[reader_x]

Anecdote here, but my friend who is an anesthesiologist (MD) says:(1) anesthesiologists know exactly who the good and bad surgeons are (they see the outcomes and also must manage fluid loss), and (2) bedside manner by surgeons has no correlation to good surgical technique so patients have no idea.

[rscho]

Am also MD and anesthesiologist. This is partly true. The true part is because anesthesiologists are more able to appreciate medical abilities than the layman is. The false part is that people, including colleagues, tend to judge on what they see and hear. Oftentimes, you won't work every day with the same surgeon, so you actually have no idea regarding success/failure statistics.

That's why I said you're what people say you are. Heck, I don't know my own statistics and I don't know where I stand in comparison to my colleagues. Yet I enjoy a very good reputation with colleagues, but patients often are weary of me because I'm socially awkward.

[pnutjam]

I believe "wary" is the work you're looking for. This means the are guarded and maybe suspicious.

Weary means tired.

[rscho]

Yes thanks, autocorrect :-)

[slowhand09]

*"ought-to-correct""

[HelloMcFly]

Judging surgeon competency is much easier than judging physician competency, and physicians make up a much larger share of "medical doctors" than surgeons.

Physicians sometimes jokingly refer to surgeons as "technicians" because what they are doing is often more discretely defined, clearer boundary conditions, clearer indicators of performance/success/quality (especially over X number of cases when you know the national averages for outcomes), and ultimately of a mechanical nature. The work physicians do can sometimes be described similarly, but much less frequently and it can be much harder to do.

The physician/surgeon distinction is a critical one in medicine that is under-appreciated in most conversations about "doctors".

[spaetzleesser]

I work at a medical device company and I also had reps warn me of certain surgeons when I looked for one for a friend.