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Announcer: With a relentless focus on excellence in healthcare, Pullman Regional Hospital presents The Health Podcast.

Deborah Howell (Host): You know, most of the time we have the luxury of planning our surgery on a date that works for us, but sometimes life throws us a curve ball and we suddenly require emergency surgery. And we're lucky to have surgeons at the ready to perform that surgery for us day and night. To talk about 24/ 7 emergency surgery coverage and what you need to know, today, we'd like to welcome Dr. Ronald Martin, an Emergency Acute Care Surgeon with Pullman Surgical Associates. Hello, Dr. Martin.

Ronald Martin, MD (Guest): Good morning. How are you?

Host: Wonderful, great, great, great day to have you on the podcast. So, Pullman Surgical Associates is a team approach. Could you explain for us how this unique structure is set up between the surgeons?

Dr. Martin: Yes, we, we recently reorganized the practice. We have four surgeons altogether, two of us who are fairly senior guys, who spent most of our life doing high-end complex surgery, referral centers handle all the acute care emergency stuff and the inpatient work. And then we have two partners who are, earlier in their careers who are doing most of the outpatient surgery and the clinic work and seeing the elective things so that we can make it easier for people to get in and be seen and not have delays.

Host: Sounds like a great team. Now as an Acute Care Surgeon, you're available 24/7. How does this structure help Pullman Surgical Associates provide patient focused care?

Dr. Martin: Well, I think with us being able to handle the acute care aspect, that we're able to respond to things fairly quickly and we don't have to worry about shutting down clinics or canceling other elective procedures to do it. And it also lets our, our partners who work predominantly out of the office, be able to see patients on time and not get pulled away for emergencies and have to cancel appointments.

And we think overall it makes it much easier for the patients to get what they need either inside the hospital or outside the hospital with fewer delays and fewer interruptions.

Host: Right. Now emergency surgery of course, is unplanned and unexpected. What do you want your patients to know if they end up in your OR?

Dr. Martin: Well, if they wind up in our operating room, they'll have seen us beforehand. But I think the thing is, is that the surgery, unlike a lot of the other disciplines is, you know, people have to show up and make relationships very quickly and develop trust on a very expedited basis and, and having people that are experienced and have done a lot of complicated operations of various kinds, especially people like Dr. Zuckerman and myself who spent our life training other surgeons, how to do complex operations, that, that, we'll be able to sort them out quickly and we'll take care of them the way we would take care of our own families. And even though we're just meeting them, we'll, we'll try to become a friendly part of their life.

Host: Sure. Now you're a retired US Army Reserve Colonel having served several combat deployments in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan. And you were the Senior Surgical Advisor for the US Embassy in Kuwait. How does that experience reflect if at all on your approach to emergency surgery at Pullman?

Dr. Martin: Well, I think when you work in austere environments, which is largely what battlefield surgery is all about and you work in complex systems, which is what I did, then you learn how to make things happen that are unexpected, and you learn how to deal with resources that are shifting and variably available. And particularly when you live in a, a place where weather can be a factor and transportation can be a factor it's helpful, I think that, it also is helpful for these times when sometimes you can't transfer patients from one place to the next and you have to be prepared to deal with whatever upi encounter.

Host: Yeah, I'm thinking part of the training of the new surgeons coming in, just getting ready for the field has got to be, a lot of it is mental, correct?

Dr. Martin: Yeah, that's, that's, that's one of the harder parts. I mean, especially when you spend a lot of time overseas, you're you completely dislocated from, you know, your day-to-day life and your family. And, and that certainly is a challenge, but in those environments, you can focus on what you're doing and, and hopefully rotate home and be the better for it.

Host: how do you tell surgeons how to prepare mentally for any case they might see, cause some might be just incredibly graphic.

Dr. Martin: Well, I think, you know, it's, it's really just a matter of that surgery is not as much a one person show, I think as people sometimes think. I mean, there's a team effort. There's a lot of discussion that goes on behind the scenes. People know that they can run things by one another, no matter where they are.

I mean, thankfully, we've got cell phones and FaceTime and Skype and all the things that one can do electronically, like have a discussion like this. And, and so, I think that people just need to share their information with one another. And when you run into something, you're not sure about, reach out and get some help.

And that goes in every direction. I mean, it's not just even being inexperienced. I mean, everybody needs a fresh set of eyes and somebody to, to help them as a sounding board from time to time.

Host: Well, just having spoken to you just for several moments, it just seems like, demeanor is a lot when it comes to the team. And if the, if the team is steady and straight and has resources about them, you know, that's going to calm the patient as well.

Dr. Martin: Yeah. And I think if your surgeon looks like they're losing control or composure, it doesn't usually invoke a lot of confidence in the patient. So, it's a good rule of thumb. You, want your surgeon to at least appear comfortable. They should actually be comfortable, but you should at least appear that way.

And it's, this is a job, like every other job, there's, there's a way to do it. And then there's a way to make it safe and easy for people. And if you just do the job correctly, it almost always works out just fine.

Host: I just want to thank you for your service and for all that you do for our wonderful patients. It's just been a pleasure to have you on the podcast today.

Dr. Martin: Well, thanks so much. I appreciate your time.

Host: And you can learn more about this subject, providers and services at Pullmanregional.org/general surgery. This has been The Health Podcast from Pullman Regional. I'm your host, Deborah Howell. Thanks for listening and have a terrific day.