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[RapidFJ]

BellyDoc previously said:

If you ever want the real scoop on who is or isn't a decent technical surgeon ... ask the recovery room nurse. You can't hide complications from these people! If a surgeon has a high rate of "take-backs" ... they know. If a surgeon frequently re-operates on people... they know. If their cases go long and their patients come out stressed... THEY KNOW (plus they have to fix it - so they're probably pissed off).

Recovery room nurses aren't bamboozled by smiles, chit-chat or tailored suits. They don't see the decor in the front office and they never see the busty blonde receptionist (unless there's more going on than I already know - which is possible).

Recovery room nurses will report about a surgeon strictly based on the way that their patients do in the immediate post op period. This is pretty darn good data about a large variety of procedures!

My 2 cents... for free. Advice, like everything else, is at best worth what you pay for it.

That's good advice and probably pretty true for general surgery. For other surgeries it's only a small part of the story. Take orthopedics, for example -- doctor A is super quick in the OR and his patients in general are young and healthy and come out pretty comfortable versus doctor B who takes just a little more time, takes on more complicated cases and sometimes patients come out with more drain output, lower blood counts and more pain -- unless the recovery room nurse _really_ understands the differences in the procedures and the patients' comorbidities the nurse might have a false impression about who's "better." I'd say the physical therapist's opinion is at least as important as the recovery room nurse's, as they see the medium and sometimes long-term outcomes. Again, I'm not arguing the point about recovery room nurse's knowing what's going on, just saying take it with a grain of salt because they're only seeing part of the story.