December 2021
Office-Based Procedures: Part I
J. Lane Wilson, Jonathon Firnhaber, Editors
What exactly is it that makes office-based procedures so much fun? There’s got to be something, because as residency faculty, procedures training is one of the most common aspects of our program that applicants ask about. Residency applicants don’t yet realize that procedures notes are quicker to write than typical clinic notes. They have not done enough procedures to appreciate the satisfaction that comes from performing an entire vasectomy through a tiny tear in the scrotum, or from reducing a Nursemaid elbow using just your hands. And they certainly haven’t experienced flow—that psychological state also known as being “in the zone”—that is so difficult to achieve in other areas of practice but readily accompanies the hands-on action of procedural care. Maybe they already recognize the difference between a generalist and a “comprehensivist”—which is a term we’ve just made up. We are quite certain our patients appreciate that difference because they tell us all the time. And there are data to support the idea that physicians who perform office-based procedures have higher overall satisfaction with their practice.
