This is Patient Experience Week (April 29 – May 3).

Today marks Administrative Professionals Day, a day first proclaimed by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Charles Sawyer in 1952 to recognize the invaluable contributions of administrative assistants and other administrative support professionals.

Click here to view a video introduction of our incoming PGY1 residents. They are a fantastic and accomplished group. Please join me in welcoming them to our Duke Orthopaedic team!

April is National Occupational Therapy Month – a time to celebrate, acknowledge, and commend our provider and faculty’s exceptional clinical care, education, and research. 

Tomorrow is National Doctor's Day, celebrated on the anniversary of Dr. Crawford W. Long’s first surgery under anesthesia in Jefferson, Georgia. His work balanced the science and art of medicine and led to a significant advance in care. He did not publish his results for seven years. In the interim, Horace Wells and William Morton used ether at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston – resulting in Morton and Wells being credited with this advancement for years.

We are excited to welcome our incoming orthopaedic residents. They are exceptional applicants with backgrounds and interests that will enrich our program. We are proud to have them on our team and look forward to training with them to be the best orthopaedic surgeons and future leaders in our field.    Congratulations to:

Patient Safety Awareness Week, promoted by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, aims to encourage everyone to learn more about healthcare safety.  

Today, we commemorate the life and legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King was an exemplar of courageous, nonviolent activism. In addition to his speaking out against violent acts of racism, he also spoke out about quiet, less overt forms of racism. Overt or otherwise, all forms have links to poverty, health disparities, higher rates of incarceration, and other societal injustices that disproportionately impact marginalized communities. 

Shyni Varghese, PhD, Laszlo Ormandy Distinguished Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, will be the new vice chair of research in Duke's Department of Orthopaedic Surgery.

I am thrilled to announce the Duke Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) Program received notice this week that it has received full accreditation through the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association.