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Pioneering Patient-Specific Approaches for Precision Surgery Using Imaging and Virtual Reality
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Healing the perfectionist surgeon
1Center for Professional Well-Being, 21 West Colony Place, #150, Durham, NC 27705, USA. cpwb@mindspring.com
Abstract:
Disabling perfectionism rules both the personal and professional life of many surgeons. Internalization of a relentless drive for perfection in care, as well as in life, is reinforced through rigorous and competitive training and fostered by cultural pressures to perform to the highest--and frequently unrealistic--standards. Society demands perfection from surgeons as a minimum standard. In this article, the author describes the physician who is a victim and perpetrator of this mindset and presents prevalent attributes of perfectionism, common traits of perfectionists, and plans and interventions for reducing perfectionism in the medical-surgical setting.
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