Less Is More: A Narrative Review of Deciding When Surgical Intervention Should Be Withheld

Abstract

Decision-making in surgery is one of the great unspoken challenges, an important but markedly challenging skill that takes a lifetime to master. The choice not to operate generally proves a significantly harder conclusion than opting for intervention. Our paper explores the influences which affect a clinician’s decision to operate or not. The challenging situation where patient and clinician disagree on proposed management is also explored. Implications on management are discussed, with constructive communication techniques offered, including the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

Discussion on The Rise of Facial Palsy on Social Media Over the Last 5 Years

“…The reality is that there are persistent gaps in evidence translation and knowledge transfer to the public 1. Our reluctance to evolve or adapt evidence-based management to embrace novel approaches in surgical techniques among community-based surgeons and specialty arms doing research highlights the paucity of research available in surgical patient communication 2,3. One of the challenges of traditional academic publishing is that most of the content we write is exclusively for the scientific community and not for general audiences.…”