Associate Professor of Surgery-Emory University. General Surgeon, educator. My tweets are my own. How I do anything is how I do everything. PGY30 @emorysurgery
Atlanta, GA
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- Following 578
- Followers 5,870
- Likes 23,735
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Thank you for publishing this, 10 min read. I’ll be happy to discuss or answer any questions about it.
@ISorianoMD @rbarbosa91 @CPark_MD @SAGES_Updates @VNikolian @JJcolemanMD @DissanaikeMD @SLBachman @Sharpknife_Aziz @KeithDelman
“At the end of my intern year, I was very fortunate to be given the opportunity to go to a new program where I still worked very long hours but was treated like a surgery resident should be treated.” Eric Knauer, MD.
generalsurgerynews.com/Opini… @EricKnauerMD @EmorySurgery
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Eric Knauer retweeted
In Trauma/Acute Care Surgery departments, we don’t talk enough about Frühphasenroboterlerneroberarztkonsolenmonopolbedingtechirurgischeassistenzarztfallvermeidung as a source of surgical residents losing cases when they’re on the service. 🧐🤔
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Surgical drape stickies on or off? @rbarbosa91 @SAGES_Updates
57%
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43%
Off
303 votes • Final results
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Eric Knauer retweeted
I am honored to serve as Chair of Surgery at Lahey Clinic and grateful to work alongside colleagues who care deeply about our patients, their craft, and each other. I look forward to what we’ll accomplish together.
Congratulations to Elliot Servais, MD, on his appointment as Chair of the Dept. of Surgery at Lahey Clinic! An internationally recognized thoracic surgeon and academic leader, Dr. Servais brings expertise and a commitment to innovation, education, and exceptional patient care.
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Eric Knauer retweeted
For surgical history enthusiasts, it’s interesting to remember that the famous professors usually had maximum operative help--the assistant was almost always the (highly selected) chief resident, who had often been there for ~7-10 years; ie a person who would be faculty today.
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Eric Knauer retweeted
Example #873 of why you examine devices on bedside rounds:
This patient had a 14 Fr chest tube in place and had a ⬆️ pneumothorax. Exam showed twisted tubing causing occlusion. We had to disconnect it for a few seconds to get the ‘memory’ out.
With permission.
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When the side gig becomes the main gig
Amid rapid GLP-1 receptor agonist adoption, bariatric surgery volume declined 49% from 2021 to 2025, while bariatric surgeons maintained operative activity by shifting toward other general surgery procedures. ovid.com/10.1097/SLA.0000000…
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Eric Knauer retweeted
Re: the discussion on surgeon attire… one thing we didn’t talk about was the shoes. 👞 👟🥾🥿
IMO you should wear whatever you need to to facilitate being in the best and most comfortable shoes as much as possible.
Spare no expense. As the years add up it makes a difference.
Interesting @AmCollSurgeons viewpoint on surgeon attire and how it impacts patient trust and perception of competence (link at bottom of post).
The author concluded that we should wear more suits and ties at work, just like we do at @ACSCC26 etc. It was a well-written article with great points.
But, I'm #TeamScrubs and I plan to stay that way, so I present my evidence-based counter-argument, which is admittedly drowning in bias:
For surgeons, patients find scrubs to be either equal or better to formal attire (depending on the study):
1. Classic 2012 @AmJSurgery article that I've quoted 100 times defending my scrubs: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2059…
2. Large 2022 international study from @BMJ_Open showing patients to prefer surgeons in scrubs: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3619…
3. Study quoted in the @AmCollSurgeons viewpoint, which states "Four of seven studies involving procedural specialties reported either no preference for attire or a preference for scrubs" pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2560…
4. Orthopedic study favoring scrubs: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3129…
5. Interesting 2023 @JAMASurgery study on scrub color and how it affects patient perceptions of knowledge, skill, and trustworthiness. It showed green and blue to be on top, but the results varied based on patient age: jamanetwork.com/journals/jam…
Here's the link to the ACS viewpoint as well: facs.org/for-medical-profess…
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A little Sunday surgery on these glasses, which I’ve had for maybe 1.5 years. My last pair I had for about 7 years and they held up fine. Nose piece fell apart, they don’t make them like they used to.
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Eric Knauer retweeted
Opening reception and dinner at the Japan Society for Endoscopic Surgery (JSES) in Yokohama.
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Oh my.
It looks like we’re bringing back the DPL (direct peritoneal lavage), but for a different set of practitioners, for a different reason, and under a different name. 😲
We’re told it’s ’technically straightforward’.
(older surgeons: was it straightforward?) 🤔
Placement of a catheter for emergency peritoneal dialysis can be a relatively low-risk, low-cost procedure performed by a nephrologist at the bedside without the need for operating room resources. A minimally invasive insertion technique can allow peritoneal dialysis to be used as a suitable alternative to hemodialysis in patients requiring emergency kidney-replacement therapy.
For catheter insertion, begin by using the number 11 scalpel to create a transverse 2-cm incision approximately 1.5 cm deep along the midline. Use Kelly forceps to dissect down to the rectus muscle. This will help you advance the catheter toward the peritoneal space. The average length of the catheter used is 15 cm from the distal tip to the sphere. Patients with a larger body habitus and adipose tissue may require a longer length given the added distance required to reach the rectus muscle. This added length can be determined by inserting the Kelly forceps into the incision and measuring the distance between the rectus muscle and the skin surface. With the mobile sphere on the catheter positioned at the estimated depth for placement, insert the catheter and trocar into the incision site. If the patient is conscious and able to follow directions, ask the patient to lift the abdomen to provide countertraction for the trocar. Direct the catheter caudally at an angle of 60 to 80 degrees. Apply firm, constant pressure to the trocar. As the catheter enters the peritoneal space, you should feel and possibly hear one or two pops, and then the catheter should slide through without resistance. Once the catheter and trocar have been inserted to the appropriate depth, remove the trocar.
Learn more in “Placement of a Catheter for Acute Peritoneal Dialysis,” a Video in Clinical Medicine: nej.md/46bUmlO
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The percentage of my surgical cases where I request a -22 modifier for increased complexity is:
25%
rarely (0-1x per year)
36%
2 - 10%
16%
11 - 20 %
23%
more than 20%
553 votes • Final results
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Emory Hospital
medicine Researched day is over with @EmoryMidtown Team swapping all 3 awards for the research posters. Here is a pic of great team🏆
@EmoryMedicine
@EmoryDeptofMed
@EDHM
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Eric Knauer retweeted
Hey @grok Which area of human anatomy has the highest prevalence of anatomical variants which would be of a concern to a surgeon in any discipline?
Everybody’s talking robotics. But robots are built to do one task w/precision, need simple, consistent anatomy to operate surgically, like w/cholecystectomy. This brain AVM extends from cortex to ventricle, is supplied by convexity arteries + deep perforators, sits next to motor strip. Good luck Optimus….
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Eric Knauer retweeted
“Simple, consistent anatomy…like with cholecystectomy”.
Clear off all those talks and videos guys, the game’s up… 🤷♂️
@EricKnauerMD @SAGES_Updates @EzraTeitelbaum
Everybody’s talking robotics. But robots are built to do one task w/precision, need simple, consistent anatomy to operate surgically, like w/cholecystectomy. This brain AVM extends from cortex to ventricle, is supplied by convexity arteries + deep perforators, sits next to motor strip. Good luck Optimus….
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