something from this. I would be thrilled even if there is only one person who can benefit from this. Please share your ideas and leave comments so that I can continue to grow as an orthopedic writer. Thank you, and let’s begin..