News — From politics to health care, 鈥渂uzz words鈥 surface from time to time among the natives. In their article, 鈥淏uzzwords: Rephrasing Obama鈥檚 lexicon,鈥 Los Angeles Times reporters, Peter Nicholas and Jim Tankerslevare, even mention a few choice words tossed about in the health care reform (insert buzz word here).
A phrase that, for years, has swirled about in my head is 鈥渕ultidisciplinary care.鈥 Multidisciplinary care? As a patient, and depending on the gravity of the situation, of course I want more than one physician working on my ache, pain, or disease. More hands, more brain power, more answers, right? Seems to make sense. However, there鈥檚 more to this phrase than the imagine of a team of doctors standing in line outside an exam room taking their turn prodding and poking at a patient. Quite honestly, it wasn鈥檛 until working with the two physicians on the ruptured brain aneurysm story back in June that the flickering light bulb in my head was on to stay. Ohhh, multidisciplinary care. Why didn鈥檛 you just say that?
So what do a brain surgeon and a head and neck surgeon have in common? Well, if you ask Drs. Anand Germanwala and Adam Zanation, a lot. In fact, they have the multidisciplinary approach down to a science; like a fine tuned 1966 MG B V8 Roadster, or a well orchestrated Tchaikovsky symphony piece. These surgeons are willing to push past traditional surgical techniques and opt for innovative minimally invasive methods to heal the brain, head and neck.
Their story begins when Germanwala was on his way from the University of Pittsburgh to practice neurosurgery at UNC and Zanation was leaving UNC for an ENT fellowship at the University of Pittsburgh. Today, they aren鈥檛 simply two doctors working in the same hospital, sharing the occasional patient, no, they are two doctors living out a shared vision. They share the same patients. They share the same clinic days. They share the same surgery schedules.
Two surgeons. Two different backgrounds. Both working toward a common goal of giving patients the best care possible while breaking new ground in their respective disciplines. They can鈥檛 be the only ones with this sort of forethought; however, I imagine that if you asked their patients, specifically, Alfreda Cordero, what she thinks, she might agree that Germanwala and Zanation have taken multidisciplinary care to the next level. Let鈥檚 hear what they have to say鈥
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