Living Breathing Medicine Podcast – Pursuing Betterment with Dr. Bob Sershon

Dr. Cecily Havert and Dr. Natasha Beauvais speak with Dr. Bob Sershon, an orthopedic surgeon at the Anderson Orthopedic Clinic in Arlington, Virginia. Dr. Sershon shares how the most challenging cases end up being the most fulfilling, his goals for training the next generation of surgeons, and the three principles he organizes his life around.

Episode Highlights:

• 0:39 – Dr. Cecily Havert introduces Dr. Bob Sershon, an orthopedic surgeon at the Anderson Orthopedic Clinic in Arlington, Virginia, and provides his impressive background.
• 2:16 – 4:30 – Dr. Sershon discusses how he got into medicine, specifically orthopedic surgery. “I like fixing things and this whole concept of betterment, there’s nothing in my mind that I can do for someone that’s better than a joint replacement.”
• 6:25 – 9:50 – “What makes the cases you take on more complex?” Dr. Sershon talks about how he develops personal relationships with many of his patients and the thrill of seeing a patient overcome their ailments and get back to the activities they enjoy doing.
• 9:50 – “Were you drawn to these difficult cases, or did you just fall into them?” Dr. Sershon responds, “I wanted a challenge. I was an athlete; I like changes that make me stay on top of things like literature and adopting new technologies and techniques.”
• 12:59 – 16:33 – Dr. Sershon tells a story about a patient that shows an example of the power of a strong patient-provider relationship.
• 17:49 – “It’s a lot more attention. I think that you need to give patients that. And I don’t think a lot of people unfortunately time to do it, right? And I think a lot of the way that we’re being driven just in general medicine is to see more volume, become these factories of seeing patients and getting through. But it’s these complex patients that you really get to know. You get to know their families.”
• 18:57 – 21:50 – The providers discuss the job satisfaction they receive when they can help someone who is at a low-point in their life, and they are able to help them get back to where they want to be.
• 23:37 – “One of my senior partners, for example, has been doing this for at least 25 years, and there’s still stuff that rolls in surgically that he’s never seen. So from an orthopedic standpoint, you can’t see it all in terms of the treatment.”
• 26:44 – 27:50 – The providers stress the importance of confidence and how their knowledge and skills can and have changed over their careers.
• 28:37 – 33:12 – “What do you do with healthy patients who are coming in and they’re expecting you to give them advice on being even healthier people, they eat healthy, and they exercise?” The providers then discuss the difference between patients showing immediate results, versus patients who show results over a 30-year period. “You can never be healthy enough.”
• 34:04 – 36:19 – “And then that concept of betterment – I just found my whole life, everything that I do, I’m striving to improve some process in one way or the other. So if I just do something and I know that I’ve improved the process, I don’t need recognition for it.”
• 36:19 – Dr. Beauvais thanks Dr. Sershon for joining them on the episode, and directs listeners to the reference links below the show notes.

Additional Resources:

• Read more about the Anderson Orthopaedic Clinic
• Check out the Anderson Orthopaedic Adult Reconstruction Fellowship
• Start With Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action, by Simon Sinek

Living Breathing Medicine is a podcast from Northern Virginia Family Practice. Find us on Facebook and LinkedIn, and be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. You can also nominate health care providers for future interviews here.