Overcoming a Bad Outcome: Thoughts From a Colleague

Neurosurgery has many unique features as a medical discipline, but perhaps the most significant of these attributes concerns surgical complications. Although all medical disciplines must cope with adverse outcomes, in neurosurgery, the stakes are so high for our patients that a bad result can have disastrous implications not only for the patient but also for the surgeon. Developing a mental framework to help cope with these events is critical. The elements of such a framework include acceptance of the fact that complications will occur in each of our practices. We must do everything possible to minimize these events and to ensure that each complication serves as an important learning and maturation event that actually makes us better over time. The challenge is to strike a balance between achieving and maintaining deep empathy with our patients and their families and becoming so...