The unspoken physical and psychological toll of work-related MSK injuries with Dr. Paul Fedak
This episode of the podcast is sponsored by Q-optics: https://q-optics.com/pages/surgicalergonomics-drlal
Disclosure:
Q-optics is a paid sponsor and the affiliate link above supports the podcast at no cost to you. It also provides you with a discount, so we hope that it is a win-win!
Paul W.M. Fedak, MD PhD, FRCS(C) is a cardiac surgeon and Director of the Libin Cardiovascular institute at the University of Calgary. He is also a scientist and physician-writer who leads at the forefront of medical innovation and academic medicine. His work explores the intersection of excellence, identity, and healing — especially the silent cost of high achievement in healthcare. Through his leadership, writing, and speaking, Paul invites a new conversation about moral injury, burnout, and the path from performance to presence, helping to reconnect medicine with its deeper purpose.
In this episode Dr. Fedak
– Shares how he started experiencing pain during the course of doing his job, ultimately leading to irreversible injury while operating
– Discusses how the culture of surgery (not showing weakness, accepting symptoms as a part of the job, lack of back up and redundancy in our medical systems) often prevents surgeons and other proceduralists getting the help they needed when they first start experiencing symptoms
– Acknowledges that fear of losing their livelihood and stigma attached to having physical limitations are huge barriers to surgeons reporting their symptoms
– Shares how the gap between his expectations regarding the results of his surgery and how his recovery actually went led to a mental spiral, clinical depression, shame and a loss of identity
– Explains how he found a new purpose and meaning in his suffering via writing and sharing his story
– Reminds us that we can take steps to reduce our risk of injury, but that workspaces within our institutions and instrument design also need to improve
You can reach Dr. Fedak via LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-w-m-fedak-md-b833b417a/?originalSubdomain=ca
You can learn about the Society of Surgical Ergonomics here: https://www.societyofsurgicalergonomics.org/
You can learn about work-related MSK injuries among cardiothoracic surgeons in this article: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37659461/
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