68. Surgeons are Not Superhuman with Dr. Kevin Turner Artwork

Operate with Zen

While incredibly rewarding and honored vocations, careers in medicine and surgery are fraught with stress, burnout and challenges in work-life balance. OWZ is intended to open dialogue about a mindful approach to surgery - to create a space where physicians and surgeons can enhance their life's work and life experience with a focus on presence, purpose and practical skills. OWZ combines didactic-like monologues to provide baseline information and available scientific data on practical topics like time management, sleep hygiene and burnout; as well as interviews with surgeons and experts to share what works and doesn't work in their daily routines.

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Operate with Zen

68. Surgeons are Not Superhuman with Dr. Kevin Turner

June 26, 2023 • Season 7 • Episode 3

Kevin Turner, MA, DM, FRCS (Urology) is a Consultant Urological Surgeon at Royal Bournemouth Hospital. In 2015, he helped to start the Surgeon Wellbeing Research Team with colleagues from the Department of Psychology at Bournemouth University. Kevin and team ran a UK national survey from 2016-2019 – data from which has helped us understand how complications affect surgeons, the pervasiveness of this issue, and helped to create important objective measures and definitions in the field – like the difference between complications and errors. They also ran a randomized trial of resilience training in surgical trainees based on ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy). Since then, Kevin has become a leader and mainstay at academic meetings bringing our understanding of the impact of adverse events and complications into a major spotlight. Backed by data, but full of tremendous personal insight, this conversation is a must listen for surgeons who are interested in understanding why complications hurt us and how we can alleviate that impact to better care for our patients and ourselves.