The American surgeon
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The American surgeon · Sep 2016
Venovenous Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation in Pediatric Respiratory Failure.
Conventional treatment of respiratory failure involves positive pressure ventilation that can worsen lung damage. Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is typically used when conventional therapy fails. In this study, we evaluated the use of venovenous (VV)-ECMO for the treatment of severe pediatric respiratory failure at our institution. ⋯ A short run of VV-ECMO can be lifesaving for pediatric patients in respiratory failure. Survival is excellent despite severely elevated oxygen indices. VV-ECMO may be well tolerated and can be considered for severe pediatric respiratory failure.
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The American surgeon · Sep 2016
For Love, Not Money: The Financial Implications of Surgical Fellowship Training.
Surgical residents cite increased income potential as a motivation for pursuing fellowship training, despite little evidence supporting this perception. Thus, our goal is to quantify the financial impact of surgical fellowship training on financial career value. By using Medical Group Management Association and Association of American Medical Colleges physician income data, and accounting for resident salary, student debt, a progressive tax structure, and forgone wages associated with prolonged training, we generated a net present value (NPV) for both generalist and subspecialist surgeons. ⋯ In orthopedic surgery, spine (505,198), trauma (123,250), hip and joint (60,372), and sport medicine (56,167) fellowships improve career value, whereas shoulder and elbow (4,539), foot and ankle (173,766), hand (366,300), and pediatric (489,683) fellowships reduce career NPV. In obstetrics and gynecology, reproductive endocrinology (352,854), and maternal and fetal medicine (322,511) fellowships improve career value, whereas gynecology oncology (28,101) and urogynecology (206,171) fellowships reduce career value. These data indicate that the financial return of fellowship is highly variable.